Joe Mason Piece Round 3

Mason inspires Ballinacor to Wicklow quarter-final

BALLINACOR’S reward for an impressive victory over Baltinglass on Friday night is a place in the Wicklow Junior A quarter-finals, with Joe Mason playing a starring role in a performance that he believes was their best of the group stage.

The former Cill Chomain midfielder contributed 1-1 as Ballinacor got the better of Baltinglass in a game that carried added importance, with top spot in the group at stake.

It was not the most convincing of starts from Ballinacor, with chances going astray in the early exchanges, but once they settled into their rhythm they began to cause Baltinglass serious problems.

Three goals in the first half provided the foundation for the victory, with some excellent combination play opening up the Baltinglass defence.

Mason and Jake Byrne were particularly effective in that regard, linking well as Ballinacor began to find space and move the ball with purpose.

“We were slow enough to start and missed a few chances,” Mason reflected. “But then we got going and scored three goals in the first half.”

Baltinglass did manage to rally before the break, but Ballinacor responded well and Mason was among those who helped ensure their advantage was maintained.

There was no letting up after half-time either, as Ballinacor continued to attack and contributions came from throughout the team, with John Toomey and Lark among those making their mark.

For Mason, the overall display was particularly encouraging.

“I thought it was our best game of the group stage,” he said.

Having negotiated the group with top spot secured, Ballinacor can now look forward to the knockout stages with confidence.

The quarter-final will present a different challenge, but Friday’s performance has given Mason and his teammates plenty of reason for optimism.

“We're looking forward to the quarter-finals and hopefully we can keep going beyond that,” Mason added.

With momentum behind them and Mason finding his form at the right time, Ballinacor will have their sights set firmly on a place in the latter stages of the Wicklow Junior A championship when they play Blessington's second team in two weeks time.

Sean Kelly Mayo

 From Crossmolina to London, Boston and Wexford: Sean Kelly’s road less travelled 

There have been plenty of twists and turns in Sean Kelly’s GAA career, but few could have predicted that his footballing journey would take him from Crossmolina to Boston, from London to Wexford — and, in between, see him line out against his native Mayo in an inter-county championship game.

Kelly’s journey began at home, playing his football with Crossmolina, before the pull of life abroad took him across the Atlantic to Boston.

It was there, with Christopher’s, that he enjoyed one of the highlights of his playing career.

“We won a Boston Championship in 2009 with Christopher’s out in Boston,” Kelly recalls. “And we won the All-American that year as well.”

That success was followed by another summer in Boston, giving Kelly two seasons playing Gaelic football in the United States.

But it was across the water in London where perhaps the most unusual chapter of his career unfolded.

In 2011, Kelly found himself lining out for London against Mayo — his home county — in what was James Horan’s first season in charge of the Mayo senior footballers.

There was an intriguing backstory to that encounter.

Just months earlier, Kelly had actually been given the opportunity to try and impress the new Mayo manager.

“I actually did a trial for James Horan, I'd say in the November of 2010,” he says.

The circumstances were unusual enough in themselves.

“I flew home from London for a trial. I don't really know why, but anyway, fun fact I suppose.”

The trial did not lead to a place in the Mayo set-up, but it made the events of 2011 all the more remarkable. Having considered pulling on the green and red, Kelly instead found himself wearing the London colours and facing Mayo.

It is one of those quirks of a footballer’s career that perhaps only Gaelic games can produce — a Mayo man on the opposite side, playing competitively against the county he had grown up supporting.

The years since have seen Kelly’s footballing journey continue to take unexpected directions.

At one point, he returned home and pulled on the Crossmolina jersey again, playing intermediate football during one of the Covid-affected seasons.

“I actually transferred home and played for Crossmolina one year,” he says. “I think it was one of the Covid years.”

It was another chapter in a career that has refused to follow a conventional path.

Today, Kelly is based in Wexford, where he plays his club football with St Anne’s Rathangan.

The black and blue  of St Anne’s now represents the latest stop on a journey that has already taken him through some very different footballing environments.

And there is perhaps no better illustration of the life football can give a player than the photograph of Kelly in the St Anne’s colours, flanked by his two sons, Jack and Ben.

From Crossmolina, to Boston, to London and now Rathangan, the jerseys may have changed but the love of Gaelic football has remained constant.

Along the way there was a Boston Championship, an All-American title, a London shirt worn against Mayo, a trial with his native county and a return home to Crossmolina.

For Sean Kelly, it has been a career measured not simply in medals or appearances, but in the places football has taken him — and the memories created along the way.

Next Saturday Kelly will play for St Anne’s against the Starlights hoping to continue his football career and send his adopted side into a county quarter final.

https://www.mayonews.ie/sport/gaa/from-mayo-to-london-boston-and-wexford-one-mayo-footballers-road-less-travelled-8953121