King of the Castle
December 31, 2000
A disappointing championship year for Castletown was salvaged when the club went on to gain promotion to Division Two. Captain James McConnell hopes the higher standard of league football will provide the springboard for a stronger challenge on the championship front.
When the draw for last season's Intermediate championship was made, Castletown knew it wouldn't be easy. Anything but.
Pitted against Carnaross, Ballivor, Drumree, Moynalty, Duleek and Drumconrath, good form and consistency would be the basic requirements. First of all the big three, Ballivor, Carnaross and Drumree: they knew they'd have to get something out of those games, or else their chances of qualification would be seriously impaired.
Even then nothing would be straight-forward, especially with local derbies against Moynalty and Drumconrath to be contested. Still, a certain amount of confidence washed through the club. Brian Murtagh, the man who had brought Cortown from junior to senior in a matter of years was brought in as manager. Moreover, despite the fact that the championship was getting harder with every passing season, the experienced Castletown players, James McConnell among them, knew that a couple of good early wins could set the ball in motion for a terrific campaign.
"The problem," says James looking back on it, "is that we were slow out of the blocks."
Games lost should have been won, games drawn ditto. The pivotal one was the one in Kells against Ballivor who eventually reached the Intermediate decider. It was the third from last game and had Castletown won it they would have been in a strong position to reach the semi finals. Alas they contrived to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Five points up in the hot sun with twelve minutes to go they allowed their opponents to come storming back into the game and collect all two points. Frankly, a disaster.
"I'm not sure what happened to us against Ballivor," says McConnell, the club captain. "When we were five points up we had a goal controversially disallowed and I think that took away our momentum. We started to lose concentration and mistakes crept into our game. Ballivor took full advantage.
Even if we'd have got a draw we still might have made it out of the group but as it was we had no chance."
So that was one game against the top three that brought nothing. The other two didn't bring much either. The first game of the season was against Carnaross, newly demoted from the senior ranks. "We always knew that was going to be a tough one."
And so it was, with Ollie Murphy's goal proving to be the crucial score in an opening day win for the Intermediate new-boys. Castletown's first championship victory of the year came in the next game against Moynalty. And it could, and "should" says club secretary Brendan Smith, been two wins in a row against Drumree. "We had so much possession in that game but we just couldn't translate it into scores," he says. "We missed a lot of chances and instead of pulling away from Drumree we kept letting them back into it. A draw was a very disappointing result for us."
Due to other commitments James McConnell, who alternated between midfield and the forward-line throughout the season, missed the Drumree game. He's 34 now and still enjoying his football as much as ever. His role as nurturer and encourager of young talent has never been of greater importance. "Some of the young lads come in and think they know it all straight away but they soon learn through experience," he says.
The captain "takes each year as it comes" as they like to say. His determination to help bring Castletown to the latter stages once again of the Intermediate championship remains undiminished but he acknowledges that as each season passes the difficulty of the challenge intensifies. "Every year seems to get tougher. We haven't reached the qualifying stages for three seasons now and it's not going to get any easier with two senior clubs coming down each season."
What he does hope is that manager Brian Murtagh stays on at the helm. "Brian is a good manager with a lot of experience. Look what he did at Cortown - they're now one of the top senior clubs. It takes more than one season for a manager to really get to know his players and get them to play in the way he wants. Sean Boylan would be a prime example of that," he points out.
Certain things don't help either in a team's quest for continuity and consistency. Such as never knowing when you're going to be playing your next game. "Club fixtures are very sporadic," claims McConnell. "A better structure is undoubtedly needed, if for no other reason than to maintain the interest of players. From one week to the next you don't know who or when you're going to be playing. You could be playing two Sundays in a row and then have no game for two months. It's unfair on the players and the manager because every week, three nights a week, training still needs to be done, and it's a major commitment for lads working in Dublin for example, having to rush home to train in the dark and cold with the prospect of maybe no game for the foreseeable future.
"OK we did well in the league this year but it's still not a good system. There's no reason why there can't be a league game every second week and have the competition tied up much earlier in the year. Otherwise it just drags on too long."
Division Two football next year for Castletown is welcomed with open arms by the captain. "It will definitely make a difference. Half the teams in the Division would be senior ones. Playing them can only sharpen us up for the championship."
James' love for gaelic football is easily understood. There is a great GAA tradition in his family. His father Kevin was a 49er who went on to win his second All-Ireland with the county in 1954. Thirteen years later again he was a selector as Meath won their their third All-Ireland football title.
"We all feel very proud of our father's achievements," says James.
The 'we' refers to his brothers, Kevin, Patrick, the late Michael and Brendan.
Patrick is the current chairman of Bective GFC while Kevin was the Meath Player of the Year in 1977.
The highlight of James' own career was not reaching the 1995 Intermediate final but winning the U21 championship with the Castletown/Rathkenny amalgamation outfit when he was only 17. He lined-out at midfield alongside Rathkenny's David Heery, and the side also featured George Clarke, Noel Carroll and Liam Bellew.
As Castletown continue to struggle to make an impact in the intermediate championship, those days must become sweeter by the year.
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