Minor work a major plus of Ballaghaderreen's MacHale Park double

If you want ideal preparation for the upcoming Mayo club championship, then winning a league and championship in the space of six days is not a bad way to do it.

Fresh off their senior team pipping east Mayo rivals Aghamore in the Mayo Senior League Division 2 final, the Ballaghaderreen juniors had matters much more straightforward as they eased to the Primary Junior B Football Championship in Hastings Insurance MacHale Park last Saturday.

“We knew it was going to be two right good, tough battles here between the senior game and the junior game, so to come out with two trophies, it's unreal,” said Ballaghaderreen captain Thomas Dillon. The goalkeeper had a relatively quiet evening and when called upon, he did his duties with minimum fuss but it was the physicality and scoring power that overpowered Davitts on this occasion.

A quick start to this game was key, with Ballaghaderreen getting the opening six points of the game, and Dillon was pleased with their electric opening after some stuttering opening to games in their campaign this year.

“I suppose with the juniors, if you can really get a good start…we’ve probably been a slow starter in all the championship games and put ourselves up against it. We really concentrated on that, and it definitely gave us a platform to go forward and get the win.

“That middle eight is massive in this new game and getting contact on in there. The two boys definitely love it out there. They were excellent, and all eight around the middle there, they had a really good game. They definitely gave us the platform forward to drive on and get good platform forward ball into the lads and the boys in there. They can finish them too when it gets in there. Good stuff in there.” 

 No one encapsulated their finishing prowess more than Conor Moriarty, who finished with 3-2, all the more remarkable given he is still playing for the club’s minor team. A fresh injection from the club’s underage system has been a big help to playing numbers as Ballaghaderreen have struggled for panel numbers in recent years. Dillon paid tribute to the trojan that the likes of David McHugh, now a coach with the senior squad, has done with the underage teams as well as earmarking Moriarty for a big future with club and possibly county.

“It's an exciting time there for him and I'm sure that he can definitely go on and maybe wear the red and green as well but we're definitely happy that he's in the white and green today anyway because he was absolutely excellent.

“I suppose in the last couple of years, we've really struggled for numbers but there has been an unreal injection there from minors coming through this year. I think there were about eight or nine lads that have come through from the minor team last year.

“The work that's been done at underage, David McHugh there especially, he guided a lot of them boys right up from under-12s to minor and now he's come in with the senior set up as well, so I suppose a special mention to him that he's kept these boys playing. It's really improved the strength of the panel this year, absolutely.”