Something was amiss with Ballybay for the last ten years.
They’d lost finals in 2018 and 2020 and no matter what way you spun it, the bottom line remained the same.
They were the nearly men of Monaghan, the bridesmaids in Scotstown’s shadow. And the more the years went on, and the more the crushing defeats lined up, near miss after near miss, the more they became accustomed to never being the bride.
Little did they know that, all this time, the answer was staring them straight in the face. It took two men to crack the code.
Some say tradition counts for nothing, some say it counts for a lot but in this marvellous little story in Ballybay, there’s no doubting the fact that it counts for everything.
Ballybay’s joint management team of Jerome Johnston and Mark Doran asked Eoin McKearney to be their captain at the start of the year and, if you’re a traditionalist yourself, then from the word-go you would have said that that was a very wise move.
Because in Ballybay, Eoin McKearney comes from football royalty.
His grandad Paddy is the king of this little town, having captained the club to four Monaghan senior championships in the 1950s. Paddy’s brother Sean, who would be Eoin’s grand-uncle, also led his club to glory, ten years on from Paddy’s last in 1969.
Paddy’s son John Joe was the next in line and with Ballybay having gone 18 years without winning a Monaghan senior football title, he was the captain when they bridged the gap in 1987.
But what happened last Sunday in Clones has to be the sweetest victory of all.
Eoin McKearney is just 25 years of age but with his grandad Paddy (93) his grand-uncle Sean (83) and his dad John Joe all at the game, he followed in those famous footsteps by captaining Ballybay to the promised land. The latest in their long lineage of winning Ballybay captains.
Pictured are the six men who have captained Ballybay to Monaghan senior football titles. Paddy McKearney, Sean McKearney, Jim O’Hanlon, Eoin McKearney, Paul Finlay and John Joe McKearney.
What makes it all the sweeter is that, at 93 years young, Eoin’s grandad Paddy lived to see this day.
“Granddad never misses a match,” Eoin tells SportsJOE.
“I don’t know when was the last time he missed a Ballybay match.
“He’ll go to other clubs’ games as well, anywhere in Monaghan, he’ll go to it. If there’s a game on the tv, he’ll see it, he just loves football. So he’d be giving me plenty of advice all the time too.”
Eoin never has to look too far for advice. He could get it from anywhere.
“I was delighted at first when I was asked (to be captain) And after then, I was thinking about it and I was like, we have Paul Finlay here, the Wylies and the McGuinness’ and lads like that who have been around for a long time and have a lot more experience than me.
“But I tried to just think of it as another role and play my part on the field and hope that would be enough to be a captain’s role. Some people think it’s about talking and inspirational speeches and so on. I’m just good at guessing the coin-toss right!”
Jim O'Hanlon captained Ballbay to the Monaghan senior football championship in 1962.
His neighbour Paul Finlay called into him, 60 years on, on the morning of the 2022 final.
And there he was, in tears with Drew Wylie, after Ballybay @PearseBrothers won their 9th 🏆 pic.twitter.com/6JiZm7tH1S
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) October 19, 2022
McKearney got more than the coin-toss right on Sunday, kicking a point from wing back in their 1-11 to 1-8 win over Scotstown and he says that the feeling afterwards was something other-worldly.
“To get that photo with the lads, and with Paul and Jim, every man that has captained Ballybay to win a senior championship, that was just brilliant. It was something special and it was emotional there at the final whistle. It was emotional for every one of us.
“I tried not to think too much about it beforehand because you can get wrapped up in the emotion and let it overcome you a little bit. But after, when that whistle blew, just pure elation.
“It was said a couple of times afterwards now that the McKearneys are lucky captains but look, it was a nice privilege to have and thank God we have a trophy now because that’s what you play for.”
An unassuming character, McKearney is quick to play down his role but like all the best captains, this is a man who leads by example. Working as a physio in Dublin’s Sports Physio Ireland, McKearney was back to work this morning and he’s back down the road for training tonight.
There are many players all over the country making the same trek home through the wind and then rain and that’s the kind of commitment that wins championships.
“When I get off the phone to you now in a while, I’ll be back down the road for training tonight.
“Between traffic and the M50 and stuff, it’ll be probably two and a half hours but that makes it all the sweeter. If you weren’t going down during the week, lads would be asking where you were and that. But there’s a lot of us making that sacrifice. And after a day like that, it doesn’t feel like a sacrifice at all.”
