Champions to face toughest test from oldest foe
Players from Ballina Stephenites and Knockmore shake hands before last year's Mayo SFC Final at Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar. Picture: INPHO/Tom Maher
When it comes to this rivalry of North Mayo behemoths, if there’s something one doesn’t know about the other, it’s hardly worth knowing. And, of course, Ballina Stephenites and Knockmore aren’t just giants of their division but of the county also, as the roll of honour shows Knockmore third to first-placed Ballina Stephenites in the list of the Mayo senior championship’s most successful clubs.
The pair face off this Saturday in what will be the fifth championship meeting between the teams in just six seasons. The most recent is the one that Knockmore will want to forget the most, as the seven points margin of defeat at MacHale Park last year almost flattered them when Ballina retained the Moclair Cup for the first time in twenty years.
In that last county final played under the ‘old’ rules, Knockmore had managed to score just three points from play and just eight points in total – and yet even that was one point more than what they had scored when losing the 2023 county semi-final, albeit by the smaller margin of three points, when encountering the Stephenites in the dourest of matches at St Tiernan’s Park, the venue for this weekend’s showdown. Again, three points from play was as much as Knockmore could manage to score from play that day in what were near perfect conditions.
It's worth remembering that current Knockmore manager Ray Dempsey wasn’t in charge for either of those defeats but was at the helm in 2020 when the sides met twice in a matter of weeks, winning a game apiece – Ballina during the group stages and Knockmore when the teams faced off again in the semi-finals. That was also the year Knockmore went on to win their first Mayo SFC title in 23 years, with Dempsey guiding them to another twelve months later.
But it’s the Stephenites who have since won back-to-back Moclair Cups, with the riches available to manager Niall Heffernan undeniably being the envy of just about every other club in the county. The 38-time champions never even blinked when injuries forced the late withdrawal of players of Ciaran Treacy and Brendan Collins’ quality for their quarter-final win away to Ballaghaderreen.
The competition for places is white-hot in the green and red ranks, with Ciaran Boland and Jack Irwin having managed to muscle their way into the team, replacing Sean Regan and Luke Feeney from last year’s county final starting XV, which was a game, don’t forget, for which Dylan Thornton wasn’t even fit to start but who this year made his full senior championship debut for Mayo.
All that said, there’s evidence to suggest that Knockmore might be better equipped than last year to deal with the considerable challenge that Ballina Stephenites are guaranteed to pose.
Pearse Ruttledge was a tremendous loss to the Lough Conn outfit when having to sit out the 2024 county final due to suspension, while Nathan Armstrong’s return to the Knockmore team this season has also been a major plus. Indeed it was for a variety of different reasons that of the team that started the recent quarter-final victory over Ballintubber, none of Ruttledge, Armstrong, the Naughton brothers, Adam and Peter, Darragh Staunton or Aaron Timlin had been on the pitch for the throw-in of last year’s final. A fully fit Adam Naughton brings a serious physicality to the Knockmore defence while Staunton is continuing to emerge as an excellent foil for the dynamism of Pearse Ruttledge around that middle third. And that’s not to forget that Shane McHale, for years the spiritual leader of Knockmore from midfield, also missed last year’s final but in the recent quarter-final appeared off the bench to make his long awaited return from the cruciate knee ligament injury he sustained in the middle of 2024.
What role Dempsey has in mind for Kevin McLoughlin too, remains to be seen. The ex-Mayo utility man, because of other commitments, has had limited game time this season but was exceptional in pulling the strings around the central third when sprang for the second-half of Knockmore’s home win against Ballintubber. The temptation to start him and use all that wisdom and know-how to try and prevent Ballina from getting an early run, like they did in last year’s final, must surely be great.
What might concern Knockmore insiders however, is an increasing reliance on Darren McHale to conjure up big scores. McHale’s attacking teammate Aiden Orme struck just one point against ‘Tubber, and that came from a free, and he has scored only one point from play in the two previous championship games against Ballina combined. A return to form by the former Mayo attacker would do wonders for his side’s chances, but it’s how Ballina have been able to spread their scoring load, through defenders like David Tighe and Sam Callinan, midfielders Mikey Murray and Frank Irwin, and ace forwards Evan Regan and Conor McStay, that just makes them look a safer bet. But never say never.
Verdict: Ballina Stephenites
