Underdogs Ballyhaunis hoping to close the gap on bitter rivals

Ballyhaunis duo Donal O’Brien and Adrian Phillips have full belief they can end Tooreen’s vice-like grip on the TJ Tyrell Cup and win the title for the first time since 2020.

The teams meet in next weekend’s county final on the back of a round robin that was one to forget for the Black and Red who fell to a 3-19 to 1-9 defeat, even though Tooreen played for 40 minutes with a player less after Shane Crinnigan was red carded in the first-half.

But veteran Ballyhaunis goalkeeper Donal O’Brien knows too well that county final day is usually a leveller and whatever previous between the two sides can generally go out the window, especially with the unpredictable weather conditions at this time of year.

“The beauty of local rivalry is no matter how well the other team is going, on a big day like that it’s always tight. We’ll keep an eye on the weather forecast and hopefully the wind is with us this year. We didn’t seem to get any breaks last year that way but we’re moving well and we’re hoping that everything goes to plan on the day,” says O’Brien.

Reflecting on the round-robin defeat last month, the Tipperary native added: “A final is completely different. They were motoring on the day, I wasn’t there myself but I heard great reports about the Tooreen team. They were moving very, very well, striking the ball well and had great movement all over the field. They had a great understanding of each other which you’d understand after they got to the All-Ireland final.

“We’re obviously hoping to go out on county final day and upset the odds. We’re not going to put too much emphasis on that game. We’ll concentrate on our game going forward and hopefully it’s all systems go.

“They know what each other is thinking, what move they’ll make. They understand each other. Between playing with county and at underage, we’ve great familiarity with each other.”

Given the heavy defeat in the round-robin stage, will it mean Ballyhaunis look to contain Tooreen as a top priority?

“I don’t think we’ve any specific gameplan (in keeping it tight). It’s definitely a Tooreen tactic to keep it tight at the back and they’re very good at what they do. They do have a couple of top-quality forwards. Shane Boland is always a dangerman. You want to keep it tight and keep the shackles on their big man but whatever way we do go out, hopefully it works,” adds Donal O’Brien who has recently taken on a coaching role with the Sligo senior hurling team.

The game will be on home soil for Ballyhaunis, which would make it appear as an advantage. But given that many of the players on both sides went to school together and played on the Ballyhaunis secondary school team for many years, whether it’s in Ballyhaunis or Adrian Freeman Park in Tooreen makes little difference.

“We play each other twice a year minimum. Then with the league on top of that, we’re playing three to four times a year. All the Tooreen lads would have gone to school in Ballyhaunis as well so that was their home pitch for a lot of games so there will be no surprises pitch-wise.”

Ballyhaunis have been boosted by new additions Eamonn Phillips and Michael Farrell while players like Diarmuid Phillips and Kevin Kilbride are making the step up after seeing little action last year.

Key attacker Adrian Phillips says they have made a ‘huge improvement’ to the team and the squad is in prime condition given that much of the panel – himself included – are dual players with the club’s football team and have been out week to week.

“Everything is going pretty well and we’re just looking forward to getting on the pitch. 17 or 18 of us are dual players.

“Every week for the past eight weeks, we’ve had championship games whether it’s hurling or football. There’s not much time to think about any game which is good. The intensity has been high, it’s basically been knockout. We’re looking forward to the hurling now.”

It has all the markings of a tight final and ‘friendships will go out the window’ for the hour. But Phillips will be wary of no one getting too carried away either as he hopes to win another TJ Tyrell Cup.

“We’ll have to be careful that we don’t get any cards in the game. We’ll shake hands afterwards regardless of the result and move on.

“It would be fantastic. We had fantastic celebrations in 2020 and it’d be brilliant to bring it back again.”