Rosy future beckons for maroon and whites
November 27, 2011Castlerahan's push for excellence was evident on several fronts in 2011 with both the club's sparkling underage brigade and the seniors making county final appearances, albeit with contrasting outcomes.
The club's flagship team demonstrated its rich potential and its emerging maturity by advancing to the 2011 SFC final.
In progressing to the blue riband decider, Castlerahan's seniors showed a lot of character, ambition and resilience as they rolled up their sleeves to make up for the loss of Enda Mulvey to emigration.
In 2011, Castlerahan's premier team turned in their best season in decades. A lot more positives than negatives coloured the club's past year.
And yet, things started very ominously for the seniors in the championship in late July as they lost out by 2-9 to 3-11 to a Belturbet team with a championship run-out already under their belts.
The maroon and whites never came close to producing their best form against the Rories even if they did come back from being 1-4 to 2-7 in arrears to level matters at 2-7 apiece by the 43rd minute.
How a team comes back from a defeat is always a great barometer of the spirit and guts inside the camp and those qualities were seen in abundance a couple of weeks later when they walloped Gowna by 3-16 to 0-6.
Castlerahan showed a Midas touch that day and ran up a magnificent 0-10 to 0-1 lead by the end of a thrilling first half display of fluid football.
Like all good teams, Castlerahan refused to take their feet off the gas and with 25 minutes left to play, they still enjoyed a whopping 14 point lead, 0-15 to 0-1.
A brillant solo goal thereafter from Oisin O'Connell, a lobbed goal by Cian Mackey and another one from O'Connell provided the garnish.
If the team's victory over Gowna was polished then their subsequent 2-8 to 1-6 win over Redhills was dervish-like as they secured their place in the quarter-finals.
That said, Castlerahan's display was coloured by some skilful, exciting play too with their two goals in particular right out of the top drawer.
Castlerahan led by 0-5 to 0-3 before Sean Brady broke through to rifle the ball to the bottom corner of the Redhills net for an inspirational score.
Redhills recovered to level matters with 13 minutes left to play but then Brian Coleman produced a great solo goal from 15 metres to hand Castlerahan a 2-6 to 1-6 lead which was duly embellished by two further points from Sean Brady to seal the deal.
It was goals that counted again in the last eight when Sean Brady and Cian Mackey hit the net to help Castlerahan to a 2-11 to 1-8 victory over Killygarry.
Brady's major was timely as it ended a 17 minute barren period for his team and helped Castlerahan go in at the break, leading by 1-4 to 1-3.
Killygarry reduced their deficit to three points with five minutes left to play only for Cian Mackey to find the net two minutes from time after good work from David Wright which effectively guillotined Killygarry's revival hopes.
In mid-September, Castlerahan worked their socks off as they beat semi-final opponents Belturbet by 1-8 to 1-4 and so clinch a place in the SFC final for the first time in 43 years.
In what was a real war of attrition, Castlerahan scored just a single point through Oisin O'Connell as they trailed by 0-1 to 0-3 at half-time.
But with the wind at their backs in the second half, the would-be winners poured forward and within 25 seconds of the restart Paul Brady pointed and moments later did so again to level the scores.
The Ballyjamesduff-based crew drove into a 0-8 to 0-3 lead before Oisin O'Connell goaled to leave Belturbet trailing by 0-3 to 1-8 and too far removed from the winner's enclosure.
The county final pitted Castlerahan against long-time county kingpins Cavan Gaels with the former grave outsiders in the eyes of most pundits.
As things panned out, the 1/7 match favourites got off to a turbo-charged start, goaling after just two minutes from point-blank range en route to a convincing 4-11 to 0-7 victory at Kingspan/Breffni Park.
The county town side remained on the frontfoot as Castlerahan laboured to find the necessary cutting edge in the last third of the field.
While the Gaels' division of labour in attack was a major part of their armoury, Castlerahan could only notch three points from open play over the 60-plus minutes.
Similarly, the losers-elect were unlucky not to hit the jackpot with their only goal chance of the game in the 24th minute when Brian Coleman ran through but his chest-high shot was parried by the advancing Elliott.
Three minutes later, Castlerahan were left facing into a 0-2 to 2-3 deficit after a slide-rule pass opened up their defence and a goal resulted.
Despite their honest endeavours, Castlerahan continued to play second fiddle to their opponents as they laboured to eat into their opponents' 2-6 to 0-3 interval lead.
Paul Smith and Sean Brady (free) hinted at a Castlerahan fightback in the early moments of the second half but those hopes were soon dashed.
In truth, an air of inevitability quickly wafted its way over proceedings as Castlerahan were unable to put a stop to their opponents' early gallop.
The county town side remained entrenched in the box seat as Castlerahan admiredly refused to allow their frustrations get the better of them.
As things panned out, the garnish of a fourth goal for the leaders in the 44th minute was all that was needed to seal the deal for the Gaels.
A sad end then to what was a wondrous and epochal 2011 SFC campaign.
The future is bright though. 2012 represents a promising vista.
Castlerahan (v Cavan Gaels 2011 SFC final):
J Leahy; S Cooney, E Hill, A Mulvey; D Wright, R Flanagan, E O'Connell; P Brady, A Cusack; P Cusack, S Brady (0-2, both frees), P Smith (0-1); C Mackey (0-2, one free), O O'Connell (0-2, one free), B Coleman.
Subs; S Cooney for D Wright (half-time); A Mulvey for E Hill (39); F Reilly for C McBreen (47).
Underage stars shine
If the quality of Castlerahan's title-winning under 14 and under 16 squads in 2011 is anything to go by, a rosy future is assured for the club.
The goal-crazy Castlerahan youngsters worked the oracle last May as they scooped the U14 Roinn A league final title with a majestic 7-5 to 2-11 win over Castletara.
Castlerahan were very strong in the diamond area of the field, sported a great variety to their game going forward and boasted a defence which kept Castletara's offensive unit under wraps 'till the last five minutes when the losers notched 2-1.
Ryan Farrelly and Dara McEnroe found the net after 22 seconds and three minutes respectively for Castlerahan and when Jake Doyle Hayes pounced to make it 3-0 to 0-2 after 12 minutes, the writing was already on the wall for Castletara.
The lively Garreth O'Reilly saw his close-range shot blocked by Dara McEnroe followed up to fire home the rebound to the net to ease Castlerahan into a 4-2 to 0-8 interval lead.
Castletara's goal continued to live a charmed life on the restar and in the 41st minute Jake Doyle Hayes cracked his shot against the post and in the follow-up Garreth O'Reilly hit the bar.
The maroon and whites nonetheless banged home a fifth goal in the 43rd minute when O'Reilly netted after a great pass from McEnroe.
Five minutes later the game was all over when Jack Croucher goaled to make it 6-3 to 0-10 and, for good measure, Ryan Farrelly weighed in with a classy seventh goal to put the icing on the cake.
Castlerahan (v Castletara U14 Roinn A League final);
Gerry Flynn; Paul Brady, Gavin Daly, Keith Fitzsimons; Dylan Murdock, Jordan Reilly (0-1), Isaque Nazrio; Jamie Reilly, Dara McEnroe (3-2, one free); Jack Croucher (1-0), Ryan Farrelly (1-0), Jake Doyle Hayes (1-0); Redmond Egan, Garreth O'Reilly (1-2), Shane O'Reilly.
Subs used; Conor Grealy; Barry Moynagh; Aaron McDonald; Aaron Reilly.
The following September, the Ballyjamesduff-based boys sealed a magnificent double by securing a 6-7 to 1-6 victory over Cavan Gaels in the championship decider.
Wind-aided in the first half, the maroon and whites blitzed the Gaels' rearguard in a two minute spell either side of the 20th minute mark with Garreth O'Reilly netting on the double to leave nine points, 2-4 to 0-1, between the teams.
Leading by 2-5 to 0-4 at the start of the second half, Castlerahan continued to play a delightful attacking brand of football and a point from Jordan Reilly and Shane O'Reilly helped consolidate their cushioned lead.
The destination of the spoils was soon abundantly clear when Mark Hammond goaled (47th) and Dara McEnroe (50th) left Castlerahan ahead by 4-7 to 0-5.
Like any great team, the leaders failed to take their feet off the gas and another goal from Dara McEnroe and the completion of Garreth O'Reilly's hat-trick provided the garnish.
Castlerahan (v Cavan Gaels U14 Roinn A Championship final);
Gerry Flynn; Isaque Nazrio, Gavin Daly, Paul Brady; Dylan Murdock, Ryan Farrelly, Keith Fitzsimons; Jordan Reilly (0-2), Jamie Reilly; Jack Croucher, Dara McEnroe (2-0), Mark Hammond (1-1); Redmond Egan, Garreth O'Reilly (3-0), Shane O'Reilly (0-4).
Subs; Conor Grealy; Daniel Fox; Barry Moynagh; Aaron McDonald.
Not to be outdone, the club's under 16s landed the Division Two Championship title with an impressive 7-5 to 2-9 victory over Ballinagh in the county decider.
Two goals inside the opening four minutes from Gareth O'Reilly helped propel Castlerahan into a 2-1 to 0-0 lead and removed a lot of uncertainly over the destination of the spoils.
Thereafter the Ballyjamesduff-based side cantered into a 3-2 to 0-6 interval lead and while Ballinagh later reduced their deficit to 2-8 to 5-2, there was no way the leaders were going to allow themselves to be rolled over.
The game was finally ended as a contest in the 55th minute when Killian Finnegan's shot was followed up by David Dunne who flicked the ball home for Castlerahan's sixth goal.
Castlerahan finished in seventh heaven when Paddy Dunne slotted home his second penalty to put the cherry on the cake for a wonderfully talented squad.
Castlerahan (U16 Div. Two Championship final v Ballinagh):
Aaron Cornel; Jamie O'Reilly, Cormac Daly, Jordan O'Reilly; Garry Fitzsimons, Ryan Egan, Mark Hammond; Jamie McGrath, Daniel Harte; Gareth O'Reilly (2-1), Kieran Smith (0-1), David Majola; Darragh McEnroe (0-3), David Dunne (3-0), Paddy Dunne (2-0).
Subs; Lee Halpin; Ryan Brady; Ciaran Reilly. Tweet
