Callinan: ‘We want to be the team to beat for years to come’

That 41-year-old David Clarke refers to the incredible history of Ballina Stephenites is his speech before accepting the Moclair Cup is no surprise. The Garda was there throughout the lean years in the club, when golden generations gone by simultaneously served as giant shoulders on which to stand, but also poltergeists that haunted the medal-less players that came after them.

21-year-old Sam Callinan comes from a different generation, one that is frequently perceived as having much more interest in conditioning than historical context. Yet his thoughts on the importance of Ballina’s 38th county title, secured on Saturday night in MacHale Park at the expense of the neighbours up the road, makes it clear that even if there is any validity in that stereotype, he’s an exception to the rule.

“Ballina Stephenites is a historic club,” he declares, with no small amount of pride.

“I saw a stat this week, this puts us as the second most senior club football titles in the country (behind Crossmaglen who have 44, now in front of Castleblayney Faughs on 37). You look back, we’ve won an All-Ireland, we’ve All-Stars galore, we’ve two of them in Caff and Clarkey here. Winning’s in our DNA and that drought, it’s been talked about ever since I’ve come into the team.

“It’s been a chip on our shoulder that Ballina should be at the top, and for the four years that I’ve been in the squad, we’ve been building and building,” he continued. “Now that we’re back where we belong, we’ve put such an emphasis on building that legacy. It’s so, so important that we do. Every time I go out, or any of these lads goes out with this badge on our chests, we know what we need to do.” 

That singularity of purpose and goal, that resolve and clarity, it was undeniably evident in the manner in which they dominated a capable Knockmore side. Callinan accepts that it was as comfortable as you could hope for in a county final, and much more straightforward than he anticipated.

“I was surprised myself with the lead we had at half-time,” he replied.

“We talked all year about having a strong start, but a lot of the time it’s easier said than done. Today we went out against Knockmore, always a really tense and physical battle, and we gave it our all. We played the type of game that we wanted to play, a running game. We leaned into that and it worked for us. Evan got a fantastic goal, he did exactly what he does, and that really gave us a platform. It’s those bits of magic from fantastic players that makes this team the team that it is.

“Once we built on that, we worked a lot this year on composure, and protecting leads. I think what we saw out there was the result of months and months of drills at training. This is our third final, the big emphasis we placed this year was that we underperformed against Westport, we underperformed last year against Breaffy, it’s time to throw the shackles off and play the way that we know we can play, without inhibition. I think we did that today, and it showed on the scoreboard.” 

Partially the result of having county medals in their lockers from 12 months previous?

“The shackles were off, certainly,” he nods.

“It was 20-odd years the last time we won it, so we were playing with that bit of restraint last year, which showed in our play. This year we really went out and conscious or not, we really threw the shackles off and went at Knockmore.” 

He goes into more detail about the evolution of the team’s mindset over the course of the summer and autumn.

“The Westport game was our shakiest, for certain. We, by rights, should have lost that game. But what I think this team took out of that was that no matter the opposition, the scoreline, or the stage of the game, we have the players that we can go out and win those tight games, even when we’re in a losing position. In the build up to today’s game, we weren’t concentrating on the stumbles, but how we coped and the way we fought back. We came into this game with confidence, rather than doubt!

“There is that added pressure that we talked about all year which comes from trying to build a legacy, and not being a one-win team. I think we really rose to the occasion here today and we showed that we’re building a dynasty here. We’ve a great young team and we don’t want to go anywhere, we want to be the team to beat for years to come.” 

Conscious of past, present and future, all in one.