Ben Mayer confident Ballinora can bounce back from hurling final heartbreak

Ballinora achieved a historic five-in-a-row of MJK Oils Muskerry JAHC titles this year but the county crown remains elusive.

The Mid-Cork outfit lost in the county section at the last hurdle following defeat to Kilshannig last month.

They were going for the double after winning the McCarthy Insurance Group IAFC title.

Ballinora will be fancied to claim another divisional crown in 2026. The one they really want though is the county.

One of their key players this year was forward Ben Mayer. The young man was in great form from the very start of the season.

Understandably, he didn’t want to delve too much into the county final.

“A really disappointing end to the year but I think we have to look at the season as a positive.

“We were in a massive hole after losing to Dripsey in the group stage. We had to beat Grenagh by about 10 points and we were thinking it's going to be hard to get out of this hole. To manage to get to a county final from there, we would have taken that all day long.

“After losing the previous three county semi-finals, we got over that hurdle this year and it was another small step in the right direction.” 

There’s a feeling that the gap is closing in Muskerry in terms of Ballinora’s dominance. They nearly got caught out last season and Mayer is aware of the challenges ahead.

“There’s no easy game in Muskerry. Apart from the Dripsey game, we did have to give it another 10 per cent in every game this year. We got the results. Muskerry though is getting harder and harder.

“We thought having the difficult games this year would suit us going into the county final. We also would have had the experience. Kilshannig also had that experience to be fair and they had physicality as well which maybe we didn’t have.

“I think in most games this year we put in a display, but in the county final we just didn’t perform for one reason or another.” 

Mayer was chuffed to have won a Muskerry GAA/EPH Controls award recently. Richly deserved too for a forward who will be a key part of the Ballinora hurling team for many years to come.

“I wasn’t expecting an award or anything because you don’t think about that during the year, but I’m delighted. I put in a lot of work.

“I didn’t really start with the first team until 2024. I am happy with my progress since.

“Every time I got brought on I was just trying to do my best. I feel like now hopefully I have improved a bit more. This year was my breakthrough year. 

“As I said earlier, we’re looking at the season just gone as a positive. We will have a bit of momentum next year and I think we just have to up it that small bit more and we can be successful then."