A LOW-KEY NIGHT followed a monumental day.
After lifting a simply remarkable 40th consecutive senior county title, the Ballymacarbry ladies football team opted for modest celebrations in the local.
Together with management and a handful of former players, they gathered for food and a few quiet drinks, conscious of the fact that the vast majority involved had to work today.
Captain and goalkeeper Lauren Fitzpatrick was one of such, willing to take a call on her lunch break from her sales and production job, with the teaching profession also well represented amongst Waterford’s undisputed champions.
“We stayed together, we all were chatting about the game and it was actually just a very nice, low-key [evening] and not as mental as you would be thinking,” she told The42.
“But we do hope to plan a night out in the next couple of weeks and hopefully celebrate it like it should be celebrated.”
A start was made on the field anyway, as the 40 in a row was completed in Dungarvan yesterday following a 4-5 to 0-7 victory over neighbours and regular opposition, Comeragh Rangers.
Fitzpatrick plays her inter-county football with Tipperary and lives on that side of the border with her parish, Newcastle, split in two; Ballymac was the only ladies football team when she was growing up.
“It was indescribable, it was fantastic. On the final whistle, you could tell from the supporters’, the players’, the management’s reaction, it was just a fantastic day for the club.”
And later, on a truly special occasion for herself and her family as she etched her name into the history books as the captain to lift the 40th, she added:
“Genuinely, it was a very emotional day. Like I said, it hasn’t hit me yet. I do think it’ll probably take another while, but honestly, it’s an honour and a privilege for me to lift the cup on behalf of Ballymac ladies football. They’re a fantastic team and every day I get to go training with them, it’s just a privilege.
“My job is very easy. All I had to do yesterday was lift that cup. Every single person from one to 28 on that team are leaders. There’s no one single voice that stands out or anything like that. So for me, just the lift to cup on behalf of the group of players was an absolute honour.”
A great person to be lifting the 40th, a real leader, congrats @laurenfitz44 https://t.co/3nsux0wCHN
— Aishling Moloney (@MoloneyAishling) November 7, 2021
While the scoreline suggests a one-sided contest, Fitzpatrick stresses that it was the furthest thing from that, with Ballymac a point down at half time — “and probably deservingly so” — and Comeragh “the much better team” at that point, in her opinion.
“The first half now was touch and go,” she recalls. “They threw everything at us. We took half time to kind of settle and relax a bit. I felt we were a bit uneasy on the ball. But in the second half, I think we relaxed a lot more, we showed our skill and the game just kind of opened up for us.”
Hailing her “immense” defence, which made her day a lot easier, and sharing her pride in each and every one of her team-mates, Fitzpatrick reserved special praise for two in particular.
For former Waterford star Michelle Ryan, who hit 2-2 en route to landing her 22nd successive medal, and for current Déise captain Karen McGrath, who was electric with 1-2 in a Player of the Match display from half-back.
“There’s not much more to be said about Michelle Ryan. She’s just top class and she’ll never let you down. She’s always a fantastic player, whatever the occasion. Whether it’s the first round of championship or the county final on Sunday, she’s just brilliant and she’s a fantastic leader. When she speaks, it speaks volumes. Everyone in the huddle listens and and they take exactly what she says on board. She’s always the calming voice in the crowd.
“Karen yesterday, she was fantastic. She had numerous knocks, she was down, she hurt her shoulder. In the second half, she had a right bad injury where she fell and looked like she hit her head and I kind of thought to myself, ‘She’s gone.’ But no, she kept going and actually got the goal maybe five minutes later. To be honest, she was definitely the Player of the Match yesterday in my opinion.”
Ryan — whose father Michael is a lifetime member of the management team, with John Phelan, Mike Guirey, and her sister and former player, Sinead, also on board this year — has spoken quite a lot about the Ballymac dynasty in the past.
“These things aren’t taken for granted,” as she told The42 after title number 38 two years ago, echoing her earlier tweet: “Numbers don’t matter, it still means just as much.”
And 25-year-old Fitzpatrick shares that same sentiment with a smile.
“100%. And I do think people probably think we’re not telling the truth there, but I can honestly say this week and coming up to the game, it was never mentioned, not by one player, not by management, not by anybody.
Every single county final in that club means as much as the other. It is fantastic that it is 40 in a row but whether it be the first or the 10th, it was still very important to every single person on that team. Look, it is a fantastic achievement, but we take every single one of them as they come and we just go out and try win. It’s like any other game.”
Likewise, she’s seen the reaction — good, bad, and indifferent — and offers a few words on Ballymac’s unparalleled Déise dominance, putting the record straight on the well-worn argument on the lack of competition or challenge.
“You have positive and negative comments about the 40 in a row. But every year, we’re put to the test by Comeragh Rangers, and that’s testament them as a team to continue to come back every year and I have huge respect for them for it.
“There is a huge battle there, that game was tight up until maybe the last 20 minutes, where we just seemed to open up. But every year… last year, they had been beaten in the semi-final, which probably wasn’t expected, but the year before, they were beating us by six points at half-time and we needed to come back.
“The competition is there for us, in fairness. And the girls, every year we go back training and they’re more determined and eager than ever. It’s fantastic, and the work that they put in is just brilliant.”
40 years the Champions 🏆@BallymacLGFC have beaten @ComeraghRanger in the senior final this afternoon at Dungarvan GAA Grounds
— WLR (@wlrfm) November 7, 2021
The full-time score 4.05 to 0.07
Ballymacarbry captain Lauren Fitzpatrick delivered her speech at full time.
📽️ @tomasmcc#WLRSport pic.twitter.com/agQpNcyiP0
As per her speech yesterday, Fitzpatrick is now willing her side to “drive on” in Munster, where the last of their 14 provincial crowns came in 2000.
With 10 All-Ireland crowns to their name also (all won between 1987 and 1998, though they haven’t returned to a final since), they’ve fallen short in several Munster finals over the past few years, most recently to Cork powerhouse Mourneabbey.
They’ll return to training on Wednesday night, with their next opponents yet to be determined, though it’s looking like they’ll face the winners of the Leeside and Clare champions in three weeks’ time.
“We really relish the county finals and we appreciate every single one of them but as a group of players, we have decided that we really do want to push on this year,” Fitzpatrick concluded.
“In my opinion, there’s fantastic potential in our group, but obviously you’re coming up against the likes of the Mourneabbeys, and we haven’t succeeded with them in the past.
“It’s something we would like to do — obviously, a Munster final would be would be the cream of the crop. At the end of the day, look, we’re just going to take each game as it comes. We’re going to put the heads down from Wednesday on and really work hard.”
Shameful stuff today from guys who backed themselves into a corner with their “a shag the league it’s all about may 22nd” talk. No touch no pride and no balls. Yet again Kingston is silent post match. I wish tipp well but they beat nothing.
Is it not just a case of cork not having the hurlers
It’s a very worrying time to be a cork fan. We use to be a period dual county challenging for final and hurling honours every year. Now we will be lucky to get one day out in croke park a year. Before we know it we will be like Offaly reliving part glories
Problems stem from county board
Excuse me Offaly are on a winning streak!
County teams thrive when town teams go well. When the town clubs struggle the county struggles… Bar Dublin that’s the fact of the matter that the gaa needs to tackle
Cork reaping what they sow. They neglected underage structures, assuming that they would just find hurlers, like they have always done in the past. Have sorted it out underage now though, won a clean sweep of underage titles last year, u14,u15,u16 so the sleeping giant is waking up, might take 20 years to come through but then watch out.
Kingston read the first half of the book on sweepers. Extra man back, mop up ball ala DeBurca, other defenders just hold off Tipp forwards. But once the sweeper actually got the ball he was clueless. No idea how to utilise the possession up front. No idea how to pick out an out numbered forward. Hitting balls to team mates in the middle of the park, that were in 50/50 positions at best. Painful stuff to watch, Tipp never had to break a sweat and just picked off the easy points
Spot on and it’s destroyed club hurling as well.
Black mark also against Cork juvenile “supporters” for persistant jeering of Tipp freetakers. Where did that example come from?
It was a hard day to hurl with the wind and rain but having watched the game I think Tipp can go a long way this year .
Tipp on a dry day will be better
Shambolic. And I bet .. To add insult to injury Frank Murphy told them that they were only getting ham sandwiches no butter and to make their own way home..
The sweeper system work in that the didn’t concede a goal but my god how brain dead were they using a sweeper for our own puck outs. I would be surprised if we won any of our own puck outs.
I’m sure cork people aren’t interested in the opinions of a Kilkenny man, but here goes. Certain teams ( not just Cork) are applying these new tactics in hurling , sweeper system , flood the break down areas etc…..but it doesn’t get away from the fact the two most successful teams in the last number of years Tipp and KK still stick to the standard positions in Hurling . When Cork were last successful playing more of a running/ short passing game , it was still 15 on 15 , with each player in a battle with his opposite man with the belief that if you won the majority of the battles you won the match … And I think it still stands true today.
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it .
As a Cork man I am more than happy to hear your opinion. In fact I agree with you 100%. We have a suspect defence, and a very good forward line – until new players come into our defence to improve it I would much rather we try outscore teams and leak scores than deprive our forwards and play a muck brand of hurling. Sweeper systems may suit Clare, WFord etc, but I know Cork fans are horrified at the thought of us having it. And as you said, KK and Tipp don’t use them. I just hope we stop using it and start playing our own brand again.
Something seriously wrong with Cork GAS.
With this sweeper abomination hurling is danger of turning into that awful snore fest lacking basic skills that is Gaelic football
Cork GAA.
The rot starts with Murphy, Cork’s President-for-life.
How bloody boring is gaa. Every day on rte news they go through all the boring divisions of minor this and that. Has a disproportionate coverage.
Shock horror biggest sport in the country gets lions share of the coverage. Don’t turn on sky news for fear your head will explode
am i the only one who thinks it was a good idea for Cork to continue with the sweeper. The cork backline needed to be shored up and the more time William Egan gets in that role the better he’ll get, Cork would’ve been destroyed had they not used a sweeper. it’ll take time for this Cork team to fully acclimatise to the sweeper system but they’ll be better for it.
There are an amount of that Cork team not good enough for inter county hurling. Cork will not contest for major honours again for a very long time irrespective of the system they play.
Hurling needs Cork to play the old game and consign this negative ‘sweeper’ system to history. It’s just an admission of inferiority in the traditional skills and when Cork go down that road it’s fair to say that Hurling is in serious trouble.
I’m hoping that the big two, Tipp and Kilkenny beat the daylights out of the ‘sweeper’ counties, who are having great, but boring, games against one another and at least we’ll see some serious Hurling this year.
Same conditions for both teams but in saying that Cork are very poor.
This ‘sweeper’ fad is destroying open hurling.. If you can pick off points and take your frees you’ll win. Goals win games and create excitement. Obviously winning is everything for inter county teams but sacrificing excitement for results is ruining the game for spectators.
The better team will win the majority of the time but the fans want open, exciting and if possible goal fest hurling.. If this trend continues I can see more armchair spectators …
Well done to Tipp senior and intermediate teams. Having witnessed majestic Cork teams down through the years it’s sad to now see a Cork senior hurling team that’s afraid to play hurling.