As the Castletown players headed to Pairc Tailteann on a Friday evening in late October this year they must have been asking themselves how they ended up where they were. With a bit of luck at all they might have reached the knockout stages of the Intermediate Football Championship, but the reality was so very different. By Paul Clarke.

Their trip to Navan was for the dreaded relegation final against Drumconrath, approximately two years after they had contested the 'real' final against Donaghmore/Ashbourne. Losing that game was a huge disappointment and it was followed by a very difficult campaign last year when they narrowly avoided a relegation dogfight.
This year, with former Navan O'Mahonys' player Colm Ratty acting as coach, they surely expected things to get better. They didn't, but an inspection of their results in the group stages of the championship demonstrates how thin the line was between emerging to play knockout football and finishing up in the fight for survival.
Castletown were drawn in group B along with Cortown, Kilmainhamwood, Ballinlough and Moynalvey and while they failed to win a game in the section, they were never too far away. They drew twice and sandwiched between those games were two defeats by the minimum margin.
Carlanstown was the venue for the championship opener against the previous year's beaten finalists Cortown who finished strongly to secure a draw (1-11 each). Six different Castletown players scored in the first half and the teams were level on 0-7 each at the change of ends.
The loss of Gerard Farrelly early in the second half hampered Castletown and Cortown pushed three points clear. Ratty's men came storming back and a purple patch enabled them to take a three point advantage, but the closing stages belonged to Gordon Codd who fired over a hat-trick of points to earn a share of the spoils for Cortown.
Castletown led by 0-6 to 1-2 at half-time when they played Moynalvey in the second round at Bective, but last year's junior champions started the second half in superb fashion and scored a succession of points to push ahead. However, Castletown fought back and were the minimum adrift when they were awarded a penalty two minutes from the end. Moynalvey goalkeeper Ollie Regan made a great save from Shane Farrelly's kick and his side held out for victory on a 1-8 to 0-10 score line.
A second successive one point loss followed in the third round when Ballinlough pounced late to win by 2-8 to 0-13 at Moynalty. Wind-assisted Castletown led by six points at one stage in the first half and by 0-7 to 0-3 at the interval, but the concession of a slack goal at the start of the second period was a big blow.
Ballinlough struck for a second goal in the closing stages which inflicted further damage and it got a great deal worse for Castletown when Ken Rothwell's late point snatched victory. The reality was that after three rounds Castletown had only one point to show for their efforts and were in trouble.
Kilmainhamwood, who were later to lose the final to Oldcastle, provided the opposition in the last round of group games at Drumconrath and this time Castletown were deprived of victory by a late goal as the teams finished level on 1-9 each.
Castletown looked to be in a promising position at half-time when they led by 1-4 to 0-3 and they were still in front approaching the end when Ray Magee scored a goal which helped rescue a draw for the 'Wood. It meant Castletown had secured only two group points and were facing a battle for survival.
They would have two opportunities to secure their intermediate status, but the first one brought disappointment when they lost by 0-8 to 1-10 against Clann na nGael at Kilberry. That left them with one last chance, against a Drumconrath team which they had beaten to secure their only victory of the 2008 championship.
This was a meeting of the beaten finalists from 2006 and 2007, so it was clear how the fortunes of both had dipped in a short space of time. Drumconrath had beaten Ballivor in a relegation play off last year to avoid a do or die tussle with Oldcastle, but this time their luck ran out and it was Castletown who survived.
When the teams met in the last round of group matches in 2008 Castletown won by eight points, but this time there was just three in it as they scored by 0-12 to 2-3. However, the margin of victory didn't matter; the fact that they were safe did.
It was a deserved win for Castletown, with nine of their 12 points coming from play. Barry Smith (free) and Shane Farrelly settled them with a couple of early points, but Drumconrath got back to level terms by the eighth minute and a close opening period looked to be on the cards.
However, Castletown took over completely after that and held Drumconrath scoreless for the remainder of the first half as they pushed into a 0-9 to 0-2 interval lead. When they scored the first two points of the second half to lead by nine after 41 minutes it looked to be all over bar the shouting, but Drumconrath kept battling away.
Larry Fay scored their first goal and Castletown's advantage stood at 0-12 to 1-3 by the 48th minute. They failed to score after that and left themselves vulnerable to a late rally, but the only other score of the game was another goal from an Alan Byrne penalty which helped Drumconrath cut the deficit to three points.
With a lengthy spell of injury time to be played, there were still approximately eight minutes to go, but when the final whistle eventually sounded Castletown could breath a collective sigh of relief with the threat of the drop lifted. James Finnerty was a key attacking figure in the win, capping a highly energetic performance with three points, a tally matched by Shane Farrelly and Barry Smith.
Their year had brought a consistent A League Division 3 campaign and a championship which could so easily have been so much better.
Joey Carry was left corner-back on the Castletown team in the 2007 IFC final and occupied the same position in this year's relegation decider against Drumconrath. He has been a member of the intermediate panel since the early part of this decade and was relieved that they held onto their status.
"We lost the first relegation play-off to Clann na nGael, but we knew we had the beating of Drumconrath," Joey said. "We had beaten them by 15 or 16 points in the league this year. We were confident we could beat them, but it was a close call in the end.
"I think we were seven points ahead at half-time and went nine up early in the second half. They hadn't played at all in the first half and we knew at half-time that they would come back at us. When the first goal went in I suppose a bit of panic set in. They pushed forward and got a second goal. Five or six minutes of injury time were played, but we held on.
"All year in the championship we were outplaying teams for three-quarters of games, but fell short in the last 10 or 15 minutes and gave scores away. I don't know what it is. We drew two games in the group and lost the other two by a point. We just don't seem to be able to finish teams off.
"We gave away late scores against Cortown and drew. Against Moynalvey we missed a penalty and lost by a point. Ballinlough got a late point to beat us at Moynalty. It was the same as last year at Carlanstown. Ray Magee got a goal in the last 10 minutes when Kilmainhamwood drew with us. That was another game we should have won.
"There was only a kick of the ball between us getting into the knockout stages and ending up in the relegation play-offs. Our form in the league was very consistent. The only game we lost was against Longwood."
After playing so much knockout football over the course of a few years, contesting quarter-finals, semi-finals and even a final in 2007, the last couple of seasons have been a struggle for Castletown, but it's now a case of looking forward in the hope that things will improve in the championship again.
"If we put in the same amount of effort next year as we did this year we should be there or thereabouts," Joey added. "We need to get back to the quarter-finals and take it from there."
The Castletown team against Drumconrath was: J Ginnity; S Duffy, N Farrelly, J Carry; M Carroll, K Smith (0-1), W Donegan; L Clarke, G Farrelly; R Cribbin (0-1), J Finnerty (0-3), S Farrelly (0-3); T Smith, F Hoey (0-1), B Smith (0-3). Subs - K Ross for T Smith, D Ginnity for Hoey.

U13: Castletown retain crown

Castletown retained the under 13 Division 5 title by one point in this excellent match played in Dunganny.
In a very close affair Castletown opened the scoring with two points from Jamie McMahon which were cancelled out by two Kilbride pts in quick succesion. With two more points from McMahon and one from Brian Carroll Castletown were losing at half time 1-5 to 0-5 playing against the breeze.
The second half fare was as good as you will see at under age level with Castletown taking control with 5 more pts in a row from McMahon and a fine individual effort from Aaron Sheerin. Then it was Kilbride who had their time of dominance with two points in reply which left anxious moments for the winners to finish with a 1pt victory.
Best for Castletown from a great team performance were Alan and Richard Clarke, Eoin Reid, Andrew Kenny, Adrian Sheridan, Stephen Hoey, William Bellew and a man of the match performance from Jamie Mc Mahon who scored 9 points out of their total of 11.
Castletown - Aaron Mc Quillan, Stephen Hoey, Alan Clarke, Eoin Reid, Liam Sheridan, Andrew Kenny, Jordan Carolan, Jamie Mc Mahon, Adrian Sheridan, Mark Kelly, William Bellew, Richard Clarke, Aaron Sheerin, Brian Carroll, Paul Bellew. Subs: Kenneth Quale for Liam Sheridan, Shane Price and Alan Weldon not used. Tweet

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