Youthful Ballygarvan hoping to seize their chance in County JAFC final 

Ballygarvan have been waiting a while to get back to the McCarthy Insurance Group County JAFC decider.

The Carrigdhoun team lost in the final two years on the bounce against Éire Óg and Glanworth in 2008 and ’09 respectively. Tomorrow in Páirc Uí Rinn with throw-in at 3pm, the Garvans face Inniscarra.

This current Ballygarvan team is largely youthful and have no baggage of previous heartbreaks as they attempt to write themselves into club history tomorrow. 

The team in red and white are coached by a Kerry man in Liam Sheehan from Keel. He’s now based in Ovens and won the IFC in 2014, PIFC in 2019 and SAFC in the 2020 season with Éire Óg. He was a key player on that team for many years.

Sheehan took on the Ballygarvan coaching role before the 2021 campaign and has done a brilliant job to date. All the hard work could pay off tomorrow.

“It’s huge for the club to get back into the football decider,” he says.

“It’s 20 years since the Ballygarvan hurlers won the county so hopefully that’s a good omen. The aim at the start of the year was to get to the county final having lost in the semi-final last year. We have reached that target, but hopefully we aren’t finished yet.

“This is my fourth season with the lads and we have been building nicely. We lost the South East final by a point in the first season, Kinsale pipped us in the following campaign and now we have won the last two South East titles. We have been building a panel and building momentum the whole time. The lads are young and gaining experience. They are fearless really.” 

Ballygarvan come into this match on the back of an impressive semi-final showing last Sunday when they dispatched Castlemartyr on a scoreline of 1-12 to 0-9. While it was a great team performance, captain Ray O’Halloran stood out up front, landing 0-5, all from play, while Cork senior football panellist Seán Brady was outstanding in defence, landing a wonderful goal too.

“Castlemartyr were really tough, it was a physical game,” the Kerry native said.

“They just kept running at us throughout and we were never comfortable at any stage. We emptied the bench as we have done all year and the players that came off the bench gave us that bit of control. The goal then gave us that bit of breathing space that we needed.

“It’s a quick turnaround, but we had a three-week break from the quarter-final to the semi-final so that’s where the lads got the recovery in. It’s all about fine-tuning now and just getting the heads right for a county final. It’s going to be a difficult game.” 

Sheehan knows all about Inniscarra having played against them with Éire Óg’s second team last year and again this season in the Muskerry JAFC with Scarra edging two close semi-final battles. 

“Inniscarra are a well-seasoned outfit to be fair. They are fit and strong and they know what they are about and have a fierce knack of getting goals. We will definitely have to keep an eye on that. We know it’s going to be a tough challenge for us, but one we are looking forward to and we will certainly give it a rattle.” Sheehan concluded.