In the name of the father
The Balla Secondary School team which won the Connacht Colleges Senior B Football title in 1990, beating Ballinrobe CBS in the final. Back row, from left: Michael Larkin (manager), Ronan Golding, Fran Glynn, Fergal McGough, Christy Quirke, Maurice Moran, Adrian Kenny, Dermot Browne, Maurice Sheridan, John Holian (manager). Front row, from left: James Armstrong, PJ McKeown, James McDonnell, Gareth Golding, Oisín McEllin, Declan Dempsey and Vinny Keane. Picture: Frank Dolan
History has a funny way of repeating itself at Balla Secondary School.
More than 30 years after helping the school to Connacht glory, James Fallon and Fran Glynn are back fully invested in the school team – this time watching their sons, Charlie Fallon and Liam Glynn, chase All-Ireland honours.
The heady days of 1989 and 1990 saw a prodigiously talented Balla team win back-to-back Connacht senior ‘B’ titles.
Fran Glynn was an able and free-scoring corner-forward on both those teams, while James Fallon, a passionate and wholehearted defender, was a corner-back on the 1989 side.
Liam Glynn is centre-half forward on this Balla team, who kicked an out-of-this-world two-pointer into the wind and snow in Bekan to seal the Connacht title against Gortnor Abbey. Charlie Fallon is a lively and classy corner-forward who was arguably Balla’s best player in their semi-final win over Carrigaline of Cork.
And for their proud dads watching on, it is rekindling their own glory days.
“I don’t think we appreciated it at the time,” said Fran Glynn. “Only now, when I see how people are getting excited in the greater area do I appreciate what a big thing it was. There is a great buzz. It is very exciting and it brought it back to me how good what we did was,” he added, laughing that one very apparent difference is the celebrations.
“One difference I’ve noticed now compared to when we were playing is that now all the players, the parents and the teachers socialise together afterwards and there is a great buzz. When we were playing, just the players celebrated and it tended to be underground!”
Those Balla teams in ‘89 and ’90 were gifted, with players drawn from Balla, Ballintubber, Mayo Gaels and Moy Davitts.
James Fallon, no slouch himself, recalls some of the stellar performers. Ballintubber’s Vinny Keane at centre-half back had ‘exceptional skill’.
His Mayo Gaels clubmate Charlie Regan, who played Minor, Under 21 and Senior with Mayo, was ‘a great footballer’.
Fran Glynn was another ‘great footballer’ but his brother Joe was ‘absolutely exceptional’.
“For such a big man he was exceptionally skilful. He was an unbelievable soccer player too. I think he played senior football when still a First Year. He was some footballer,” said Fallon.
A lot of firepower came from the Golding brothers, Gareth and Ronan, who won Connacht titles both in ‘89 and ’90.
Gareth was ‘clinical’, recalls Fallon but Ronan, ‘a brilliant footballer’, had ‘that X-Factor’ to come up with a big moment when it was needed.
A young Maurice Sheridan was part of both school teams as well, though by that point he was not the free-taker of note that he would become.
In 1989, Balla beat the giants of Connacht Colleges football, St Jarlath’s of Tuam, in the Connacht ‘B’ final and were right on course for an All-Ireland final, winning comfortably against Lurgan in their semi-final but late, late drama left them cursing their luck.
“Oh it was shocking, a killer. We should have won. We were seven up with time nearly gone, and we conceded two soft goals. We were the better team by a country mile but all that matters is the scoreline at the end of the game,” recalls James Fallon.
They defended the provincial title in 1990 but lost the All-Ireland semi-final to St Flannan’s of Ennis, though not with the same level of heartbreak.
James Fallon was still in the school, repeating his Leaving Cert but was too old to play.
“That was so frustrating because I am mad about football,” he said. Few who know him would argue with that.
They credit teachers like John Holian, Michael Larkin, Padraig McLoughlin, Michael Freeley as well as principal Patsy Sheridan and vice-principal John McNicholas as big influences on football in the school while at club level, the successes in the school raised the bar too.
Balla won the county minor ‘A’ title in 1989, beating Ballintubber in the West Final while Mayo Gaels won the South Mayo ‘A’ title.
With Mayo colleges winning all four Connacht senior finals this season, the importance of schools football has been highlighted again. James Fallon is a firm believer in its value, saying playing with such a strong Balla team had a huge impact on his own development. He later captained Mayo Gaels to the county intermediate title in 1998 and managed them to the same honour in 2021. He has considerable football lineage, his grandfather Owensie Hoare won two All-Irelands with Roscommon in 1943 and '44.
“We came back from England when I was aged nine and by first year I was still finding my way with football but the schools teams really brought me on. You are playing with good players, you are winning and driving each other on and you had strong underage clubs all feeding into the school and driving it on too,” he said.
Fran Glynn was one of four players, along with Vinnie Keane, Maurice Moran and Ronan Golding, who won a remarkable five Connacht titles in their time in the school – two seniors, two juniors and one juvenile. It really was a golden age.
And then it turned.
Not unlike Balla GAA Club and, to a lesser extent, Mayo Gaels, the fortunes of football in Balla Secondary School took a nosedive. Fallon, a real stalwart of Mayo Gaels, recalls having to initiate a winter training programme for their young footballers because they just were not getting the required exposure at second level in Balla with a weakened emphasis on sport in the school.
He recalls when bringing his son, Jack, now aged 22, to an open day in Balla when Jack was in sixth class and querying the value put on sport there. The then principal, the late Patricia McTigue, and Teresa Walsh, the current principal, assured him they wanted it as a key component of life in the school. His second son, Charlie, a member of the Balla team chasing All-Ireland glory, has reaped the reward of that.
“Patricia and Teresa were true to their word. Charlie has won two national soccer titles and the school competes very well in badminton, volleyball and obviously football. There is a huge emphasis on sport,” he said.
And whether it is by accident or design, Balla are fortunate enough to be staffed by a coterie of young teachers with high level county senior, underage or club experience.
Charlestown Sarsfields' Gareth O’Donnell, one of the most consistent players in the Mayo senior club championship, is their manager and he is helped by Ballyhaunis’ Adrian Phillips (a member of the Mayo senior panel last year) and Kilmaine’s Darragh Acton.
Mayo senior Fergal Boland teaches there and has coached a lot of this team in recent years while his Mayo teammate David McBrien is teaching there now too. Dermot Costello, a former Mayo minor and Under 21 is there, as is The Neale’s David Morrin. James Carr was also there in recent years. Conor Walsh, a totemic player for Balla for a decade and a half, is the vice-principal while his Balla teammate Podge McLoughlin taught there in recent years too as did former Roscommon goalie Darren O’Malley.
There cannot be many schools in the country with so many staff with such high-level experience.
“It is a huge advantage, having coaches who know what it takes,” said James Fallon. “The kids really like them and respect them and the coaches are very dedicated too, coming in for training sessions over the Christmas. The coaches deserve this just as much as the players.”
Beating the Kobe McDonald inspired Gortnor Abbey in the Connacht final was some achievement and while the weather made football difficult, Fran Glynn argues there have been some misconceptions floating around.
“There was a theory going around that the bad weather suited us and people might be making excuses for why Kobe was on the losing team. We had to play against the breeze when the weather was at its worst. It was a massive achievement,” he said.
When Glynn moved from his native Ballyglass into Balla, the question of what club his son would play with became apparent. It was a pragmatic decision said Glynn who quips that the transition ‘was hard enough at first!’ “The fact we were living in Balla, it wasn’t fair to bring him to Ballintubber. We wanted him to be part of where he was living,” he said. So Fran Glynn rolled up the sleeves and pitched in with Balla too, coaching at Under 8s, 10s and 12s on teams Liam was involved with. Several of them are part of the Balla Secondary School team.
“To see all those lads go on like that is very rewarding,” he admitted.
They will be underdogs against a St Ciarán’s, Ballygawley, whose star man is Shea McDermott, a man who scored 1-1 in Tyrone’s All-Ireland U20 final win last year but for James Fallon, it represents an opportunity.
“It will be a really tough game and it will be great for lads to see how they are at that level and can they manage.
“When you are young, you think things like this come along every year but when you are older, you know that’s not true. All they can do is put their best foot forward and see where it brings them.”
Just like their fathers’ did.
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Balla Secondary School 2-10
St Jarlath’s, Tuam 2-6
Balla: F McGough; A Walsh, T Hughes, J Fallon; N Sheridan, V Keane, D Browne; J Glynn (0-2), C Regan; T Kenny; M Moran, A Prendergast; R Golding (0-2), G Golding (2-2), F Glynn (0-4). Subs: M Sheridan for Prendergast, D Dempsey for Browne (inj.).
Balla Secondary School 1-12
Ballinrobe CBS 0-6
Balla: F McGough; A Kenny, C Quirke, D Dempsey; D Browne, V Keane (0-1), PJ McKeown; G Golding (1-1), M Moran; J Armstrong (0-2), M Sheridan (0-1), F Glynn (0-2); J McDonnell (0-2), R Golding (0-3), O McEllin. Subs: P Connolly for Dempsey (inj), T Jordan for Sheridan, N Somers for Browne.
