Ballyfin set sights on a return to Laois hurling’s top table with PIHC County Final this weekend

Ballyfin are looking to get back up the senior ranks of the Laois Hurling Championship on Saturday evening as they take on Rathdowney-Errill in this year’s Premier Intermediate Hurling final.

One of Ballyfin’s joint-managers, Dermot McGill, spoke ahead of the club’s second Laois Shopping Centre Premier Intermediate Hurling final in three years. 

Ballyfin have been waiting in the wings for four weeks to see what the outcome would be of the Colt-Shanahoe versus Rathdowney-Errill quarter-final clash, which Rathdowney-Errill ultimately won. The original game had been blown up early, adding to the uncertainty surrounding the schedule.

“The second County Final in three years we've been in that's been impacted by external factors. It was the same in 2023 if you remember. Clonaslee and Rathdowney, incorrect score on the first day. Then the replayed game, there was an injury, and the game was called off. We were talking about that the other night, we can't actually remember how long the County Final in 2023 was delayed by. It certainly went back a lot longer than it was originally fixed for, if that makes sense. Portlaoise were in football as well,” he said.

Despite the delays, McGill said the squad was delighted to finally have a County Final date confirmed.

“From our perspective, we're just delighted to be there. We couldn't really control anything in terms of Colt-Shanahoe appealing the game against Rathdowney. They were well within their right to do so. Everything got thrown off a couple of weeks. We are where we are; we have a date now. We've been focusing on that, so we're just happy to be there at this stage,” McGill said.

He also reflected on keeping the players motivated during the weeks of uncertainty.

“The initial would they, wouldn’t they time where Colt and Rathdowney were toing and froing on the appeal. It was an unknown time, so I wouldn’t say it was hard. We were organising a couple of practice matches and we kept the lads going, but everyone just likes a bit of certainty in things, so we needed that date confirmed. We got it confirmed after the relegation semi-final in the football, that didn't go our way either. Once we knew the date, it focused the minds a little bit more for the lads. There was a week or two there of the unknown, but we trained away and we got a few injuries right. It probably gave us a bit of breathing space again after a decent performance in the semi-final. You know, just to reflect and go again, kind of thing,” he said.

Ballyfin is a proud dual club, but McGill admitted managing players across two codes can be tricky, particularly when one code doesn’t go as well as the other. The club’s senior footballers were relegated on Saturday evening.

“I'd be lying if I said it wasn't the biggest challenge we faced. Obviously, I've played with Ballyfin all my life and it's been that way, I would say, the last 10 years. Ever since the lads went up with to senior in the football and the hurlers have been first or second grade as well, it's been a huge challenge. Myself and John Joe (McHugh) at the start of the year, we were approaching it from the less-is-more category. We didn't want to have the lads on the field every night. I think for the most part this year, it's worked okay between ourselves and the football management. We've probably done no more than three pitch sessions a week over the course of the summer, do you know what I mean? Between hurling and football. 

“We don't have a massive panel in hurling terms or in football terms. We've been very conscious of injuries and trying to manage the workload for the lads. It has been difficult for the lads who play football as it hasn't been going as well as they would have liked this year, but the hurling has been going reasonably well for us, so it's a tough ask. Listen, the management, we do our best. We have an idea of where we need to go. It's more so the players. The lads who are playing football every second week and possibly not getting the results out of it that they want. Then, to try and turn their minds to hurling with different asks and requirements. But no, listen, the dual players, in fairness to them, they've bought into everything we've been trying to do this year. There are no sulky faces, and there are no slumped shoulders. When they come to hurling, they just come and they want to hurl. They want to do the best for themselves and for the club. They've been there. They've been a credit to themselves as usual this year,” McGill added.

Looking ahead to Saturday’s County Final, McGill said Ballyfin’s ultimate goal is to establish themselves as a senior hurling club and avoid the ‘yo-yo’ tag.

“That's the ultimate goal. We don't want to be a yo-yo club. We're under all illusions that if we did go up senior, the challenges would be massive. We've a good crop of minors coming possibly in two years' time. We'll have five or six decent lads coming again, which will be an injection and a badly needed injection of bodies and hurlers around the place. We can only focus on where we are this year at the moment. We can't look beyond Rathdowney in the County Final in two weeks. We'd love to get up and hurl senior and test ourselves against the best lads, and try to set ourselves up as a senior club for the next five, ten years. Similar to what the footballers have done. We certainly don't want to be yo-yoing. We can't really talk about anything like that till we earn the right to get there,” McGill ended.

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