Moore: 'We need to get up there to the Senior Championship now'

IFC final preview

A strong argument could be made that Ballyhaise’s record in Intermediate finals is an anomaly, that they are, as Denn’s Thomas Edward Donohoe says elsewhere on these pages, a senior team playing intermediate football.

And while that’s well and good, they must win the final to prove it and losing finals can leave scar tissue. For team captain Padraig Moore, the opposite is the case; within the camp, there are no concerns about missed opportunities in the past.

“I don’t think it (losing previous finals) does add pressure to us anyway. We’re alright with it, I think others around the county like to add pressure to it. We’re happy enough with where we are, how we’re going, we just need to stick to do what we’re doing and hopefully we will get over the line next weekend,” Moore told the Anglo-Celt this week.

“Just looking forward to it at this stage now, this was the target at the start of the year so it’s good to be back here.”

A notable trait in this Ballyhaise squad is the blend of youth and experience. Some players lined out in the same fixture 15 years ago; others are just out of minor. Moore (29) is not old by any means but is nearing veteran status in the current panel, which paints a very positive picture.

“There’s a great unity with the team,” he agreed.

“It’s a relatively young team, I’m one of the eldest now and I like to think I’m not even that old, there’s a few years left in me. There is great unity, there are a few lads of 19, 20 and even Evan (Crowe, midfielder) is only 17, I don’t even know if he’s gone 18 yet but he’s a serious talent.

“Cormac Callaghan is another great lad to have as well. And then we have Kevin Tierney and Sean McCormack and they’re good role models for the young lads as well obviously, having played at such a high level with the county. Everybody gets on well, it’s a good mix and everything is gelling well at the moment, yeah.”

Moore missed some action due to injury earlier in the campaign but returned with an excellent performance last time out against Killinkere. He’s not 100pc fit but he has been minding himself and is rearing to go on the big day.

“It’s still a bit at me but I’ve just been nursing it and getting it right. We’ve had a couple of niggles here and there to different players but we do have a strong panel and when anyone’s injured, it doesn’t really bother us to be honest, we just have to get on with it. I know it’s a cliché but we just get on with it, we actually do believe that we don’t rely on one person.”

Ballyhaise are unbeaten in their six matches to date, with the round four draw against Ballymachugh the only blot on their copy book. Nothing has come easy though, Moore said, with tough battles at various stages.

“Even just getting over the line against Bailieborough in the first game, they really put it up to us, it was a very tough game, it was point for point for probably 50, 55 minutes of the game. Just to get over the line and get first win is always difficult.

“We have dealt with the challenges well enough, even against Cuchulainns it was a draw at half-time and we had the wind in the second half and we just knew we could push on. Killinkere as well in the semi-final, they really came back at us, we had a great first half but we didn’t have a great second half. They came back at us but we just did enough to get over the line.

“There have been a lot of moments but you need the moments on the big day so we just hope we get those big moments this weekend.”

Last year, Ballyhaise came up short by a goal in the decider against a Castlerahan side littered with Senior Championship medallists. That one stung, he admitted, but it’s in the past now.

“It was tough, nobody likes losing. It was really disappointing because I don’t think we performed to our ability. I know I didn’t anyway so I was annoyed with myself but across the whole team, squad, everyone was annoyed with themselves. Look, we want to rectify that and that’s what we’ll be hoping to do.”

Should Ballyhaise get the job done this Sunday, the club will replicate what Castlerahan managed last year (joined with Denn, they won the ladies Intermediate title last season while the Castlerahan men won the male equivalent). Ballyhaise ladies landed the Intermediate title in a thriller against Mullahoran recently and Moore stated that the ladies’ win has inspired the men to go all the way.

Incidentally, his sister Sinead, current Ballyhaise ladies secretary, was a member of that winning side.

“My sister was on the team as well, it was great to see her winning, she has been playing for 16 years and hadn’t really won anything so it means a lot to her. It was a good mix of young and old as well, it was very similar to our team and there was a great gel as well.

“There’s a great buzz around the whole community now so it would be great to emulate what they’ve done.”

Competing in Division 1 of the All-County League has helped steel the squad for a championship assault, he agreed.

“I think it has. The young lads will tell you that, they’ve never actually played Division 2, they’ve come straight into Division 1 and they think it’s very tough, it’s very fast. No disrespect to Division 2 but it is a wee bit slower. When you’re playing Crosserlough, Gowna, Kingscourt, Ramor and only losing by a point or two, to know that you’re not actually that far away is where we want to be.

“We just need to get up there now to Senior Championship.”

Ballyhaise are past masters at winning semi-finals and are well used to the final build-up. Moore’s message to his teammates is to soak it up and savour it.

“Absolutely, this is the best week of the year, no doubt about it. Training back in January, you’re slogging, you’re running hard and you’re kind of thinking ‘what is the point?’ but this is the point.

“There’s nothing worse than being out early, I’m sure every club would like to be where we are now. We just need to embrace it and we are embracing it and enjoying it… it’s the best week of the year and we have to enjoy that.”