Fresh thinking needed if Ballina are to close gap

Ballina Stephenites picked off most of the low-hanging fruit in Dr Hyde Park last Sunday, but they still starved to death while St Brigid’s filled their bellies for just under three quarters of the Connacht semi-final.

When the clock ticked past the six minute mark, it was 1-1 to no score in favour of the Moclair Cup holders. 42 minutes later they had three more scores on the board while St Brigid’s had posted 1-18, and the 0-6 that Ballina tacked on at the end was long after the point of the game when the result was secured beyond doubt. It was an honourable, died-with-their-boots-on defeat for the Stephenites, but it was utterly comprehensive nonetheless.

Yet when it came to the tactical mini-battles, Niall Heffernan and his backroom team can take a lot of credit for the wins they picked off.

They correctly diagnosed a size issue in the St Brigid’s back line and went after it, yielding an early goal for Dylan Thornton and a few more nervy moments besides. Shane Cunnane’s playmaking from the middle, so often a crucial part of St Brigid’s attacking play, was closed down, in no small part due to a very solid showing from Mike Murray. When it came to taking on the attacking talisman that is Ben O’Carroll, Luke Jordan fared a lot better than most.

Even when it came to the physical confrontation space, Ballina had their homework done. St Brigid’s are not comfortable shooting from distance so Ballina hit them hard and early, trying to cut off St Brigid’s runners and their intricate weaves. Conor McStay’s yellow card was a case of crossing the line as he struggled to get into the game with that millstone around his neck but overall the approach from Stephenites worked out well as they conceded a mere two points from converted frees, due to St Brigid’s failing to take their chances from further outfield.

Evan Regan’s backdoor cut for his overhead goal and Ben Thornton drifting into a pocket of space for goal number three illustrated that Ballina had identified and exploited a tendency of the St Brigid’s defence to focus on the opposition player a bit much and not enough on their shape and defending the real red zones, while Conor Carroll – who won player of the match in the Roscommon senior final replay and wasn’t far off the same in the drawn game – wasn’t allowed to just run the show with his laser-like kickouts.

If setting up his team to give them the best possible chance to win was an exam, Niall Heffernan passed with honours.

The thing about low-hanging fruit however, is that it might be great for a sauce, or a dessert. When it came to the main course however, St Brigid’s raised the steaks (sorry), turned up the heat (again, sorry) and subjected Ballina to a grilling (okay, I’m done now, I promise).

If you watched Roscommon at any stage in the last few years, you’d be forgiven for wondering where that St Brigid’s performance came out of, as it was completely out of character with what the county teams have produced. The stark contrast between that fluid, all-out attacking style and the more wooden, ‘kick-for-points once you’re within range’ approach that was so pervasive under Davy Burke couldn’t be ignored.

St Brigid’s picked holes with their footwork, their movement, their precise forward passing. The Roscommon game plan has always been much more about trying to get the ball to their shooters, and let them win the game by taking on tough shots.

In a contest between a player with great legs and a player with a reliable kicking foot, Roscommon would almost always pick the latter, while St Brigid’s prevailed due to their athleticism, and their ability to execute while playing at that sharp tempo.

All of the above will serve as a stark wake-up call to Ballina, a club whose rich legacy adds a layer of unspoken pressure to this generation to try and make a strong impression outside of Mayo once they escape the confines of the county.

The loss to Coolera-Strandhill a year ago, while incredibly painful at the time, would have been made easier to take by the sight of the Sligo club going on to edge out Pádraig Pearses in the Connacht final. That result in Markievicz Park was a something of a shock, but a shock can only happen if you know that you’re close enough to take advantage when the rub of the green goes your way.

It would be unfair to Ballina to say that they got the break of the ball their way on Sunday. There weren’t any particularly controversial calls that Barry Judge had to make over the course of the game, and they’ll certainly wonder if things might have gone a bit differently if Seán Regan hadn’t lost sight of Senan Kilbride when he went to play that pass across his own full-back line after ten minutes. But in general, the few wins they got came from their ability to “control the controllables”.

But if the two clubs were meeting again this coming weekend, it would be St Brigid’s that would find it a lot easier to make quick improvements. It was St Brigid’s that hit the crossbar, it was St Brigid’s that shot ten wides including some from very simple positions, it was St Brigid’s who will look back and say that they could have done a better job at physically holding their ground on the edge of their own square.

On the Ballina side, the reflection and introspection they will experience this week and in the coming weeks will be much more personal. Evan Regan showed incredible ingenuity to finish his goal and in general he did what he could with very little possession, but while Roscommon senior stars Ruaidhrí Fallon, Brian Stack and Conor Hand shaped the game according to their will, the same could not be said of Ballina’s county contingent.

Pádraig O’Hora may have been there to serve as a talisman despite being unable to operate with the same vim and vigour as he normally brings to the table; but Sam Callinan, Frank Irwin, Conor McStay – they too failed to bring their influence to bear to the extent that Ballina needed.

If this group are the ones that are to bring the county’s decade-long drought at Connacht senior club football to an end, it’s among those leaders and the other senior players in the group where the fresh thinking must begin.

St Brigid’s have set a high bar. Whoever wins the Connacht final on Sunday week between Maigh Cuilinn and the Roscommon champions will arguably be the All-Ireland favourites, or at worst, considered on a par with Kilcoo and ahead of the rest of the pack. But with Pádraig Pearses, Salthill-Knocknacarra and Corofin all still in the mix, the bar isn’t going to be lowered any time soon and if Ballina have realistic aspirations of adding to their haul of three Connacht titles, reckoning with the reality of how far adrift they were last Sunday has to be the first step on that road.