Bourke believes Ballinamere are a different force this year

By Kevin Egan

As the dust settled and the post-mortems began on the 2024 Offaly senior hurling final and Kilcormac-Killoughey’s narrow win over Ballinamere, it felt like the underdogs were well-placed to build on their strong showing. They had all the hallmarks of a side that would go on to be another example of the age-old adage of ‘you have to lose one to win one’ coming to life.

If Ballinamere retain the team that beat Belmont in this year’s semi-final on Sunday, then 14 players will have started both finals, so the experience of that narrow defeat is shared across the entire group, and Dan Bourke certainly feels like they’ve evolved and developed since that rain-sodden final two years ago.

“It feels very different (this year),” he told the Offaly Independent.

“We're further on now, we have two years under the belt of playing inter-county and then club seasons as well. There's a new management team there. So, yeah, we're really enjoying the hurling and everyone's kind of bought in a lot this year.

“It’s strange to say it after losing a county final when everything you do is geared towards winning one, but going into 2025 we were on a high all winter from getting to the county final, getting so close, nearly feeling hard done by not to win it.

“I’m not saying that Kilcormac-Killoughey didn't deserve to win it, because they're brilliant champions, and they showed that in the last few minutes when they got over the line, but we thought that we’d be able to improve.”

It didn’t quite work out that way, as the two rival clubs met again in last year's quarter-finals, and this time it was a landslide victory for the county champions, and a chastising day for Ballinamere. In hindsight now, the lessons from that campaign could be every bit as much use to the club in their bit to become Offaly senior champions for the first time in their history.

“There was a few small bits that went wrong, maybe we didn’t appreciate them at the time. Lads were injured, then Brian Duignan and Sam (Bourke), they were both away on holidays and came back late, and you're never gonna be 100 per cent when you come back into the group that.

“Then we had a rough day against Coolderry just in the back field there,” he says, nodding out from the large open hall towards the two pitches outside. “In every team, if you don't win the first game of the championship, you're already on the back foot and you never get back to feeling like you’re where you want to be in terms of form.”

Niall Rigney stepped away and the club executive and picked up the phone to contact Seán Treacy of Portumna. The two-time All-Star defender had a strong track record at club and county level as a coach, but perhaps more than that, he had guided both Portumna and Kiladangan of Tipperary to breakthrough wins in their respective senior championships.

Under Treacy, Ballinamere are averaging just under 28 points per game, but Bourke feels it’s not a tactical thing but just a reflection of where hurling has gone, and the quality of some of their scoring players.

“When you have the forward line that we have; you have Brian (Duignan) there, Dan (Ravenhill) is there, Mike O’Brien, Joe and Aaron Maher, John Murphy as well, you have players that can score. We scored 3-28 against Shinrone, I wasn't even playing that day because I got injured during the year, so, I was fairly worried about my place at that stage.

“We have serious backs as well, Ciarán Burke, Ross (Ravenhill), Sam, Jack Fogarty, all the lads there put in a huge effort every day as well and a lot of the scoring comes from there too. When we go out, we just enjoy ourselves,” he continued.

“I don't think we feel too much pressure. But then again, when it comes to crunch time in the game, pressure is a privilege as well. You're lucky to be there.”

The ‘pressure is a privilege’ line originally came from tennis superstar Bille Jean King, and drawing influence from other sports is something that Bourke is doing more of these days.

“I started looking into AFL a small bit,” he says, before clarifying that following in the footsteps of Kobe McDonald and now Finnbarr Roarty is not on his radar!

“Scott Pendlebury, he did a good series on the Howie Games. We've had a bit of work now with sports psychologists, both with Offaly and Ballinamere, so you're kind of getting bits off them, and then you see a few bits online that kind of might resemble whatever you do.”

For Bourke, the main takeaway has been an increased focus on preparation from further out, so that game day is a much more straightforward experience.

“I’d have my week laid out, everything I want to get done, training-wise, and gym-wise, and stuff like that. The day before, you're carbing up and getting ready, then the day of the game, I just like to be relaxed, I don't really think about it too much.

“Sunday morning, I’ll wake up, do a small bit of mobility, get some breakfast in, then I'd go outside, puck against the wall. I’ll come in, watch a bit of TV, cold shower before I leave to get the jitters out of you, and off I go.”

And if it falls to him to be the one to decide the fate of the game in the closing minutes, is that the key to being mentally right to take the chance?

“Ah you'd love to be in that position,” he says, with a smile that indicates he has thought about it during a few of those pucking sessions against the wall at home.

And no fear of it going the wrong way? “No, I wouldn't. With things like that, you have to just go for it in the moment.”

They’ve done the ‘losing one’, and everything since then has been about building towards the second half of that phrase. Sunday will reveal if it comes true.