Defensive double act wishing Breaffy a happy anniversary

Five county senior final losses for former All-Ireland minor and U21 winner Michael Hall, and four for Daire Morrin. You could imagine that for some players, those experiences could haunt them but instead, they have inspired Breaffy to the unlikeliest of runs to the final in 2023.

Lessons have been learned and the combination of experience mixed with the club’s brightest young talents means Breaffy are back in a senior final.

“Looking forward to it,” said Michael Hall.

“I think all you can do before a big game like that is just embrace it. It’s a busy two weeks, you’re training all the time, there’s other stuff to get done.

“It’ll fly and I’ve been in a couple of them before so I’m well used to this by now, but looking forward to it. I don’t think you should have any other feelings going into a game like this.

“I don’t know if you need any motivation going into a county final and I don’t think there’s any point in thinking about those other [finals]. Look, we’ve taken learnings from them as a group but it’s a totally different team.

“There’s young lads on the team who had never played in the county semi-final, never mind the county final.

“So I think you just move on from them, you learn from them.

“They’re not the best experiences but you can take some learnings from them.”

Daire Morrin feels the same way.

“I’ve enjoyed the journey so far. Having lost to Ballina in the first game, we took it game-on-game every two weeks.

“We’ve been building momentum and confidence is growing within the group.

“(The young players) have brought that youthful exuberance too, driving lads on in training.

“They don’t know those losses and I suppose it’s not affecting any of us given they bring new energy to it.”

Many felt Breaffy would meet their end at the hands of Westport in the county quarter-final only for them to stun the reigning senior champions and dump them out. But was it a shock to the players? Michael Hall insists not.

“I think any time two senior teams are playing in Mayo there’s a chance for both teams to win.

“There’s a very small gap between what people might see as the top two or three teams and everyone else.

“We had a quiet confidence coming into it. We’d had a good time training and we knew how good Westport were. We knew if we played well on the day, we’d give ourselves a chance.

“We didn’t have a great league campaign so people probably had the right to write us off, but we regrouped, got the county lads back, had a really good block of training before that Ballina game in the first round and yeah, it’s kind of gone from strength to strength since then.”

In addition to Morrin and Hall, it will not be a first final for the likes of Matthew Ruane, Tommy O’Reilly, Colm Flynn and the O’Shea brothers.

But for younger players like Davitt Neary and Jack Livingstone, this is new territory.

“For some guys, it’s our fifth county final but for some it’s their first,” offers Daire Morrin.

“There is that youth and it’s a great learning curve for those boys too. Davitt has had an excellent year so far and hopefully we can continue that on.”

Hall has also been very impressed with the way Jack Livingstone has taken the goalkeeping spot as his own after club stalwart Rob Hennelly transferred to Dublin club Raheny, while also praising the influence that men like former Longford footballer Colm Flynn have had.

“I don’t know if anyone could ever fill Rob’s shoes like just as a great character off the pitch and an unbelievable goalkeeper on the pitch but Jack’s just taken it in a stride and he’s one of them fellas who just tends to do that.

“I was saying to the lads earlier, he doesn’t get too high or too low about anything and I think you need that as a ‘keeper.

“He has a very calm demeanour but he has the skills and the ability to back that up then as well which is a credit to him.

“I don’t think he’s far off the best goalkeepers in the county to be honest.”

Hall added: “Conor (O’Shea) and Tommy (O’Reilly) are around longer even than I, but the likes of Colm Flynn, like Colm came into the club and it’s hard to say, he’s become an integral member of the team since he came in the last couple of years and it’s just like he’s always been around.

“Flynner gives us a bit of calm as well and a really good head and you genuinely know he’s going to make the right decision on the ball or try the right thing on the ball, so to have that calm influence when it’s chaos.

“Himself and James Minogue both came on against Castlebar when it was really in the melting pot and it was really chaotic.

“Both got on really important possessions, calmed us down and the last point that Daire Morrin got came from James Minogue, to Colm Flynn, to Daire Morrin. It shows the importance of having both a good starting team and good players off the bench with that experience.”

It all adds to an intriguing battle with Ballina Stephenites in the decider. Ballina came out on top in the group stage but Daire Morrin feels Breaffy are a much different outfit since then.

“Ballina are an excellent side with a lot of current and ex-inter county players with Mayo.

“Obviously, we came up short on the first day out but we grew in confidence since then. We’ll put our best foot forward on Sunday and go from there.”

Michael Hall say both sides will have learnt a lot about each other and says a maiden Moclair Cup would be a great way for the team to pay tribute to all who are involved in the club given it has recently celebrated its 70th anniversary.

“We didn’t win that game so they’ll have gotten confidence from that but I think both teams will have learned a lot about each other that day. A lot of match-ups will probably be similar but things have changed a lot since then. They’ve got a lot better. Hopefully we’ve got a bit better as well.

“It’ll hopefully be a good game and a good game for the neutrals, but we’re going to try our best to give a good account of ourselves on the day and hopefully get the result we want.

“I think it’ll be a great way to sign off a great year.

“There’s so much more that goes into a club than just the senior team and the senior management.

“There’s all the Bord na nÓg, all the other teams and all the volunteers.

“When we come off the pitch you get to meet lads who might have trained you, under-8s, under-10s, under-12s and then other people who have been involved from an executive point of view.

“My mam did a lot of administration roles in the club and the time and effort those people give, to give them a bit of happiness and to sign off a year like that would be an unbelievable way to end the year.”