![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/3860819_9_articleinline_WhatsApp_20Image_202026-07-24_20at_2017.00.31.jpeg\" "\\"The")
The Square, Ballaghaderreen decked out in red and green. <\/p>\nThe excitement and tension building in Ballaghaderreen are arguably louder than the on-going construction works at The Square, as the town eagerly awaits this Sunday\u2019s All-Ireland.<\/p>\n
The town will be strongly represented in Croke Park, with Andy Moran at the helm of the team, and Kuba Callaghan and David McBrien on the panel.<\/p>\n
As someone from the nearby Lisacul, it is with begrudging respect I\u2019ll have to watch on as my perspective is strongly influenced by historical boundary debates!<\/p>\n
Nonetheless my own club, \u00c9ire \u00d3g, is very grateful to Ballaghaderreen GAA who have been very hospitable to us with their pitch and facilities as James Timothy Park is redeveloped.<\/p>\n
One member of the Ballagh senior panel who\u2019ll be supporting his clubmates proudly from Hill 16 is Lee McGowan.<\/p>\n
When the Herald spoke to him, Lee was helping his mother, Jeannie, tidy up their coffee truck, which is a regular fixture in the town. Outside of football it is exciting times for \u2018Genie\u2019s Coffee\u2019 as the business is set to move into a premises beside Duffy\u2019s SuperValu on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead to the game, Lee said: \u201cI\u2019m buzzing for it now, it\u2019s a big chance for Mayo,\u201d and he was able to provide some good insight into the Ballaghaderreen representation.<\/p>\n
As it happened, David McBrien picked up a coffee earlier in the day, and he didn\u2019t show any signs of nerves ahead of the biggest game in his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cMackie was here today, you wouldn\u2019t make that man nervous, Kuba would be the same – they\u2019re both very calm,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
Having being a recipient of Moran\u2019s training coming up through the age grades, Lee described his style: \u201cHe\u2019s very positive, always smiling, always talking \u2013 you\u2019d hear him a mile away.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The sentiment at Towey\u2019s Spar throughout the week has been \u201creserved\u201d, according to owner Pat Towey.<\/p>\n
The Square, Ballaghaderreen decked out in red and green. <\/p>\n
Pat is a lifelong supporter of Mayo and is all too familiar with the fallout from previous finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s good that the town is well decorated, but we\u2019ve been in the space so many times before and you don\u2019t want to get your hopes up. People coming into the shop in general are hoping David McBrien will do well, Andy does well and that it won\u2019t be all about Kerry,\u201d he outlined.<\/p>\n
There has been largely bi-partisan support for Mayo in Pat\u2019s shop ahead of the final, and he believed a Mayo win could represent a lift for the whole country.<\/p>\n
As I walked into Se\u00e1nie Mac\u2019s barbershop, and as is so often the case, a football congress was in session with representatives from Roscommon, Mayo and Sligo.<\/p>\n
Roscommon and Western Gaels legend Se\u00e1nie McDermott was in the process of cutting the hair of P\u00e1draig Duffy from Gurteen.<\/p>\n
He noticed a similar feeling to that of Pat Towey\u2019s customers. \u201cI must say there\u2019s not a lot of hype, people are kind of anxious because Kerry are mad favourites. People are kind of going up more in hope \u2013 but that might be a good thing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The improvements that Mayo have made since their ten point defeat to Roscommon was highlighted by the Western Gaels player, and he gave credit to his footballing contemporary Moran for that change.<\/p>\n
He predicted Kerry to win by three or four points but added: \u201cIf Mayo are in the game going down the Hogan Stand at half time, and can bring the game tight, down the stretch, with 10 minutes to go, who knows?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
From the barber\u2019s chair, P\u00e1draig predicted a slightly larger winning margin of five or six points for Kerry but pointed out that Gurteen would be delighted to see a Mayo win.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole of the West are hoping they can bring it back. It hasn\u2019t been back since Galway so it\u2019s been a long time coming.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Timing his haircut to perfection, Kerry native Eoin Buckley arrived to the congress.<\/p>\n
The Beale man, who has lived in the town for many years, will be in the Cusack Stand on Sunday and backed Jack O\u2019Connor to do the business.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m quietly confident. We don\u2019t like to get overly confident, there\u2019s no hype train down there.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Finally, I returned to my former place of employment, Regan\u2019s Butchers to get the thoughts of my old boss Paul Webb.<\/p>\n
As a Ballyhaunis club man through and through, it is a particularly proud day for Paul to see Jack Coyne lead the Mayo team out on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI coached Jack since he was knee high. He\u2019s a great guy and I\u2019m very happy for him and his family. It\u2019s a proud day for Ballyhaunis,\u201d said Paul.<\/p>\n
Playing against the breeze into Hill 16 in the first half was imperative for Paul, and while he acknowledged the great work Andy Moran has done with Mayo, he felt it may be too early for this Mayo side to capture All-Ireland glory.<\/p>\n
He outlined: \u201cWe\u2019re playing a team that\u2019s probably the best since the Dublin six-in-a row. We\u2019ll be putting out fires basically and I can\u2019t see our midfield competing for the whole game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The excitement and tension building in Ballaghaderreen are arguably louder than the on-going construction works at The Square,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-566308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}