Cafferkey enjoying a new dawn in twilight of his career
An All-Ireland U21 winner in 2006, Ger Cafferkey did not feature on the Ballina Stephenites team that won the 2007 Mayo SFC final, nor did he play in their next appearance in the final last year - so next Sunday will be a debut of sorts for the 36-year-old. Picture: David Farrell Photography
Ballina Stephenites veteran Ger Cafferkey has won numerous titles with his club at every age level bar one: the Moclair Cup.
Remarkably set to appear in his first-ever county senior final, the 36-year-old could only watch on as his club's hopes were dashed in the final by first-time winners Westport last year, after injury had ruled him out of last year's championship.
But like for much of his career with Ballina and Mayo, it is not about the personal glory, but more about the impact a victory - or defeat - can have for the team and the town itself. As for winning a first Mayo senior football title? Caff’ would only be looking forward to what follows.
“It's just a game really, like I wouldn't be this romantic about football. I enjoy going to trainings on a January morning so lifting the Moclair, it's more for the teammates and maybe for the town rather than for me personally. That's probably an unsuccessful answer but I'm looking forward to maybe training the Wednesday night after Sunday hopefully, if everything going well.”
There has been plenty of turnover of players since Ballina’s last triumph in 2007 (only goalkeeper David Clarke remains standing in the starting team, with David O’Mahoney among the substitutes) but Ballina have been building nicely in the last couple of years and are now attempting to accomplish something only four teams have done in the last 35 years: win the Mayo senior championship after losing the final the year before.
Cafferkey, in particular, was happy to see some fresh talent like Liam Golden and Luke Feeney blooded in the Mayo senior football league this year and he feels the club championship format this season – with two-week breaks in between every game – has benefitted Ballina Stephenites.
“A lot of the league for us was just getting our feet back under the table after last year,” said the former All-Star.
“Building again and getting some new players blooded, it was relatively successful. We had a disappointing end to it (losing to Castlebar Mitchels in the quarter-final) but for us it was all about development and so far in the championship, something similar, it's just all about trying to get better.
“The two-week breaks are great. You're just trying to tweak something every two weeks, so it's a nice little gap between games. So it's just getting better week on week.”
The Stephenites came out of their group with a 100% record following wins over their upcoming final opponents Breaffy, Balla and Mayo Gaels. A comfortable win over Belmullet in the last eight followed before they came through a tight affair against Knockmore. It may have been short on quality, but it would matter little to Stephenites as they made their way to another senior final.
When it was put to Cafferkey that the Knockmore semi-final was a ‘dogfight’, he had few arguments with the description and felt the North Mayo derby was more about both teams not wanting to lose rather than going all out.
“Yeah, look, it's two teams that know each other really, really well. It's cliched, but they know each other really well. Playing in Crossmolina also, which is almost like a home pitch for both teams. So it was always going to be very, very difficult.
“Both teams didn't want to lose rather than really going after to win it, I think. And subconsciously on the day, I think that was how it was. And we were just lucky that we got two points just in quick succession. I think that was the difference between the two teams. Other than that, it was very tight.”
Before their run of four consecutive semi-finals since 2019, Ballina Stephenites had spent the previous twelve largely in battles for survival. The fresh injection of young talent, Cafferkey believes, has changed Ballina’s fortunes for the better and thinks the experience will stand to them after last year’s final loss.
“Hopefully just a small bit more experience throughout the panel. For most of my senior career we were fighting relegation battles and things like that so even the experienced members of the team were never at that stage or most of us hadn't been at that stage before. And a couple of extra players, like Luke Feeney, Liam Golden, who haven't been around at this level before, they've added a bit of fresh blood.”
