A championship victory would mean everything

A championship victory on Sunday for AGB would be a monumental event in the life and times of the proud and hard-working club.

Without a major championship crown since way back in 1942, the AGB men have reaped the rewards of appointing a GDO close to a decade ago and should things go well for them against Ballinacor this Sunday then expect the people who paved the way for Darren Magee to ignite the interest of the town’s young people at the time to be sincerely thanked in the acceptance speech.

We meetwith manager Damien Redmond and team captain Ivan Hurley ahead of the big day and Ivan says that himself and some of the oilder players have been seeking success for a long time now.

“Well it’s going on a long time now. We’re playing since 1997 and 1998,” said Ivan.

“We were the Darragh Fitzgeralds and the Cormac O’Sheas. We all played Minor.

We were the last Minor team for 10 or 12 years. There was a big dought then for about 10 years and nothing really came through. The club was just sort of struggling back then.

Damien Redmond says that success after the formation of AGB was a big turning poiint in the club’s fortunes.

“In 1998 we formed AGB and we won the Junior ‘A’, Junior ‘A league, Swan Cup, and Carter Cup in 1999 and that was a big turning point,” he said.

Ivan Hurley says that that team soldiered on for years until they were all in their thrities but the arrival of the present Minor team have boosted things considerably.

“And then there was the same team together for about 10 years with nothing coming in so we all got over 30 then and lucky enough the boys came in,” he said.

Damien Redmond says that the work of Darren Magee and his good looks paved the way for last year’s Minor title and the subsequent revival of the Intermediate team.

“The younger lads is all down to the work that Darren Magee did here as GDO (Games Development Officer). He was got a lot fo people involved in the club. He would have got Eugene Bentley and Paul Maher involved and Gerry Arthur who is currently over the Minor team.

“He was a good looking man. You’d want to have seen the mammies outside the fence when they used to bring up the kids. Now they all just drop and go.

“He did the academy all the way up. He was brilliant. That was massive for the club. Eugene (Bentley), Paul (Maher) and Gerry (Arthur) have had the same team for the last six years or so,” he aded.

Last year’s success in the Minor football championship was rightly seen as the launching pad for success at adult level.

“It was massive. It was 42 years in the making. That was fantastic in fairness. The lads had lost an under-16 championship final against Carnew so to turn around and win that was amazing. When you see the likes of Jimmy Dunne crying after the game, it was massive to the club. It was a year early. They thought that squad would get that this year, they’ve only lost three good starters but it was great,” said Damien Redmond.

We take a quick look back through the championship of 2016 for Ballinacor so far and the massive turnaround in the opening game against Ballinacor is the starting point.

“It (the Ballinacor game) was our own fault really. We played unreal for 40 minutes and then we stopped playing football. You can’t blame referees or decisions. Just mistakes on the day,” he said. Ivan Hurley agrees. “You can’t lose a 10 or 12-point lead. We thought we had it won. The boys thought all they had to do was sit back and soak it up. You can’t do that against a good team. Even if they hadn’t got any penalties they were still in the six-yard box like,” he said.

A frank discussion was had the following Sunday in the lovely new clubhouse in Ballymoney.

“We sat down after the Ballinacor game and had a meeting and we talked about the match and we knew then we had to win at least three games to get to the quarter-final. So we played Carnew and that was physically a very tough match and again we got two very good goals that sealed it. You will be tested against Carnew and the lads were told that and they stood up,” said Damien Redmond.

“The boys always had the speed and the pace but they lacked a bit of steel but they’ve got that now,” added Ivan Hurley.

“Donard was a strange one for us,” continued Damien. “We went into it knowing we needed a draw but coming up to it Philip Healy was away, Cal and Cathal Kelleher were sick all week and Ivan broke his foot but we’ve no complaints. Alan Daly had one of those days and that was that. He could score from anywhere. But, we were there in the last minute and we had a chance that just went wide.

“Then we played the Billies and the Billies was probably our best performance. Even Mervyn said afterwards that they couldn’t live with the pace.

“Stratford-Grangecon was a winner takes all and we stuck to the game plan and done the exact same as normal and got the result and kicked on,” he added.

Ivan Hurley says that the AGB defence has improved with each passing game.

“The defence has improved with each game”.

Key to this has been the return of Mervyn Travers.

“Mervyn was around and he took the phonecall and he had the time and he stepped in,” said Damien.

We’ve just been joined by Eugene Bentley and he adds: “His experience and his communication. It’s like you have an extra player on the field,” he says.

“They play as a unit now (the full-back line),” said Ivan.

‘Screech’ in the corner, Tom Maher, he’s just so good,” says Damien beofre Eugene adds: “He’s just a rash on anybody”.

“He’s a nightmare,” adds Ivan (we hope the Maher family understand that these terms are all incredibly complimentary in the footballing context).

AGB came past Kilmacanogue in their semi-final and Damien Redmond says reaching the final was massive for his young team.

“Against Kilmac we knew what was coming, what was expected, because Jonathan is very good, very clever, but we kind of knew where to get at them and what to do.

“I tell you want amazes me. You were coming off the field and you see the likes of Darragh Fitzgerald with tears in his eyes at 17 years of age, it means the world to him. The last three or four championship games, the buzz is unreal, everybody kind of believes.

“We’re kind of blessed in that we have 32 in the panel and you could easily start 25, you’re bringing on five and you’re leaving five disappointed,” he said.

“Our bench is crucial. Even the five we brought on they could have started,” added Eugene.

“Cormac Hyland getting sent off after 10 seconds of the second half didn’t help either. The biggest person who stood up last week when Cormac was sent off was Cal Kelly. He was immense,” said Damien. So what of Ballinacor? “Tough game,” said Damien. “They’ll be going in on a high after beating a good Donard team. Going back to a couple of months ago, we won the first half, they won the second and they’ll have kicked on from there. They were bet by Stratford, they were missing a few players, but they’ve kicked on every time. They’re good footballers. We know we’ll have our hands full from the get go. We’ll just have to keep our heads.

They’ll want to play football; they’re a good footballing side. Joe (Murphy) has them going very well.

Unfortunately for Ivan Hurley it looks as though he may miss the final having picked up a red card during the semi-final. Also sent off in that game was Cormac Hyland and the two appeals were due to be heard last night (Tuesday).

“Appeal gone in. Cormac’s really committed this year,” said Damien.

Ivan is much more philosophical about his propsects.

“I’m not fit anyway so I wouldn’t have lasted the full game anyway. I’ve waited long enough now, I don’t care as long as we win it, 17 or 18 years waiting now. The boys have plenty without me,” he said. What would a win mean? “It would be great for the likes of our club Chairman John and Jimmy Dunne. It would mean everything. It means everything to everyone. But then it’s the same for Ballinacor. It’ll be tight, it’ll be close”.