Ballyphehane still dreaming with Munster semi-final up next

The fairytale continues for Ballyphehane. The southsiders can continue to enjoy their ‘big dream’.

On Sunday, they take on Limerick outfit Knockainey in the Munster Junior B Football Championship semi-final.

This year is Ballyphehane’s first competing in the Junior B provincial showdown that Knockaderry host each year, and for chairperson Timmy Walsh, it’s hard to believe just how far they’ve come.

“We're making history all the time,” Walsh begins. “It's our first time ever going out into Munster and it's like a big dream to us really. I don't know if we’ve woken up yet from it.

“It’s great for the club and it's great for the profile of the club,” he explains. “But for our club as well, being a Junior B club. Thankfully, this year we're back up in Junior A in the leagues and championship. Hopefully we can progress there and try and do the best we can and get the best results we can.

“We had a fantastic season last year and hopefully we can continue this year.” 

Their success hasn’t been limited to the pitch, though. Support from the parish has been unwavering, and club membership is increasing.

“In the parish at the moment, there’s a big emphasis there from people and a lot of them actually travel to the games. I think next week we might have a supporters bus plus the team bus going up there,” he says. “So it’s all good, and it's a good feeling around the parish as well.

“We're getting new members there recently, people joining at all different ages, boys and girls, men and women for different functions in the club, not just on the playing side which is actually good.”

Should they win on Sunday, they’ll be off to a Munster final. But, regardless of the result, that would be the end of the road, there is no All-Ireland series, even though Walsh would like to see one played.

“Oh, we would, we would. Especially if we were involved!” he laughs. “But our All-Ireland comes every week when we can put teams out on the pitch.

“The last few years, it would have been a struggle [to get players]. Ballyphehane would be an old parish as well, going through a transition, and there are a lot of elderly people as well,” Walsh remarks. “But young families are starting to move back into the parish and hopefully the numbers will shoot up.

“We're a club that is surrounded by a lot of big clubs in the area. We kept going over the years, and it's like everything else, you keep going, you keep plugging away. Someday you're going to have some sort of a success and maybe this is our turn.” 

Sunday’s game against Knockainey will be the judge of that. But irrespective of the result, the outlook is positive. Playing numbers are heading in the right direction; both the County and Seandún boards have been supportive, the former in particular, for the way they’ve helped keep the club motoring.

And that, ultimately, is the most important thing. That’s the battle they’re ahead in, and that’s the All-Ireland that’s being won.