Luck, effort and sacrifice contributed to title defence, says Heffernan

It might be a cliché, but there’s still more than a grain of truth in the idea that for players, it’s always just about the next ball, the next attack, the next game. Thinking any other way is bound to lead to slips and trips.

For managers however, it’s not enough to just look at the next hurdle, it’s also necessary to take a step back and look at the entire course, and to plan out every step along the way.

So while the challenge for Ballina Stephenites players in 2024 was more or less identical to what they had to do in 2023, for Niall Heffernan, the micro was the same but the macro was entirely different.

The aching hunger that a club like Ballina feels for championship honours was all-encompassing in 2023, but in 2024, they were on top of the mountain, fighting off would-be usurpers from all sides. So as Heffernan came out to talk to local media about how he brought his team back to the summit once again, the question of how he approached that challenge was high on the agenda.

“I suppose we had a couple of changes in the management team, Cora (Staunton) coming in and David Clarke stepping up as a player-coach, which really helped us to focus,” he said.

“I’m surrounded by unbelievable people. The players really wanted to go to another level, they wanted to go back to back. They put in that work, and they believed that they had the ability to do it. We had to dig it out, we were lucky against Ballaghaderreen, we were lucky in other games. Against Westport we robbed them in the last few minutes to make sure we topped the group, and if we didn’t do that, we mightn’t have got a home draw and it might have been a whole different ball game.

“But when we had to dig it out, we dug it out. When we were four points down against Ballaghaderreen those guys stood up and were absolutely magnificent. I thought today they showed the quality that this Ballina team has. Last year wasn’t a great game, this year was a great game for us.

“We played very well, the lads believed in themselves and they backed themselves to go out and do it. They worked unbelievably hard, the work-rate and the intensity in getting the ball back was huge, and that really paid off. Evan’s goal came from a turnover.” 

That goal left the town side in the driving seat at the interval, but Heffernan knew he just wanted more of the same.

“We’d won the first 30 minutes but we hadn’t won the whole game and we know how good Knockmore are, we know how proud they are and that they would come back at us. They did, but we showed a coolness, and going back to the question about being defending champions, it gives you that extra belief that you can dig it out.

“I have a great group of people around me on the sideline and a great group of men in that dressing-room. That’s what it’s about because those guys have put in huge effort and made great sacrifices. Luke Doherty came back from Australia solely to play football for Ballina Stephenites, and when you’ve players like that, Ciarán Treacy flying home from Dubai, it’s incredible.” 

Of course, just as any serious manager has to think big and small at the same time, the aftermath of any county final sees delirious joy and absolute devastation side-by-side.

While the shouts of the Ballina dressing-room made their jubilation evident, Aidan Kilcoyne stepped forward to thank his Knockmore players, management, officials and supporters for their efforts, while also trying to get his head around why they were so clearly second best.

“It’s really difficult to put your finger on it right now,” admitted the joint manager.

“We’re flat, for 20 minutes we just never got going. It’s very difficult right now to figure out why. I thought we prepared really well, but Ballina came out and they squeezed us. They put big pressure on our kickout, squeezing us up high and we just didn’t have the energy or the pace coming out from the back to break out and made it really difficult for ourselves.

“I felt when we did get up the pitch we caused them problems up front, we opened them up at times, but then our finishing; three dropped short. Things like that. We just didn’t do enough.” Losing a county final is never easy, and of course, for any Knockmore team, losing to Ballina, even if it’s a league game in March, is no fun either.

In this instance however, Kilcoyne was in no doubt that it was his own side’s failure to play up to their potential, rather than the sight of green and red jerseys celebrating, that will haunt them.

“What stings most is we know we had an opportunity to go and compete in a final and we didn’t put our best selves forward.

“As a management team, we’ll have to go and lick our wounds, address things and see where we go.

“There is a really good bunch of lads there. They are a phenomenal group, it’s a privilege to work with them. We’ve blooded a good few young lads this year, the club is in good stead.”