O’Brien points to regular football for club improvement

By Thomas Conway

Such a place does not exist, but if Tipperary football did have a hall of fame, then surely a portrait of Steven O’Brien would be hanging on the walls somewhere.

Accompanied by a long list of accolades including the 2011 All-Ireland minor final victory, the 2020 Munster Championship success, and various other individual awards which the 28-year-old midfielder has collected during his career to date.

Whether Ballina’s county intermediate final success would actually top that list of accolades is subject to debate, but it would almost certainly be among them, somewhere high up the list.

So too would O’Brien’s player-of-the-match display - the way he marshalled the middle-third like a true midfield general, and thrilled spectators with his graceful placed-kicking. It was a tour de force from the Ballina captain, but when the dust had finally settled, on Monday, he was quick to point out the contributions made by many of Ballina’s other players - the likes of centre-back Mark Hanley, and Tipperary senior hurler Michael Breen.

“Look, we were delighted with the performance,” he said.

“I suppose we knew we had that kind of performance in us, but we also knew that it would take that sort of performance to beat Mullinahone. We lost to them back in August, and the whole focus since then has been about getting up to their level, to be able to overcome them. So, we really are delighted, delighted that we were able to produce it on the day. Just delighted.”

He was also keen to emphasise that Ballina were always aware of their capabilities. They knew they had the skill and resolve to produce a display like the one Semple Stadium witnessed last Sunday, and so the satisfaction at having finally delivered on that potential must have been immense.

Regular football can do great things for a team, and O’Brien felt that, in Ballina’s case, it was a major factor in enabling them to summit this year’s intermediate championship. They benefited hugely from the county league, which offered them a string of close-knit, competitive games, before a championship football had ever been kicked. That, combined with various friendly matches against high-quality opposition, helped the side to evolve and mature - both structurally and individually.

“We learned a lot about ourselves throughout the year, and not just in that first Mullinahone game,” he added.

“One of the major benefits this year was that we entered into the county league, so that meant we had a couple of competitive games before the championship had even begun. And by playing those games, by playing as many games as you can, you find out a lot about the team and about players and structures and stuff like that, so that was a huge help. It’s all well and good thinking up theories about how you’re going to play, but unless you have regular match practice, then you won’t be able to implement much of it.”

Did O’Brien ever think, as an eighteen-year-old All-Ireland Minor Championship winner, that his little club would reach the heights of senior level? He admits that it was certainly an aspiration, though he always knew that it would require a dedicated management team and a seriously committed group of players. Fusing those two dimensions was never going to be easy, but Ballina have now managed it, and their captain believes that with the stream of talent currently flowing through the underage ranks, Ballina are well-placed to maintain their upward trajectory and soar to even greater heights.

“Ambition would probably have been the right word. I would have always had ambitions that the club could do something like this, because the talent has always existed,” he insisted.

“Even historically, down through the years, there has always been plenty of talent there. But the structures just weren’t in place. So now that we do have those structures and the level of organisation is there, it falls to us players to deliver on it. And look, we have a lot of underage talent coming through as well. There are some fantastic players within the club, and now those players have something to work towards.”