A TITLE THAT WOULD

Preview FRIDAY, July 8, shortly before 8pm, the first game of the Intermediate football championship of 2016 is fast approaching half-time and both managers are standing near their relative dug outs but the mood in both camps couldn’t be any different.

A vibrant Arklow team have showcased some of their young talent that had been talked about for many years and with some of their seasoned men also looking to be in fine fettle a lead of eight points at the break is just reward for their enterprising approach.

Manager Damien Redmond walks towards the dressing rooms talking contentedly with his backroom team and club secretary Jimmy Dunne, the applause they get from a band of Arklow fans seated in the stands is well merited. All is good.

Ballinacor with manager Joe Murphy in his first year in the hot seat look a beaten team.

The Carnew legend stands applauding his men in to the changing rooms telling them enthusiastically that, “It’s not over yet lads get the heads up”.

A club that has suffered many setbacks in the last decade in the shape of final losses are glad of the ten-minute break and many look like they would rather be anywhere but here. Not Murphy though.

He is up for the fight. He has in his possession a drawer full of championship medals and a few All-Ireland medals to boot, his belief in his team looks to a lot of the neutrals to be well meant but a damage limitation exercise is what the second half may very well be.

Arklow are out first and rearing to go, Ballinacor eventually come thundering out and get the first point of the second half through Paddy Byrne, the encouragement from the subs on the line and the other members of his selection committee give you the sense that the infectious passion Murphy was showing minutes earlier may just have spread through the group. “Keep chipping away,” Murphy roars in, “keep at it, lads”.

They kick a couple of wides and disaster strikes, Cathal Kelleher, a menace to their full-back line all night, buries his second goal of the night and AGB lead 3-8 to 0-7.

Now, surely Murphy could stand back and think about maybe getting their campaign back on track in the next round against Donard-The Glen.

Not a hope. If anything, it motivated him even more. To win any game you need a few breaks to go your way and maybe they got a few but the belief and hunger that had been missing from the Glenmalure men for a few years came pulsing back through their veins in the next 20 minutes as they turned things totally around to win 3-15 to 3-10 in an amazing game.

How much a win like that, brought on by the promptings of Murphy, would be worth in value to the team and their view of him as a manager going forward couldn’t be measured then and would not be known for some time but the buzz was back.

He had made the changes that made the difference during the game, Denis Heffernan was moved centrally and shored up things in the full-back line. Ronan Phelan and Brian Hanlon came on and ran at the AGB back line.

Murphy’s insistence on Ger Byrne and Jamie Nolan staying close to the goal paid dividends as they shared three goals between them.

He now had a panel of players who believed in him and as the clock ticked towards 10pm that night things had changed in the psyche of the Ballinacor players, and for the better.

A draw with Donard-The Glen, only attained after a late Conor Parsons free, kept the trust building.

Next up was a great joust with Ballymanus and a fine 1-11 to 1-07 win.

They looked like a real team that night. Discipline was good, game plan was good and execution was excellent.

The wheels came off against Stratford in a 0-15 to 0-10 defeat but they guaranteed their place in the quarter-finals with an 0-18 to 0-06 over Carnew and people were now starting to talk about them being contenders.

Only last November this same group of players had to survive a relegation play off with Ashford to preserve their status in the grade they had fought so hard to get out of by going up and not down.

The reigning champions from Rathnew were up next, a seriously depleted team could offer little defence of their title and another committed, disciplined and ruthless display from Ballinacor had them in the last four with a resounding 1-19 to 0-07 victory.

A rematch with Donard the Glen was nothing like the earlier group meeting as Murphy seen his men wearing the same Carnew colours he wore with distinction for many years progress to the final despite a late scare by 2-08 to 1-08.

As the same congregation of people representing the Glenmalure area left the field with a final two weeks away that night in July just before eight seemed like a world away, but Murphy was still applauding and still encouraging and he knows that AGB will be just as hard beaten on Sunday and they need to hit the ground running.

Somebody once told me that you learn more in defeat than in victory.

Damien Redmond could have seen all his hopes and dreams for this particular panel of Arklow players disappear as quickly as the ten-point lead did that July night.

For many a day now the footballing men of Arklow have been accused of lacking heart, ambition and taking the easy road when the going gets tough.

There is not point sugar coating it that was the view of many who faced off against them on championship days.

These lads of 2016 are made of sterner stuff. Redmond himself was a crafty forward who soldiered for Arklow in barren times when many had taken the route of other sports half way through a season or hadn’t committed to the cause at all.

With this in his make-up he was never going to let one loss define him or his team or derail his plans. The draw in the championship had been anything but kind, with it now going as the group of ‘Death’ their next opponents after the Ballinacor game were to be Carnew.

With so many youngsters in their side AGB were seen as really vulnerable to another loss here and with the collapse still fresh in many minds few disagreed.

This was the game where Redmond showed his managerial talent, the work done by him and his backroom team in the two weeks between these games helped to deliver a full 60-minute performance and the elephant in the room that was the Ballinacor game was shown the door in a 2-10 to 1-07 triumph.

Short-handed they lost to Donard the Glen 1-13 to 0-13 in a game where a missed penalty proved costly.

Once again they were on the platform waiting, which direction were they going to take?

Ballymanus up next and the team that had lost two finals on the trot also knew their own hopes were hanging by a thread.

They rode roughshod over the Billies winning 1-14 to 1-06, another commanding display against Stratford seen them in to the last six with a 2-14 to 0-09 success.

By now the panel had grown, confidence was also growing and they too had infinite belief in their manager Redmond and knew he could be trusted to guide them.

A fancied Dunlavin fell to them in the quarters and this more than any other game put to bed much of those pre conceived views about