Loftus and Benson excited by final opportunity

It was very nearly the case that Crossmolina’s neighbours, Ballina Stephenites, would not get to defend their Mayo senior football title next Saturday evening, having received an almighty scare from Ballaghaderreen who came from nowhere to reach the semi-finals and bring the Moyside giants to extra-time earlier this month.

It's worth remembering then, that Crossmolina Deel Rovers, who on Sunday next will bid to win the intermediate title, beat Ballaghaderreen away from home in a league fixture earlier this year. Rovers, who would go on win the Division 2 title outright, had a point to spare and for team captain Mikie Loftus, that’s a standout memory of the season to date, a game he says brought Crossmolina on “leaps and bounds”.

“That game was in the melting pot right till the very end and Ballaghaderreen could have snuck the victory but we managed to notch crucial scores from David Howley and Patrick Leddy, and that capped a real gutsy performance from us.

“From that day on I knew that there was something special about this panel of players and we now knew how to win a tough game. That game brought us on leaps and bounds. It helped us to win our semi-final against Ballinrobe,” said Loftus at last week’s county final press conference.

“Since our loss against Moy Davitts in the group stages we have tightened up things at the back and are able to manage games a lot better,” he added.

Having also played and lost to Moy Davitts in last year’s group stages and now meeting in next Sunday’s final, the familiarity they have for each other could help produce a classic reckons Loftus.

“Both sides know each other very well at this stage. The games have been very competitive and there will be a bit of bite to it, so it should make for a very entertaining game.” 

If there has been a criticism of Crossmolina in recent years, it has perhaps been their over reliance at times on Fionan Duffy, a 2016 All-Ireland U21 winner, to impact the scoreboard. But the team, under manager Brian Benson, has developed a better spread of scorers, something that has been particularly noticeable in recent games.

“You need to have different people to come up with big scores in certain games, and we are very lucky with the forwards that we have, such as Niall Coggins, James Maheady, Patrick Leddy and Diarmuid Walsh. We are also getting scores from our back line and that all helps,” says Mike Loftus for whom, quite remarkably, this is his first time to reach any county final with his beloved Crossmolina.

“As a child I would have gone to a lot of county finals watching Crossmolina and they were great memories and unbelievable days. I have been playing football for 14 years and have never had the opportunity to play in a county final, so it’s great to be part of something special. You obviously want to go out and win the final at MacHale Park. We haven’t given our supporters much to shout about in recent years, so it’s nice to be back on the big stage.” 

Meanwhile, the aforementioned Brian Benson, who would have begun his playing career towards the tail-end of Crossmolina’s golden era of the 1990s to mid-noughties, is pleased as manager to see that his players are keeping their feet on the ground and are just focused on throw-in time next Sunday.

“Excitement is building in the club, however, [the players] are not getting too excited, which from a management point of view is great.

“We have had a couple of tough games this year against Louisburgh and then away to The Neale, and then our semi-final against Ballinrobe – which went to extra-time. A lot of our lads were carrying a few aches and pains so the focus over the last week was mainly recovery and getting players back training.” 

But as much as Mikie Loftus highlighted the league win at Ballaghaderreen, it’s worth noting too that Crossmolina were only able to manage a draw against Swinford, who themselves didn’t get beyond the junior championship semi-finals.

“I felt we learned more about ourselves in that game,” Benson acknowledges. “The league game against Swinford taught us that if you take your eye off the ball you get punished.” He also expresses a novel idea for the future of what is a highly competitive county intermediate championship.

“For me, the intermediate is the toughest one to win. I think the best way going forward is that the two teams who reach the final should go up to senior, as both of those teams would have a big impact on the senior championship. Perhaps a two up, two down system would be a way forward.

“I’d say that there were at least eight teams who could have won the intermediate championship at the start of the campaign. It’s a really tough championship to progress in and ultimately win.” Brian Benson, and his Moy Davitts counterpart James Mulderrig, will find out exactly how tough this Sunday, but the former is delighted to have the knowledge of former Mayo manager John Maughan to call upon in his backroom and says the management team as a whole works really well together.

“John has a wealth of experience and has been involved at this level for 35 years. We have been able to bounce ideas off him and he also brings great character and craic to the set-up. He challenges players to improve and that’s what he was brought in for, to see if we can get to the next level.

“There are four of us there, we have John O’Malley who does great work with the goalkeepers, and then there is Thomas McNulty who is the head coach and he organises and oversees all the training. Overall, we get on brilliantly well.” So how has Brian found the transition from player to manager over the last number of years?

“I really enjoy the management side of things. I was lucky enough as a player to win a few leagues and a couple of county titles and they were great days. The closest thing to playing is being a manager and being involved with a team. This is my fourth year as manager and I love it.

“The history of Crossmolina over the last 20 to 30 years is there for everyone to see. I have been lucky enough to have played with some of the best players to have ever played for Mayo, never mind Crossmolina, and I have also played under some wonderful managers. However, managing Crossmolina and this group of players to a county title would be the icing on the cake for me.”