Sweeney determined to finish season for Ballina on a high
Ballina RFC captain Luke Sweeney will hope to lead his side to another trophy this season following their Cawley Cup success against Creggs last November. Picture: Ballina RFC
Some teachers will use the Easter break as a chance to prepare for the final term or enjoy some rest and recovery. For Luke Sweeney, he will be leading Ballina RFC out at the home of Connacht Rugby on Easter Monday in a bid to secure provincial silverware.
Luke, who works as a teacher in Gortnor Abbey Crossmolina, is in his second stint as skipper, having been captain previously from 2020 to 2022.
After injury affected his 2023 campaign, he spent the next two years in Australia before returning last year and was given the armband once again by head coach Mickey Murphy.
For Luke and his Ballina teammates, it has been a somewhat mixed season. The club had a 100% record in the J1A league phase but were then beaten in the semi-final by Creggs, while Tuam defeated them in the opening round of the Connacht Junior Cup. Ironically, Tuam and Creggs will meet in the Cup final while Ballina will be in the curtain-raiser beforehand in the Plate final.
However, Ballina have also lifted silverware this season in the shape of the Cawley Cup, defeating Creggs in the final and he hopes to finish the season on a high and make it a cup double at Dexcom Stadium.
“We probably knew we didn't give a good account for ourselves in the first 40 minutes of that league semi-final, like that's probably what let us down in the end,” Sweeney told the ,” but we feel like we’re probably are one of the best teams in the league and on our day, we're very hard to beat.
“We've been driving it home the last two or three weeks like that we really want to finish this season with a flourish.
“We feel like for all the work we've done, we deserve some sort of finish. That is 100% the aim.”
Their run to the Plate final has had it challenges, nonetheless. While they came through their first-round game against Castlebar and semi-final with NUIG somewhat comfortably, they were asked serious questions by old rivals Connemara in the quarter-final.
“Another 10 minutes in that game and they would have definitely asked some serious questions,” said Sweeney.
“When I first started playing senior rugby, Connemara was a team that we used to have the battles with. Although their team is a lot older now, then back then, they still have a lot of the same faces are playing and they're a quality team as well.
“When I started with say it's nine years ago like it was Connemara and Ballina battling it out every time.”
Given that Ballina finished top of the J1A in the league phased and their final opponents Ballyhaunis finished mid-table in J1B, the men from the Moy will be the big favourites. But Sweeney knows from their battles with Castlebar in the league that all-Mayo affairs can take on a life of their own.
“There’ll be no looking past Ballyhaunis. Obviously, you like to see that the Mayo teams do well. They have had a fantastic season as well. They won the Curley Cup.
“We're not going to be looking at them as a team below us. They'll be the same level as us going to this game, and we've played Mayo derbies in the past.
“Even this year, against Castlebar a couple of times, the Mayo derbies are tough going because there's that little rivalry. It's the team across the road. So Ballyhaunis are going to come all guns blazing. We're 100 % not going to look past that, and they have some really good players, some very good, experienced players.
“We know that Ballyhaunis are going to bring unbelievable intensity from the get-go, so we have to be ready for that.”
