Oulart the Ballagh still searching for an end to losing streak

As losing records go it would be hard to beat Oulart the Ballagh. Sunday marks the seventh Leinster hurling final for the Wexford club, and so far they’ve won none, lost them all.

Four of those defeats have come in the last five years, and in succession too – including the 2013 final, when Oulart lost to rank outsiders Mount Leinster Rangers, who became the first Carlow club to win the title.

So when Oulart defender Paul Roche talks about having nothing left to lose going into this Sunday’s final against Dublin champions Cuala he truly means it. Although winning on Sunday would certainly make up for all that previous heartbreak, Roche himself being on the teams that lost the four finals in a row, 2010/’2013.

Final record

Roche actually runs a bar in the middle of the village, Oulart Hill Bar, and earlier this week got a reminder of what locals now think of their final record: “A woman came in the other day and said ‘if ye beat Cuala I’ll ate my hand! Ye haven’t a hope!’, and all I said was ‘thanks for the vote of confidence . . . ’

“Then she asked ‘why, do you play?’, and I just said ‘a small bit yeah!’ She said ‘well their forwards are too fast, ye haven’t a hope!’ So, look you’d be hearing that all the time, you just pass it off.”

Two of Oulart’s other final defeats came in the 1990s, when Roche wasn’t playing, and when the club was fronted by Wexford county stars Liam Dunne and Martin Storey. Indeed their losing record isn’t easily explained, although Roche admits the 2013 defeat to Mount Leinster Rangers was particularly hard to stomach.

“Yeah, 2013 probably was the hardest. As players we knew we were up against a good team but everyone around us, even from other parishes, was saying you’re going to win by 10 points. After losing the fourth final you’re sure you’re never going to get back here again. That year Ferns were coming on strong, we were getting more competition in Wexford every year and you were thinking ‘Jesus, it’s a long road back’.

“The last Leinster final took a lot out of us but it feels like it’s out of the system, feels like there’s no pressure this year, like we’re in bonus territory because our main aim was to get back in county quarter-finals.

“This year there’s been no talk about it, about being beaten finalists. It’s just been one game at a time. Even in the Wexford quarter-finals we beat Glynn-Barntown with a goal with the last puck of the name. That was important because that’s where we were beaten last year.

“It probably also feels like it is the last chance that Oulart are going to get. At the same time the talk in the village is ‘if we win it, we win it’. There’s no pressure. Every other year we were favourites going into it. That’s gone now. It was a relief for us to win a county final again because the talk was ‘we’re gone, we’re not going to win another county final’.”

There is also a bond within the club now that those four defeats can only have reinforced: “Keith Rossiter, Des Mythen, Steven Doyle, myself, Rory Jacob, Darren Stamp, we were all in the same class in school. All we wanted to do at lunchtime was hurl and play soccer, we were always together.

“Lucky, for a small place we’ve only lost two players to emigration, a brother of mine is gone, and Frank Cullen is gone. You’d say if you were winning nothing lads would go away. There is the lure of going out to Boston and getting the few bob for yourself, we’re lucky to have kept everyone around.”

Club manager

Roche also credits the arrival of Frank Flannery as club manager for helping to get back into another final, the Cork native also working with the Waterford county team last year: “He came in with us last year for a month, after Waterford went out of the championship and he did boost things on. He’s incredibly enthusiastic, brings a new voice and all new drills, he’s completely freshened things up. He probably thought himself there’s unfinished business here. We’d been in nine county finals before last year’s quarter-loss so I’d say he wanted to put a mark down as well.”

Oulart have one thing in their favour, as Cuala haven’t contested a Leinster final since 1989. “We haven’t really talked about them,” said Roche, “all we’ve spoken about is ourselves. Cuala can do their own thing, they’re putting up serious scores, and they’re rightfully favourites.

“This year, what’s also different, is that we’re big underdogs, so we’re in bonus territory as far as we’re concerned. So rather than worrying about losing all we can think about trying to perform and finally get over the line.”