There is no pub in Ballyea.
The small village in county Clare, located just south of Ennis has a population of about 600 people. Crucially however, most of the people in Ballyea are hurling people.
Tony Griffin first put Ballyea on the map with his exploits for Clare in the 2000s and another Tony, in Tony Kelly took up the mantle from there.
Kelly refreshed people’s memories in 2013 when his performances in Clare’s first Liam MacCarthy win in 16 years had the whole country asking where the best hurler in Ireland is from.
They were soon to find out that the place he hails from is a place where the small population is more than compensated for by a collective unity and a common yearning for success.
Because when Ballyea won their first ever Clare senior hurling title in 2016, before going on to win the Munster club and just coming up short in the All-Ireland final in March 2017, hurling folk were becoming accustomed to hearing about this high achieving place from the west.
And that’s why Ballyea is known all over Ireland, well in hurling areas anyway.
As happens to most clubs bar Cuala, Ballyea’s year after the year before was a hungover one. They were knocked out in the Banner at the quarter-final stages around this time last year.
After their 1-19 0-16 triumph over Inagh-Kilnamona on Sunday, they made it back into the Clare semi-finals and they’re now the favourites to win the whole thing out again.
But Ballyea have come through more battles than many know about to get back to the big time. Tony Kelly was interviewed by Micheál Ó Domhnaill on TG4 in the aftermath of their last eight victory and he revealed that, just like many rural clubs all over Ireland, the Bally boys are down almost half of the team that started the All-Ireland final a year and a half ago.
What makes it even more startling is that all of these men are under the age of 25, in the proverbial peak of their hurling powers.
“From the All-Ireland final team that started, we’re down seven,” said Kelly.
“I think six of them are all under-25 which is a massive problem for us this year. They’re off enjoying themselves in Australia and a few in San Francisco,” he added.
“Kevin (Sheehan – team manager) would be in goals for us, only he came back and managed us this year. The new lads that came in were very good, the likes of Brian Casey, Brandon O’Connell, Tadhg Lynch, Martin O’Leary is a regular now.”
“You just play with the hand your dealt, club hurling is all about putting the shoulder to the wheel and if you can get 15/20 lads working hard, and then three or four outstanding hurlers on any given day, you can win anything.”
Agallamh le Laoch na hImeartha Tony Kelly ó @ballyea_club
0-3 scoráilte aige inniu!@GAA_BEO @GaaClare @officialgaa pic.twitter.com/5TtzElMB5G
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) September 23, 2018
Far from pitying themselves in their loss, Ballyea have just grown and involved young troops to make up for the absentees, and with Kelly, Niall Deasy, Brennan, O’Leary, Browne and a few others capable of delivering the outstanding performances he speaks of, they certainly can win anything.
