Time on their side
December 31, 2010come true there were still plenty of positives this past season for the men from Ballyjamesduff.
Minor and Under 16 county final appearances and a first-ever senior championship victory over your biggest rivals is certainly nothing to begrudge, particularly when you're operating with a depleted panel from the year previous and you're management departs at the start of the summer.
In his first year as secretary, Ferdia Sweeney enjoyed somewhat of a rollercoaster season with the club which saw them produce up and down form in both the league and championship.
The objective Meath native Eamonn Barry set for his team at the start of 2010 was straight forward, according to Ferdia.
"We wanted to win the senior championship," he stated. "We were beaten in the quarter-finals last year by Denn and we just wanted to push on from that and go a step or two further, but obviously it wasn't to be.
"We knew we'd have a lot of players missing from the start of the year. Padraig Smith, Barry Cusack, Caolan McBreen, Fiachra Cork and Fiachra Sweeney were all away and we were in for a tough season without them, but we were still confident that we could do well."
Ironically, 2010 started for the club by having to play their 2009 ACFL Division One semi-final from which they emerged 0-9 to 1-5 victors to set-up a final showdown with defending champions Cavan Gaels - a fixture that would go on to cause much controversy.
After a debacle which went on for weeks between both clubs and the county board over the timing over the fixture, the latter awarded the title to the Gaels in late April, bringing an end to the saga.
By that stage, Castlerahan were already two games deep into their 2010 campaign as they kicked-off in good fashion with wins over Gowna (0-10 to 0-6) and Cuchullains (0-10 to 0-9) to take four points from four.
A visit down the road to Virginia, where goals made all the difference, saw Barry's men pick up two more points against Ramor United (2-7 to 0-10) and rivals Crosserlough were put to the sword by 0-12 to 0-7 the next day out to confirm Castlerahan's place at the top end along with the Gaels and Kingscourt Stars.
Barry couldn't have asked for a better start from his players, but come mid-May things took a turn for the worst when they were handed a 2-15 to 1-8 defeat in Ballinagh and seven days later two goals denied them a result at Terry Coyle Park, where hosts Cavan Gaels ran-out 2-11 to 0-11 winners.
A third defeat to strugglers Denn (1-12 to 0-12), surprisingly saw Barry vacate his post as senior manager and it was left to selector Paddy Sheanon to take over the reins as manager of the team, while Barney Mulvey, Tony Fitzpatrick and Niall Cusack all moved into selectors' roles.
The new-look management enjoyed success in their first game in charge as intermediate champions Lavey left Ballyjamesduff on the receiving end of a 2-7 to 1-8 defeat - goals again making all the difference for the home side.
A regrettable display away to Kingscourt (0-12 to 0-4) brought the team into June, when mixed results typified Castlerahan's trail in Division One for 2010, with victory over Killeshandra (1-14 to 1-8), defeat to Belturbet (1-9 to 1-7) and a win against Rehills (2-15 to 0-7), and maintained their mid-table position.
"Our league campaign was up and down," Ferdia plainly stated.
"We beat Gowna in our first game and then had wins over Cuchullains, Ramor and Crosserlough in what were very tough games, but we took a hiding then from Ballinagh and Cavan Gaels beat us by two goals and when Denn beat us by a goal a week later it kind of took the wind out of our sails.
"It was a mixed league for us. We avoided relegation, but at the same time we were a good bit off finishing in the top four to make the semi-finals and although we were in a group with Killygarry, Lacken and Crosserlough, we were still confident of making the quarter-finals because Paddy had come in and done brilliant preparations with the team."
Lacken were first up for Sheanon's team at Kingspan Breffni Park and once more Castlerahan's goal-scoring touch proved crucial to their victory. The game had been tit-for-tat up until a pin-point pass from Ronan Flanagan released Oisin O'Connell through and he rifled his side's first goal to the Lacken net.
Lacken recovered well and brought the game level ten minutes into the second-half, but when Sean Brady was afforded the time and space to slot in a second goal it provided the decisive score in a 2-11 to 0-14 victory for Castlerahan.
Brady's decision to take a break from the inter-county scene was one that benefited a depleted Castlerahan squad, according to the club's secretary:
"This year would have been the first where Sean Brady was available to us all year round since he was about 16 without having county commitments. He got a goal for us in every game in the group stages of the championship and was one of our best players in the league as well."
Brady netted again as Castlerahan put one foot in the quarter-finals via a 1-10 to 0-7 win against Killygarry, but the sweetest victory of the season was yet to come as they collided with Crosserlough on August 7, 2010 - a landmark date to remember for the Castlerahan club.
Battling to avoid another relegation play-off, Crosserlough came out all guns blazing for this clash in Mullahoran against their old rivals, moving 0-5 to 0-1 ahead after the first 10 minutes. Points from Sean Brady and Patrick Cusack narrowed the deficit for Castlerahan momentarily, but their opponents hit back in determined fashion to take in a 0-8 to 0-4 lead at half-time.
The Ballyjamesduff outfit came out a transformed side in the second-half and levelled the game through an Oisin O'Connell point and another well-taken goal from none other than Sean Brady. It was a hectic battle from there on in, as Crosserlough refused to lay down and a draw looked certain once Enda Gaffney cancelled-out Oisin O'Connell's 59th minute point, but in the end it was an unlikely gem from corner-back Brian Coleman that won it for Castlerahan in injury-time to confirm their place in the last eight and record the team's first county senior football championship victory over the Kilnaleck men.
Castlerahan (SFC v Crosserlough): Jamie Leahy; Stephen Cooney, Fergal Flanagan, Brian Coleman (0-1); Paul Cusack, Alan Mulvey, Enda O'Connell; John Clarke, Patrick Cusack (0-2); Daniel Lynch, Sean Brady (1-2), Cian Mackey; Nigel Duignan (0-1), Ronan Flanagan (0-1), Oisin O'Connell (0-2). Subs: Paul Brady (0-1), Pauric Cunningham.
Ferdia summed up the display, by saying: "We were down by four points at half-time and came back into it in the second-half and beat them by a point, which said a lot about the character that day considering we were practically through to the quarter-finals.
"It's the first time that Castlerahan beat Crosserlough in the championship. They had beaten them before as St Mary's but this was the first time as Castlerahan and it was special because there has been good rivalry there down the years between both teams."
Mullahoran were drawn out of the hat by Sheanon's charges and having come through a tight group which read: Gowna, Belturbet and Denn with flying colours Castlerahan were sure to be up against it, but Ferdia explained that they were certainly far from terrified going in against the Dreadnoughts.
In the end, it was an off-key performance from Castlerahan that let them down as they exited the championship at the end of August and Mullahoran advanced to a semi-final meeting with Cavan Gaels thanks to a 0-10 to 0-5 score-line in their favour.
"We felt we were well prepared going into the game, but we just didn't play well on the day," Ferdia admitted.
"We had our hands full with the likes of Paul Brady and Danny Brady and they were just that bit more experienced and were probably the more hungry team on the day. Enda Mulvey, who had been playing well for us in our full-forward line, got a serious injury early on in the game as well and it didn't help our cause.
"Hopefully, he'll be back fit again for next year and you'd love to have a few more of your players back as well. If we can get a few of them back and keep the ones we have at the moment we'd have a strong team and a strong bench, which was something we were missing this year."
Tweet
