Castletown bridge seven-year gap
November 27, 2011It's amazing what a win can do for a team's confidence. Before their 1-12 to 0-9 victory over St. Colmcille's in Duleek last May, Castletown couldn't buy a win in the intermediate championship. Not only did it banish the threat of a fourth successive relegation dogfight it also boosted morale and made the wearers of green and gold believe in themselves again.
"We've got the winning mentality back again," Castletown captain Barry Smith enthuses.
"We had an awful run since losing the 2007 intermediate final to Donaghmore/Ashbourne. We couldn't win a game in the group stage of the championship and were involved in three successive relegation playoffs. So you could only imagine the relief when we got that win over St. Colmcille's. It lifted a huge weight off our shoulders.
"Unfortunately, by that stage we had already lost to Clann an nGael and Moynalvey, meaning we had no chance of reaching the knockout stages. But the important thing is that we had got our confidence back, we'd made progress and we had something to build on. A lack of confidence was holding us back, but thankfully that's not an issue anymore.
"After the last three years, the only way we could go was up," he adds.
Castletown can take particular encouragement from their excellent form in Division 2 of the All-County League - a campaign which resulted in major silverware winging its way to the clubhouse - as well as a famous Feis Cup victory over top senior side Navan O'Mahony's.
"Our performances in general were very good. We had a magnificent run in the league and beating O'Mahony's in the Feis Cup was one of the year's highlights. And while we didn't do as well in the championship, we could have ended up in the knockout stages with a bit of luck. We only lost to Clann na nGael and Moynalvey by a point," explains Barry, who has featured in no fewer than 13 intermediate championship campaigns for the north Meath club.
The ACFL Division Two final took place at blustery Carlanstown on Sunday, October 9th and it was all too easy for Castletown as they cantered to a comprehensive 2-8 to 0-3 victory over Oldcastle. The win meant that Castletown went through their entire league programme unbeaten. They got off to a flying start in the final with points from Shane Farrelly, Kenny Smith and Man of the Match Mick Hickey. A Darren Finney goal and a Farrelly point ensured a 1-4 to 0-4 interval lead and Castletown never looked back. After the match, the Matthew Gaughan Cup was presented to captain Barry Smith and the celebrations commenced in the wake of a stupendous success for the following personnel:
Jonathan Ginnitty, Noel Farrelly, Frances Hoey, Joey Carry, Stephen Duffy, Gerard Farrelly, Shane Farrelly, Declan Cribben, Robert Cribben, Darren Finney, Kenny Smith, Tommy Smith, Mick Hickey, Barry Smith, James Finnerty. Subs: Alan Smyth for Finney, Kevin Ross for D. Cribben, Jonathan Metry for S. Farrelly, Damien Ginnitty for Finnerty and Paul Smith for K. Smith.
Castletown had finished top of Division Two with ten wins and two draws from their twelve outings. A return of 22 points was seven better than second-placed Oldcastle. With Tommy Smith in fine scoring form and even goalkeeper Jonathan Ginnity getting on the scoresheet, they beat St Michaels in Carlanstown by 0-9 to 0-5 in the opening round on February 2nd and beat St Ultans in Castletown by 0-12 to 0-9 on March 5th. After draws in Syddan (thanks to a Tommy Smith goal) and Oldcastle, the would-be competition winners embarked on an astonishing eight-match winning streak that would see them through to the business end of the competition.
Shane Farrelly scored six points in the 1-15 to 0-12 defeat of Simonstown; Robbie Cribbin bagged 1-1 as Nobber were dispatched on a 2-16 to 1-15 scoreline; Barry Smith top-scored with 0-3 in the battling 0-13 to 0-11 defeat of Trim.
"We have a very promising team which is backboned by players who have had plenty of success at underage level. In my opinion, we have some of the best young footballers in the county. If we can keep blooding one or two new players every year, then there'll be a bright future for this team."
New Castletown manager Paul Kelly, who was part of the 2007 management team along with Sean Kelly and Sean Barry, had one clear objective at the start of this year and that was to end the club's long wait for a championship win in the group phase. With Kevin Barry, Aidan Carry and player Jimmy Finnerty as his selectors, Kelly got a great response to training, but it still took the green and golds three attempts to get that elusive championship victory on the board.
"Our goal was to get a championship win under our belts as quickly as possible. It's just a pity it didn't come sooner because I think we could have given the championship a right rattle if we had qualified for the quarter-finals. We're a difficult team to beat in knockout situations," the long-serving half forward asserts.
Castletown suffered an early setback to their championship campaign when they succumbed to a late Clann na nGael comeback in their Group A opener at Kilmainham. The Athboy-Rathcairn side had led for almost three-quarters of the game before Tommy Smith netted a penalty and Castletown tagged on a point to move three points clear with 10 minutes remaining. But two late points from full back Shane McAnarney and another from Jamie Shaw gave Clann na nGael a 0-12 to 1-8 victory.
The north Meath side also suffered a one-point loss to Moynalvey in their next outing in Athboy. This was an even harder defeat to take with Ray Ryan scoring the winning goal for Moynalvey in injury-time.
The teams were level on 1-4 apiece at the break with Ryan converting a penalty for the winners and Kenny Smith responding for Castletown. With Kenny and Tommy Smith in fine scoring form, Paul Kelly's charges had opened up a 1-9 to 1-7 lead with time almost up, but there was a late sting in the tail when Ryan applied the finishing touch to John Donoghue's high delivery to hand Moynalvey a 2-7 to 1-9 win.
It was a case of third time lucky for the green and golds when they had six points to spare over St. Colmcille's in round three. Wing back Shane Farrelly chipped in with four excellent points, while Alan Smyth grabbed the only goal as Castletown's perseverance finally paid off with a round still to play against St. Ultan's.
"We hadn't won a group match since we beat Drumconrath in 2008 and that was always at the back of our minds," Barry recalls.
"We paid the price for kicking a lot of wides against Clann na nGael, while a last-minute goal denied us against Moynalvey. I think we panicked with the finishing line in sight in both of those games. But we regrouped very well for the Colmcille's game and finished strongly to win that one. Graham Reilly was their big player, but Johnny Metry did a great marking job on him and that was one of the reasons why we won."
While many rural clubs in Meath have been ravaged by emigration, Castletown haven't been too badly affected according to their captain.
"We're lucky in that we haven't suffered too badly from emigration. Neil Farrelly moved to Australia two years ago and he was a big loss because he was one of our up-and-coming players. Wayne Donegan is also gone to Australia and he's another loss. Needless to say, we can't afford to lose anyone because numbers aren't the biggest in Castletown," he explains.
Castletown continue to perform strongly at underage level and this year the highlights were provided by Killary Emmets under 16s and the under 14s. A combination of Castletown and Syddan, Killary Emmets withstood a late rally by Gaeil Colmcille to lift the under 16 Division 3 league title on a 5-9 to 4-8 scoreline at Pairc Tailteann.
Goals from Matthew Deans and Brian Carroll helped Killary to a 2-7 to 1-3 interval advantage and they extended their lead to 10 points in the second half thanks to further majors from Deans, Kevin Carry and Ross Blaney. But a strong finish from the Kells lads left just points in it at the finish.
Meanwhile, the Castletown under 14s reached the Division 6 league final, only to lose to Boardsmill by 3-9 to 4-9. Boardsmill had raced into a 4-4 to 0-7 lead at the break, but second half goals from Thomas McManus, JJ O'Dea and Paul Bellew made for an exciting finish.
The Castletown team which defeated St. Colmcille's in this year's IFC was: J Ginnitty; S Duffy, G Farrelly, J Carry; S Farrelly, M Donegan, J Metry; M Hickey, D Cribbin; B Smith, A Smyth, T Smith; K Ross, K Smith, J Finnerty. Subs used: F Hoey, D Finney, D Ginnity and R Cribbin.
Killary Emmets' under 16 league winners were: Ben Corcoran; Sean Clare, Ronan Mooney, James Duff; Diarmuid Roe, Mark Fedigan, Andrew Kenny; Kevin Traynor, Matthew Deans; Jamie McMahon, Darragh Roe, Kevin Carry; Brian Carroll, Ross Blaney, JJ Meade. Subs: Daniel 4Duffy, William Bellew, Aaron McQuillan, Michael Fedigan, Aaron Sheerin, Cathal Dardis, Stephen Hoey, Luke Kenny and Dillon Smith.
Under 14 league runners-up to Boardsmill: Christopher Deans; Alan Weldon, Eoin Reid; Killian Markey, Jordan Carolan, Kenneth Quale; JJ O'Dea, William Bellew; Mark Kelly, Thomas McManus, Aaron Sheerin; Paul Bellew, Richard Clarke. Sub used: Liam Sheridan. Tweet
