Breaffy's Aidan O'Shea celebrates after victory over Ballaghaderreen in the 2020 Connacht Gold Mayo SFC quarter-final.
By John Harrington
Breaffy GAA Club Chairman, Gerry Bourke, has never taken a drink in his life.
He’s heard there’s a bet doing the rounds though that he’ll chance a brandy if Breaffy can manage to win their first ever senior county title on Sunday.
He’s not so sure himself. He reckons he’s mad enough without drinking and he definitely won’t need anything artificial to lift his mood if Breaffy can finally get their hands on the Moclair Cup by beating Knockmore in Sunday’s Connacht Gold County SFC Final.
Now in his third term as club chairperson, Bourke has put countless hours into doing all he can for Breaffy on a variety of committee roles for the bones of 30 years.
So, it would mean a hell of a lot to finally see the club win a maiden county senior championship title after three Final defeats in recent years.
“A lot of people ask me the question whether I'd prefer to see Mayo win the Sam Maguire or Breaffy to win the Moclair Cup,” Bourke told GAA.ie
“Without a doubt, the Moclair Cup would be my priority. I couldn't put it any plainer, and I'd say the players would tell you the same thing.
“This is what we want. This is our fourth kick at it now and I think we're a better team and a better squad than we were before. We thought we were there before, we thought we were good enough, but we had a couple of near misses.
“We just weren't scoring enough. We scored 11 points and Ballintubber scored 12 in one of the Finals. Now we have the ability to score more. That's our greatest asset now, we're putting up bigger scores.
“It would be massive if we could do it.”
Breaffy Club Chairman, Gerry Bourke, right, receiving his award in 2019 from Gerry McGovern President of Connacht Council in recognition of his 5 years service.
Breaffy have been one of the best senior club teams in Mayo for the best part of 10 years now, but before then they weren’t really mapped.
Based on the outskirts of Castlebar, they’ve benefited from a population surge that they’ve been proactive enough to make the most of.
“The club was formed in 1953 and from that period of time up until about 20 years ago we were junior and, I would have to say, a mediocre junior team,” says Bourke.
“We'd have won one or two county finals at junior level and gone to intermediate only to go back down again. It was really this crop of players that pushed the thing on. The skill level increased and the quantity of players coming into the club increased because the local population increased.
“Castlebar is now a suburb of Breaffy! A huge amount of people came to the area and took up residency in the parish and as a club we put our arms around them.
“These people brought a lot of expertise. There were bankers, developers, consultants, they brought a whole wealth of knowledge and expertise into the village, parish, and the club.
“They got involved and then children came along and they got involved. Out of that, we have grown to where we are at the moment.”
Matthew Ruane of Breaffy in action against Brian McDermott of Westport during the Mayo County Senior Football Championship Semi-Final match between Breaffy and Westport at Elvery's MacHale Park in Castlebar, Mayo.
The Breaffy team that will pitch up at Sunday’s County Final is a very experienced one.
Most of the players contested County Finals in 2013, 2015, and 2018, and established Mayo stars like Seamus O’Shea, Aidan O’Shea, and Robbie Hennelly have been on the road together a long time and given great service to the club.
“They're absolute gentlemen,” says Bourke. “This group of players has been together since U-12.
“Most of them came through together through Breaffy National School through the hands of Sean Grealish. Sean is an ex-Breaffy player and an ex-county player and I think he played with Thomas Davis in Dublin.
“He moved west as a school-teacher and he got a post in Breaffy National School and he would have taught them academically and he would have coached them on a Tuesday at school and been involved in underage coaching as well in the club.
“This group would have won a lot in the different age-groups coming up along including a Minor A title and Senior League.
“The elusive one is the Moclair Cup. That's the one we want to get our hands on.”
Breaffy came up just short in the last county final they contested when losing to Ballintubber by a single point in the 2018 decider.
They have strong spine down the middle of the team thanks to players like the three O’Shea brothers and Matthew Ruane, and this year a greater cutting edge in attack thanks to the red-hot form of free-taker Colm Flynn.
Breaffy's Colm Flynn in action against Westport's Lee Keegan in the 2020 Mayo SFC semi-final.
A native of Ballymahon in Longford and captain of the 2018 TG4 Underdogs team, Flynn has made a huge impact since joining Breaffy.
“We didn't know much about him, to be honest, before he moved to the area,” says Bourke.
“But since he came in he has been the stand-out player for us. Because with the absence of Liam Irwin who opted out of the panel this year, we didn't have a quality free-taker until Colm came on board.
“He's got us over the line in every game so far. His percentage is so high when it comes to scoring that he's just been a fabulous asset to the club and to the team.
“In all honesty, we're in a final down to his shooting skills.”
One man everyone in Breaffy wishes was there to play his part on Sunday is the late David Gavin who passed away in 2017 after a drowning accident in Canada.
A classy defender and a stalwart of the 2013 and 2015 County Final teams, his absence is still feel keenly by everyone in the club, particularly on a week such as this one.
“That has never gone away,” says Bourke. “We'd have huge sympathy for the Gavin family on a day like this. Aidan O'Shea our captain went to school with David Gavin, they were classmates in national school and secondary school.
“Without a doubt, that will come to the fore. His memory has never gone away, we're fierce conscious of it, and lads would be emotional about it. There was a great bond there.
“David was such a wonderful clubman. I don't know will we ever really get over it. I can't imagine how his family feel coming up to a day like Sunday.
“It's a very raw emotion for everyone who knew him that you'll just try to put to the back of your mind on the day.
“But I know if Aidan O'Shea was to lift that Cup, that would be the first thought that would come into his mind, that David Gavin is missing.”
Breaffy footballer, David Gavin, died tragically in 2017.
Breaffy know better than any club that County Finals are hard won and that’ll be the case again on Sunday.
Their opponents Knockmore are an effervescent young team and looked seriously good in their quarter-final and semi-final victories over Ballintubber and Ballina.
Kevin McLoughlin pulls the strings from centre-back in a well-organised side that defends and attacks in numbers and at great pace.
Bourke is expecting a stiff test, but hopes Breaffy’s more seasoned team will have the heft and nous to find a way to win.
“We hope that we're a bit better than we were in previous Finals and that we're a bit stronger and a bit cuter than Knockmore on the day,” he says.
“They're a very young team, maybe they mightn't have the same level of experience, but any team that Ray Dempsey puts out you can rest assured it will be very well prepared. He has a great footballing brain.
“We'll just have to see. I don’t know how I’d feel if we could win it. These nights I don’t sleep too well thinking about it!”
