Former Laois stalwart driving Ballinamere on in the relentless pursuit of their dreams

NOW in his second year as Ballinamere manager, former Laois stalwart Niall Rigney has been driving them relentlessly in the pursuit of glory.

He has pushed players hard, challenged them to be better, raised the bar and Ballinamere now find themselves in the Senior Hurling Championship final against Kilcormac-Killoughey on Sunday.

When Rigney came into the job two years ago, Ballinamere were at a low ebb, licking their wounds and wondering where they were going. They had been delighted to qualify for the quarter-final in 2022 but it all unravelled badly for them against Birr and they received a much worse beating than anyone could have anticipated, especially themselves.

One of Laois' best hurlers for over a decade each side of the 1990s, Rigney recalled:

“When I came in the boys were after being beaten by 15 points in the championship by Birr in 2022 and by all accounts things weren't great and it was a poor performance and that deficit would tell its own story. I think the confidence was very low at the time but at the same time Dan Ravenhill wouldn't have been playing then, he made his breakthrough last year, that was his first year to hurl senior. So there was a relatively young group there anyway, and probably just finding their feet. But they've been great.

He knew that Ballinamere have made steady progress, taken steps forward every year since making senior ranks at the end of the 2000s.

“It's been very positive. They make my job easy, they've been really good and since I came in they've been really positive and anything I've asked of them they've delivered, I couldn't praise them enough. They're a great group of young lads and they carry themselves brilliantly on and off the field. And you can see that yourselves with the amount of lads they have with Offaly and the dual players, the amount of lads that play football with Durrow. It's a big ask for them but they're brilliant to train, their dedication is just top notch. I've been around a good bit and I've been with a lot of teams and I'm a lot of years coaching and managing and playing as well. And they're right up there.”

Rigney was aware of the dynamic in the club from day one, where several of his best players are Durrow members and had a duty to play football for them. Most of them played football for Durrow as they retained their senior status and he had no issues with this.

“To me it's not hard. Once you have an understanding. I was a dual player myself so that's why I know you can manage it. The crucial thing is looking after the players, that's the most important thing, keeping the players fresh. The lads were with Offaly all year, the 20s winning the All Ireland and the seniors winning the Joe Mc, they had a week off after the Cork game and then they were straight back in with Ballinamere and then they were with Durrow and Ballinamere and we went right through each championship game and by the time we played Kinnitty the lads were just wrecked. And the real target was just to try and top our group, because of the amount of dual players I have, we have 12 dual players.”

Beating Kinnitty and topping the group served Ballinamere well, allowing invaluable recovery time.

“It's a huge amount but the great thing about it was when we did top the group I was able to give them a full week off. And then we had four weeks of preparation for the semi-final. We had a great month together. The lads were brilliant. That freshness of that week alone just stood to us brilliantly. But it's not hard manage it, I feel that once you look after the players, keep them fresh, have them enjoying the sessions, have shorter sessions, without overdoing it with them, keep it short and simple and happy and let them enjoy it. Because they're young fit men, they love playing and fair play to them. It's not too hard manage it if you just have an understanding of both codes.”

How important was it to win the group and get that four-week break? We were wondering was it too much of a break, the fact that it was coinciding with your bye as well?

“ It's a very good question because I would have felt last year's month probably went against us. It did actually, the more I think of it. That's not an excuse, we topped our group last year, we won all our games, we had a month of training where we had one challenge game. We played St Thomas, the All Ireland champions the day of the quarter-final where Shinrone played Birr and it went to extra-time. That was probably the game we really wanted instead of a challenge match and Shinrone got that game and to Shinrone's credit they went out the following week and played Raharney who ended up winning the Westmeath championship and then they played us in the semi-final. So they were battle hardened, whereas we weren't and I learned from that.

“This year we've had a couple of really good quality challenge games in the month and good short fast sessions. I said it to the lads, even tonight, we've had a brilliant month, and then the Rynagh's game last week which really stood to us. We were three points down with 10 minutes to go and under pressure but they showed great character to dig their way out of it and score the last seven points of the game to win it. So to me it was total chalk and cheese between this year and last year.”

Would it be fair to say the last 10 minutes of the Rynagh's game was a coming of age moment? We knew about the fitness of Ballinamere and they'd have the legs of Rynagh's but would they have the composure because there were times in the past when maybe they didn't?

“You're spot on. I remember last year we played Belmont in O'Connor Park and it was a real dogfight of a game and we probably dug it out. And a few of the lads said to me that's a game we wouldn't have won before, they showed great character in it. And last Sunday was no different. I wasn't happy with how we were playing overall. We played decent enough in the first 15 or 20 minutes, didn't play great in the last 10 minutes of the first half and lucky enough they only went in a point deficit. It could have been more.

“And then we played ok at the start of the second half, sort of lost our way again half way through but really showed great character and guile just to work our way out and that showed great maturity I think. But there is good maturity in this team. The great thing about it is going by the bookies there's no point in us even showing up for the county final, 1-10 Kilcormac, or whatever it is, but that's not their fault. But we have some serious hurlers in our team too. We have seven Offaly players and John Murphy was with Offaly last year. So we could say we're not a bad team either.

You've actually more Offaly players last year than K-K so it seems very strange that you are such underdogs?

“ It's incredible. Look, K-K are a serious outfit and I totally respect them for that, all credit to them.”

Last Sunday Aaron Maher's performance in the first half must have been a huge bonus because there was a couple of games, I saw you down in Birr and he wasn't going that well, but he really played well and even in the second half when he wasn't scoring he was working like a dog?

“The thing that pleased me most about last Sunday was Joe (Maher), Aaron (Maher) and John (Murphy), probably those lads had a bigger influence on the game than Brian or Daniel. Without doing them a disservice, the non-county lads really stood up last Sunday and delivered a huge performance for us and that was a huge plus for us to get. And the lads themselves who didn't perform to their best, you'd be hoping to get that bit extra out of them in the final.”

To win this you'd probably need 80% going right, nobody ever gets 100% going right, and your big players having big games?

“You will of course. You also need the luck, you have to have that, a bounce of a ball, or a ball hitting a crossbar, a score that should have been scored that was missed and can always go against you or can go with you. We're going to need everything to go our way and we'll aim for that, that's all we can do. But I've told the lads to just embrace this and really look forward to it and enjoy it. It's their first county final to play and they will do that. But again, we need everything to go our way, we need huge performances from everybody, we need, as I said to the lads after the Rynagh's game, we're going to have to get another 20 to 25% of performance from the team. Where you're going to get that is another thing but you never know, you live in hope, to try and work our way into that and if we do, we give ourselves a chance, which we do anyway. We give ourselves a chance of keeping it as tight and close as we can for as long as we possibly can to stay in the game and if we do that we might be right in there.”

If they open a gap at all they're fairly ruthless?

“They're a very, very good team. And under no circumstances would I be playing down our team or playing up their performance levels, we know the quality that they have. I've never done that and I never will do that. I still give us a right good chance and we'll respect them for what they are, a seriously good team, county champions with Offaly players like ourselves. The thing for us is to embrace that and not fear it.

You got a huge return out of some players this year, say Kevin McDermott, football would be his first game, and he would be on the Offaly football panel, not the senior hurling panel but some of his performances in the group were massive?

“Kevin is great lad and in fairness he was carrying an injury, you could see it, it happened against Tullamore in the first few minutes in the championship and it did affect him. He hadn't trained for three weeks going into the game. It did affect his performance but it was important to get him on the pitch and now going into the final because he's a great lad, and I couldn't praise him enough. He's a little powerhouse in the middle of the field for us and thankfully he will be right. He's a footballer first but he's not a bad little hurler either.”

What way is Jack Fogarty?

“Jack is good but he's just very, very sore. He picked up a dead leg and there's a slight twist to his knee, it was like a bang to his quads but he's fine and he will be fine. Thankfully they're all in good nick. Just a couple of sore bodies, Dan (Ravenhill) is sore and Ronan (Cleary) who missed last week will be back and we'll have a full bill of health. Tonight was a good recovery session for the lads, they're in good form and we're just looking forward to the final.”

Birr in the first round was a draw. Were you a bit tired after the county season?

“They were and people may have been saying Birr weren't having a great year but I think that is probably doing them a disservice. Birr drew that game but I was the more relieved manager coming out that night. I didn't think we played well but we weren't let play well and that's down to Birr. I don't make excuses but the lads were with Offaly all year, they had their few days off, I had them for two weeks, so you're only really trying to implement your own game, your own set up, your own style, and to do that in two weeks is probably a hard thing to do. But we were actually relieved to get the point on the board. I felt it was slipping away from us. I was relieved and it gave me two weeks to get our focus and our set up properly in place, and our style back in place, which we did.”

A club and a team going for their first one, that's always hard, a breakthrough is always hard to make?

“Yeah, but somebody has to do it. Who told the Offaly lads in '81 they couldn't win an All Ireland. To be fair to them they won the Leinster in '80. But who told them? Somebody has to step up and do that. But that's something you embrace, you don't have to fear that. I won a good few championships at home with the club and lost a good few as well. It's great for these lads to be there but they don't want to be just a part of that, they want more which is great and they will embrace this and they won't fear this because a lot of these lads are used to big day and that won't faze them at all. It is a huge ask but I think we're up for the challenge and it's all on the day. You never know, Brian Cody, the great man himself said, every team is beatable, if something is not right on the day, every team is beatable.”

I suppose the external stuff, the supporters, the excitement in the community, that's easy for lads who've been in an All Ireland Under 20 and Joe McDonagh final to deal with?

“It is of course. They're used to big days and it doesn't faze them at all and they're such a grounded group of lads. I couldn't praise them enough, they're a great group of lads and I'm proud enough to be with them to be able to say that. I'm delighted to be part of it, and that's all I am, a part of it. They're great for Ballinamere, they're great for Durrow and they're great for Offaly.”

There's an opportunity there. They're a golden generation but the key thing is you have to be alive going into the second half?

“Make no mistake, we have to be in the game, that's the big thing for us. We can't be seven or eight down at half time because then we're in trouble. That's the challenge that's being put in front of us. What do you do? You embrace it or you step away from it. It's going to be a great occasion too, a lot of Offaly players on view from both sides, a lot of the Offaly hurling fraternity will be at the game and they'll be delighted and hopefully the occasion will live up to it. That's important.”