'Town but not out
December 31, 2001
Castletown's angst at missing out on a place in the blue riband intermediate football decider in the past year and on promotion from division two to boot is made bearable for the likes of stalwart clubman Johnny Duffy by a swift analysis of the potential that's inherent in the club.
Johnny Duffy doesn't begin to play down his sense of disappointment as he reviews Castletown's failure to achieve their objective at intermediate level in 2001.
Totally convinced that the north Meath GAA stable possesses as many thoroughbreds within its ranks as any other outfit in the race for championship honours, the outgoing team-selector believes that the club is tantalisingly close to securing its place in the senior ranks for the first time in more than a decade.
However, in that respect, Johnny - club secretary for a period of some 12 years up until a couple of years back - acknowledges that he isn't alone in believing that his club is on the cusp of a breakthrough. Such is the lie of the land in Meath that a whole host of clubs are but a bounce of the ball every year from cracking open the champagne. In our man Duffy's eyes though, the claims of other outfits are immaterial:
"Intermediate level is probably the toughest of all grades to succeed in and I'd say any four or five of the top intermediate sides would have very little difficulty in holding their own at senior level.
"We wouldn't be afraid of any team at intermediate level and, on our day, we'd be every bit as good as the Ballivors, St. Colmcilles and O'Mahonys of this world who are likely to be in contention for championship honours next year. I think they should be more concerned about us than we are about them.
"The lads did lose out badly to Blackhall in the replay of the semi-final but they showed great teamwork and spirit during the season and also guts during games when they had to come from behind. There's not a lot missing that can't be put right," adds Johnny who won an under 21 championship medal in 1983 with Castletown/Rathkenny but who missed out on playing in the final that year against a Walterstown/Senechalstown combination because of a knee injury - the same knee trouble that pre-empted his decision to hang up his boots as a no-mean defender some six years ago.
In terms of what might be missing, Johnny says that if the proverbial magic wand was made available to the club, it's likely that a tad more experience would be woven into the fabric of the team and a "bit more physical strength down the spine of the side."
Fulsome in his praise of the role played by team trainer Sean Barry (a former Castletown player and ex-All Ireland minor medal winner with Dublin) in the preparation and motivation of the Castletown intermediate side this past year, John says that the players responded well to Barry's promptings and considering the very hesitant start the club got off to at the commencement of the year, 2001 didn't turn out at all badly.
"Things didn't look too rosy for us at the start of 2001. The mood wasn't great in the camp in the early days but Sean soon turned things around and the fact that the team proceeded to reach the semi-final came as a pleasant surprise because no one in the club at the start of the year would have banked on us getting that far.
"I think the fact that Sean trained a lot of the same lads who won the under 21 title a few years ago helped a lot. He knew the kind of talent that was in the club and he worked hard at getting them to focus in on what was being asked of them.
"The lads gave more commitment in 2001 than they did for a couple of years and only for the fact that they underperformed in the replay against Blackhall they could have had a great shot at winning the intermediate title."
Certainly things got better and better for Castletown as the year wore on. After being beaten in the opening round by 2-4 to 1-10 by Na Fianna, the green and yellows rebounded to beat Moynalvey (3-8 to 1-13), Moynalty (0-12 to 1-6), Rathkenny (1-8 to 0-8), Ballivor (1-10 to 1-9), Drumconrath (3-6 to 0-5) and finally St. Ultan's (0-13 to 0-11) in the final game of the group. With all matches played in Roinn B, Castletown held top spot with 12 points accumulated from seven games played with Ballivor finishing in runners-up spot on ten points.
In fairness to the Castletown club, they weren't without their troubles in trying to made good a tentative start to the year. For instance, the team had to try and overcome Blackhall Gaels at the first time of asking without the services of experienced trio, James McConnell, Tom McKeown and Brendan Carry plus Australian-based Derek Clarke.
"Even without those lads, we had the chance to beat Blackhall in the drawn game. We should have won. We had a lot of the play in the second half after a very poor first half but I think the fact that we had a long lay off from the first week of August and they (Blackhall) had two competitive games under their belt in between made a big difference."
And Castletown's bad luck with injuries didn't end there either. Barry Smith who had performed brilliantly against Blackhall on the first day scoring nine points was clearly suffering the after-effects of being in a car accident just prior to the replay and he wasn't able to give of his best.
Being sandwiched in among such other notable football hotbeds as Nobber, St. Michael's, Wolfe Tones and Syddan, the gaels of Castletown have to work hard to maximise the talent that is at their disposal in any given year. Of course, a lot of hard work goes into nurturing whatever talent emerges at underage level.
"We've a good underage set-up in place and up until this year we were able to field three adult teams.
"We'd normally be working with around a panel of about 40 players each year and with the club doing well enough in recent years to win under 14, under 16 and under 17 titles, we'd be hopeful that some new, young talent will come through over the next few years."
As someone who played some of his best football with the likes of George Clarke and Noel Carroll, Johnny is well positioned to estimate just what makes a dedicated club player. In this respect, he understands that times have changed, GAA-wise:
"Gaelic football is no longer everything for young fellas. Some players can take it or leave it and I don't think there's the same dedication among players nowadays as there was, say, 20 years ago.
"Players have to realise that to be successful they have to be dedicated off the training field as well as on it. Minding yourself in terms of what you eat and drink has become increasingly important because of the fitness levels that's now demanded of players, even at club level."
Words to the wise indeed.
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