Seanie McGrath is a busy man with Belgooly and Aghabullogue
Seanie McGrath is a busy man with Belgooly and Aghabullogue
Thought twas his brother that's with Aghabullogue
It might sound ridiculous but from the outside looking in, I think that winning a Junior A hurling county for Ballinora might actually be a bigger win for them as a club then winning the Intermendiate A football replay in a couple weeks time. Mid cork junior a hurling is a very mediocre standard now and Ballinora winning it every year at a canter and losing close county quarter/semi finals as they have done in last 4/5 years must be a huge frustration and means promising young players that ye have are not progressing as they should be. Granted they have been very unlucky in 1 or 2 of those games they have lost. I’ve seen Ballinora play a few times in the last 5 years and think you would be very strong at premier junior right away if ye made the step but it’s a hump you need to get over.
Its his brother Michael is the Aghabullogue manager
www.echolive.ie
It's an interesting one and I think you make a good point. If you use the likes of Glanworth maybe in recent years as an example in JAHC, they missed their few opportunities and now it's looking like they'll be waiting a long time for another chance. I've even heard stories of a marquee player or 2 moving away next year, whether that's true or not. Just shows how fast things can change and to take every year on its merit.
Very true. Nothing guaranteed as you say.. I’ve no dog in the fight as my club aren’t involved but I’d like to see Ballinora go up at this stage. They’ve been knocking on the door long enough and mid cork next year would be wide open without them. Huge game for them this weekend though .. Belgooly will fancy it given their rise over the last 2/3 years
Few teams like that over the years like Dillons, Dromtariffe, Kilbrin and Mathunas in the noughties. Seems to be more in hurling than football. Kilmacabea and Ballygarvan would be the only examples in football whereas most teams in the football tend to win the county eventually.
The difference between them teams mentioned above and Ballinora now is those teams are mostly very low populations and had good groups come together and when they were gone there wasnt the same quality behind them so unfortunately for them they didn't make the hay whilst the sun was shining. The difference with Ballinora is getting out of Junior could project them into great things. They have a growing population as well as a settled population and backbone and are competing now at the top levels in nearly age group in underage. This is a great crop of players for them but and some might say their time to make hay but the difference being they actually have better crops coming through from the likes of their feile team who represented cork this year in the top tier all ireland. If this group and break the ceiling a combination of this team with the teams they have coming through i wouldn't be surprised if they hit senior in the next 10-12 years but its about breaking the ceiling and their is only so long crops of players can keep trying to break it so is a huge year for the Noras.
Couple of teams got lucky in football few years back during the restructuring of the grades when all the divisional winners went up
