Ballivor tide too strong for Navan O'Mahonys

Twelve months on from the heartbreak of a JFC final defeat by Ballinabrackey at the same venue, Ballivor manager Paddy Doyle was back patrolling the Pairc Tailteann sideline on Sunday hoping for a more favourable outcome on this occasion. Only days after his 50th birthday (the previous Wednesday) Doyle was anticipating a belated present in the form of the Matthew Ginnty Cup, a traophy that had never visited Ballivor. Based on Sunday's performance, Ballivor will certainly add some strength to the intermediate grade in 2012 and even at this early stage can be considered as genuine contenders for outright success next year, a decade after they won that grade for the fourth time and moved up to the top flight of club football in meath. Doyle wasn't looking that far ahead on Sunday as he savoured the atmosphere and absorbed the compliments that team captain Brendan McLaughlin bestowed. "Paddy Doyle is a great manager, we owe him a lot, he stood by us after the disappointment of last year's defeat by Ballinabrackey," roared McLaughlin to enthusiastic cheers from the Ballivor supporters. "I'm over the moon with that result, it's great, but they're a good bunch of lads, last year was heartbreak for us, this makes up for it," Doyle told the Meath Chronicle. "We decided last January that we were going to make another big effort to try and win the title. "The best thing that happened to us this year was our performance against Curraha in the semi-final, that was our wake-up call, we were fortunate to get out of that game with a victory. "We knew that if we played like that again, especially in the final, that we wouldn't win anything, we correcetd the mistakes and now we can look forward to the IFC next year," he added. Before any of that can be considered, Ballivor will go into the Leinster Club JFC when they are scheduled to take on either the Louth or Longford champions. Ballivor will have to wait until Sunday 6th November to make their debut in the provincial competition that Ballinabrackey, Longwood, Moynalvey and Clann na nGael won in the last four years. "Meath teams have a good record in the Leinster Club JFC and hopefully Ballivor will maintain that strong tradition," stated the manager. And even before that fixtures comes around, there will be the small matter of the SHC final between Kildalkey and Navan O'Mahonys on Sunday 9th October. "A lot of these players will be back here in a couple of weeks to line out with Kildalkey in the senior hurling final and they will probably face some of the O'Mahonys lads that they encountered today," added Doyle.