Any sports club can dream of playing on the big stage

  By JIM CARNEY   Individual commitment to a group effort â€â€ that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilisation work.   THAT'S ONE of the famous sayings of Vince Lombardi, the great American Football coach (1913 - 1970), who also said that the difference between a successful person and others 'is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but a lack of will.' And, in his belief that life and competitive sport have a huge amount in common, Vince declared: 'The spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel, are the things that endure.' For the really big moments in the lives of sports people and teams, and their mentors and followers, it's surely no harm to think so philosophically. Around this time every year, provincial champions in hurling and football have exciting prospects. It's a time to dream of glory, a time to come out of the shadows, a time to take a giant step towards new horizons. A time to play on the big stage. Sadly for many, indeed for most teams, the opportunity to test themselves at the highest level proves elusive. They simply don't get the chance; usually, the dream turns to a mirage. The All-Ireland Senior Club Championships in hurling and football started in the early 1970s and have since soared in prestige to a very high place, probably second to the Liam MacCarthy and Sam Maguire Cups. In more recent times, in the last decade, during the reign of GAA president Seán Kelly, Intermediate and Junior Club Championships were introduced and they too are very successful. At senior level, Galway is proudly represented on the Hurling Roll of Honour by Castlegar, Kiltormer, Sarsfields, Athenry, Portumna and Clarinbridge, and in football by Corofin, Caltra and Salthill-Knocknacarra. Mayo have had two football victories: Crossmolina Deel Rovers (2001) and Ballina Stephenites (2005). In the Club I.F.C. there's been only one West of Ireland success in the seven years of the competition (Moycullen in 2008), and none in hurling. And no Connacht victories, to date, in the Junior Club Championships, hurling or football. Coming up: Gort in the Club S.H.C. semi-final against Offaly and Leinster champions Coolderry on Saturday, February 11th and next Sunday (Jan. 22nd) All-Ireland Junior Club Hurling Championship semi-finals, Ballygar (Galway) vs St Patrick's, Ballyragget (Kilkenny) at Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, 2.00 p.m., and Charleville (Cork) vs Fullen Gaels (Warwickshire) at Walsh Park, Waterford, 1.00 p.m. Also next Sunday, the All-Ireland Intermediate Club Football Championship semi-finals: Davitts (Mayo) vs Éire Óg, Greystones (Wicklow) at O'Connor Park, Tullamore, 2.00 p.m., Milltown-Castlemaine (Kerry) vs Craigbane (Derry) at Portlaoise, 3.30 p.m. And All-Ireland Junior Club Football Championship semi-finals: Clonbur (Galway) vs Ballivor (Meath) at Pearse Park, Longford, 2.00 p.m. Derrytresk Fir an Chnoic (Tyrone) vs Dromid Pearse's (Kerry) at Portlaoise, 2.00 p.m.   It will be the biggest day in the history of Ballygar Hurling Club, and hundreds of people from the parish and many more from surrounding clubs and hurling fans from other parts of the county will make the trip to Tipp on Sunday. MacDonagh Park, Nenagh (home club of Éire Óg) is a magnificent venue â€â€ it staged the Tipperary county team's home programme of games in the National League last year. Ballygar's opposition from Kilkenny, the St Patrick's Club, Ballyragget, are highly rated and will be favourites to advance to the All-Ireland final at Croke Park on the second weekend of February. But Ballygar have high hopes too; this is a hugely motivated club right now, with a wonderfully dedicated, hard-working panel of players and mentors, and they are going to Nenagh to play well; to play with pride in the blue jersey, to do justice to their hurling heritage â€Â¦ and to win! How they got to where they are now, on the brink of something so special that it is spine-tingling to think where it could end â€â€ if the sporting gods smile on them on Sunday â€â€ is very interesting. Ballygar, effectively, played two Championships last year, as well as a League. In the Galway Junior (A grade) Championship, one step below Intermediate, two steps below Senior, Ballygar enjoyed a great run, with victories over very experienced clubs such as Craughwell, Meelick-Eyrecourt, Tommy Larkin's, Sarsfields and, in the group stages, Athenry. Indeed, approaching the final they'd lost only to Sylane. Then, meeting Athenry a second time, in the final, Ballygar were caught badly; Athenry gave a powerful first-half display and also finished the game well, with two goals for a 2-9 to 0-8 victory. But Ballygar had a goal effort disallowed midway through the second half, for having two men too close to the goal-line after a third man outside had found the net, and they also smashed a goal-shot off the crossbar in the final minute of the game. Another avenue remained open. Although Athenry were promoted to the Intermediate grade they couldn't participate in the All-Ireland Junior Club Championship because they are a Senior club, so there was an opportunity for Ballygar to become the Galway representatives by winning the Junior 1 competition and they duly booked their ticket to a provincial play-off with wins over Barna-Furbo, An Spidéal and Skehana by double scores, 2-14 to 1-7. In the Connacht final on November 9th a fired-up Ballygar team were much too good for the Sligo standard-bearers Calry-St Joseph's whose star player Keith Raymond, a man with Connacht Railway Cup experience, couldn't prevent a comprehensive Ballygar victory: 2-13 to 1-5. Appropriately, the winners' decisive goal early in the second half was scored by Tom Finneran, the man left disappointed by that late, late bullet off the crossbar against Athenry. Remarkably, Ballygar played three games in eight days to book their ticket to the All-Ireland series; they played Spiddal and Skehana inside three days and the Sligo champions the following weekend. Days like these are a long time coming. Seán Nolan, recently retired Dept of Agriculture senior officer, a great community man and a great GAA man, compiled a short history of his hurling club and it is fascinating to discover that down through the years the hurling men of Ballygar, Newbridge and Toghergar played in Roscommon competitions, rather than on the Galway side of the border. As far back as 1930 they won the Roscommon SHC, in 1952 the MHC and in '53 a Junior Championship title. The club then dropped out of all competitive hurling for a number of years but were back in Roscommon by 1970, staying there until 1994, and in 1985 they won their first Ros' SHC in 55 years with a magnificent victory in the County final over Tremane, 3-9 to 2-6, captained by Micheál Brennan and the team trained by Jimmy Farrell and Kevin Nolan. It's astonishing to think that a relatively small club, playing out of the Roscommon Championship, could have then run the Galway champions Turloughmore to one point in the Connacht Club final: Turloughmore 1-8 Ballygar 2-4. That, remember, was a Turlough' team powered by two legends of Galway hurling, Frank Burke and Martin Naughton. From 1970 to '94, Ballygar won Roscommon titles in all grades and gave players to Ros' county teams, but there was something special about coming 'home' to Galway and here too they've had success in all grades; they're even more proud of the way they promoted the game and passed on the skills to the youngsters coming up, with the national schools also doing great work. And with â€â€ as the present Club officers happily point out â€â€ a huge input from parents and the extended families of young players. The Club officers believe they are blessed to have a large group of parents who play such a key role that it is a driving-force in itself for everybody involved as trainers, coaches and mentors. The hurling club are proud of their links with the other clubs in the parish, especially the men's and ladies' football clubs, and with soccer club Shiven Rovers who joined with the hurling club and St Brendan's football club to promote a very successful Lotto. Together, the hurlers and the men's and ladies' football clubs are currently working hard on the development of a splendid new ultra-modern, multi-disciplinary sports centre, and it is progressing very well. The hurlers are fortunate to enjoy the support of very generous sponsors, such as Tierney's Bar & Lounge, The Thatch Bar, Holmes' Centra; Roma (Valeo Foods, Dublin), Peter Raftery Transport and many others, too numerous to mention them all by name. On a visit to Ballygar last weekend, to meet Club chairman Hugh Healy, secretary Neal Geraghty and team manager Paddy Flynn, it was a marvellous experience for me to study the carefully planned, systematic, sophisticated way the officer board of this club go about their business; how they involve players in coaching and looking after youngsters, how they've embraced I.T. and social media to help run their 10 teams; how they start off each year by doing their budgets and sticking to them as the year goes on; how they have their own hurley repair expert, Colin O'Brien â€â€ he's 15 years of age and brilliant at his job â€â€ and how they regard the concept of community as important as the concept of club and teams. Interesting to learn that Ballygar Hurling Club have one of the best maintained Facebook pages in the country. Always up to date with info from U-12 training, Suck Valley League fixtures and results, big match updates and countless photos. They have over 1,500 Facebook 'friends' â€â€ so that everybody in Co. Galway who follows hurling can sign up, join and support Ballygar in their glorious All-Ireland adventure.   Manager Paddy Flynn is the father-figure of the team now going for glory. He played that famous day when Ballygar came within one point of holding Turloughmore. But that's in the past; Paddy is focused now on next Sunday. A huge occasion, that's what he knows it will be: 'We're representing our club, county and province; down in Tipperary, the spiritual home of hurling, and we won't fear our opposition just because they're from Kilkenny. Our lads are really â€Ëœup' for this game. It's the most important day of their sporting lives and they know that, but I'm sure that'll help bring out everything they've got in them. There's no negatives in this camp; everybody is positive. Twelve months ago, we mightn't have seen it coming, a fantastic opportunity like this, and it might come only once in a lifetime.' Club secretary Neal Geraghty and chairman Hugh Healy say the lion's share of the credit goes to the tireless, hard-working, ever-optimistic Paddy Flynn, a man who has never lost the faith, never contemplates defeat and never thinks the mountain cannot be climbed. But he's not the dour, grim-faced, ultra-serious, aggressively uncompromising type of modern-day team manager â€â€ Paddy takes his job seriously but he can still live his life with a smile and feel the buzz that comes from his love of hurling and his lifelong love of his club. Paddy, to his credit, deflects the praise on to his sideline colleague Mícheál Lohan and coach Donal Franks, a great Offaly hurling man, a great Birr man. 'Micheál has experience, knowledge of the game and insight, a great judge of players and how a game is going,' says Paddy. 'Donie Franks â€â€ we're lucky to have him. What he brings to us is what we need, that special bit extra, and he has a great rapport with our players that makes lads better hurlers and better men.' They've made big sacrifices, too. Dual star Darragh O'Malley was ready to board a plane for Australia. He's put it off until this great hurling adventure ends. It means that much to him. Neal Geraghty has kept club records which show that the Ballygar Junior panel have had 107 training sessions since February 1st last year â€â€ no closed season for these lads! Christmas came and went so fast they don't even remember it; one day was all it lasted, it was straight back to hurling, January 22nd the big day in the calendar; Nenagh the venue â€â€ they can hardly wait to get there. When they do, they'll give it their all. They'll leave everything they have out between the white lines, and come back with no regrets. Many of the players are veterans now. Pat Quinn, an iron man, is the elder statesman of the starting XV at 39. All of them, even the younger lads, have come miles and miles of a long, hard road. They'll not hide in Nenagh on Sunday when it comes to going the extra hard yards to get out of McDonagh Park with a ticket to Croke Park.   Herald Sport extends special thanks to Hugh Healy, Neal Geraghty, Paddy Flynn, Seán Nolan, Barry Nolan, Hugh Mannion, club treasurer Fintan Walsh, Seán Fitzmaurice, Pat Quinn, Eric Walsh and all at Ballygar Hurling Club who extended such a warm, generous céad míle fáilte to this writer last weekend. To captain Gary Brennan and his team, the best of luck on Sunday, lads.