More of the same this weekend, please

Football, like life, is all about balance. Mayo’s newly crowned intermediate champions, Kilmeena, are a beautifully balanced side. Moy Davitts have some dangerous, skilful forwards, but their quality players were not as evenly spread around the field as Kilmeena’s.

The West Mayo club are truly enjoying a golden period. They’ve now added another intermediate county title to their growing trophy haul. They won county and Connacht junior titles in 2021 and the All-Ireland junior crown in 2022. In 2023, this team claimed their first intermediate title, making 2024 their only fallow season in the last five. They were probably entitled to a rest in 2024, but even still, they acquitted themselves well and were unlucky to be relegated from senior. On this showing, I’d be almost certain they won’t be going down next time round. Kilmeena really are one of the best news stories on the Mayo club scene in recent history.

I was hugely impressed with their performance and completely rapt by the quality of the game last Sunday. The previous week’s senior semi-final in Charlestown got me excited, but this fantastic intermediate final surpassed it. The new rules have been manna from heaven for Mayo club football players and followers alike. I remember sitting in the stand in MacHale Park two years ago during Ballina’s turgid victory over Breaffy in the 2023 senior final and being utterly disgusted at the state of our game. Jim Gavin hasn’t had the best few weeks, but he has saved our game and made club football a brilliant watch once again.

The level of fielding and point-scoring in the Kilmeena–Moy Davitts game was sublime. Kilmeena had star performers in every line. Each time I watch John Ryan play, I think he’s got something special about him. Maybe it’s the mop of floppy curls that catches the eye, but it could just as easily be his tenacious tackling, full-blooded commitment and ball-carrying skills. Colin Hastings was like the Energizer bunny on the right wing, while the midfield pairing of Jack Carney and Kevin Ryder would easily hold their own – and be a real force – at senior level.

Carney was class. Conor Reid started well and dominated aerially, but Carney soon found his groove and proved to be much more mobile and skilful around the park. Kilmeena’s forwards missed plenty, but they were not afraid to have a cut – and scored some worldies. There’s a lesson there for teams: take the shot on, keep having a crack and you’ll score more than you miss. They had fourteen wides but scored 23 points. Football, after all, is a game of risk and reward.

With subs like Cormac O’Malley and Caolach Halligan, you’ll always have a chance. Neither started but by the end of the day, they were the two most impactful players on the pitch. O’Malley’s early introduction and subsequent man-of-the-match performance was Roy of the Rovers stuff. Going to bed on Saturday night knowing he wasn’t starting, he could never have envisaged such a perfect day for himself and his club. With his athleticism and scoring ability, you get the feeling he’ll be in from the start next time out.

They weren’t the favourites but Kilmeena are such a well-oiled machine and clearly very well coached. Every player knew their role, every man looked well-conditioned, drilled and confident on the ball. Moy Davitts have a forward line that would worry most senior defences but Kilmeena found a way to limit their effectiveness. A result and performance like this, against the odds, will do Damien Egan’s burgeoning reputation as a coach no harm at all.

It’s hard not to feel sorry for Moy Davitts. They’ve now lost two epic finals in two years – both against excellent sides. They’re young and should be back next year, but there are no guarantees. Teams like Kiltimagh and Burrishoole have lost multiple intermediate finals and never made the breakthrough. Both could even be operating at junior level next year if Kiltimagh lose next weekend’s junior final. Every team has a window to win something and to progress – Moy Davitts will hope theirs hasn’t closed.

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After watching the epic intermediate final, I feared the senior one might be a damp squib. And while it wasn’t nearly as exciting or filled with as many moments of quality, it was still engrossing fare that had us on the edge of our seats by the end. Westport will be kicking themselves that they didn’t see it out, but they can be proud of their second-half efforts to claw it back.

In the first-half, it looked for all the world like the Ballina machine was going to do what it does to every team – efficiently and systematically picking them apart. Westport, to their credit, hung in there and showed real bottle – a quality not always associated with their teams down the years. To mount such a rollicking, spirited comeback without their inspirational leader Lee Keegan was notable and may prove to be a coming-of-age moment for this youthful team.

At half-time, Westport tore up the playbook and threw caution to the wind in the second-half. It’ll be interesting to see if that’s their approach from the off next time. Eoghan McLaughlin’s physicality was to the fore once again; he hit everything that moved and brought a level of power and oomph that few opponents possess when facing Ballina.

Everyone is rightly raving about young Kobe’s awe-inspiring breakthrough senior club year but a boy of a similar vintage, Joey Holmes, is equally producing many effective performances in his debut season. He’s more of a man than a boy on these showings and has a big future ahead.

Ballina’s three-in-a-row hopes were almost dashed were it not for Frank Irwin’s late, cool heroics. Like all great teams that go on these epic runs, though, they found a way to stay alive. I’ve lost count of how many times St Thomas’s hurlers in Galway have similarly snatched results from the jaws of defeat on their way to six county titles in-a-row. By hook or by crook, do what it takes to stay afloat.

Based on this game of two halves, it’s hard to say who the better team is right now. The replay will surely settle that debate.

All in all, it was a great day of football – a life-affirming thriller in the intermediate final and a bruising, bone-shaking battle in the senior. And two-pointers to beat the band! More of the same next week, please.