Royal County charts Castletown's impressive run in the 1997 U21 special competition which culminated in a final victory over Kilmainhamwood. Although it came just a year to late to mark the club's Centenary, Castletown's victory in the Under-21 Special was nonetheless welcome and the victory over Kilmainhamwood provided an appropriate extension of the 1996 Centenary celebrations. In 1983, Castletown caused a major upset by winning the Under-21 championship and although they were assisted by a number of Rathkenny players, the bulk of the team went on to give outstanding service in the green and gold jersey. The latest success provides even more hope for the future; this time around it was a one-club effort and it was all the sweeter for the fact that victory in the final was achieved against neighbours Kilmainhamwood. The game turned out to be almost a carbon copy of the memorable 1976 Intermediate final between the clubs. On that occasion, Castletown established a commanding interval lead before coming under strong pressure in the second half. But, as was the case 21 years previous, Castletown held out for a four point win, the same margin as in 1997! Amazingly, the winning margin in the 1983 Under-21 final against O Mahonys was also four points! Outright success in the competition was a mere pipedream at the outset and it wasn't until the quarter-final win over Dunshaughlin that the possibility of a Cup coming to the village was discussed ... and then only briefly. The victory over Dunshaughlin was a real boost with the Castletown boys rising to the occasion in fine style to win by two points, 0-17 to 1-12. Dunderry had an impressive run to the semi-final and many neutrals were of the opinion that the black and whites could go all the way. But they came a cropper at Kilberry where Castletown were worthy winners after a tremendously exciting hour's football. Castletown got away to a mixed start... Christopher Ginnitty had the ball in the Dunderry net after only four minutes but within a minute their task was made more difficult when Gordon Weldon missed a penalty. Dunderry took advantage and were soon back in contention. Eric Murray netted and they went on to lead at the interval by three points, 1-5 to 1-2. The outlook got bleaker for Castletown in the early stages of the second half when Dunderry stretched their lead with the help of another Murray goal. They appeared to be on their way to the final until Castletown turned on the style in the last quarter and a Gordon Weldon goal provided a significant boost. Points from Barry Smyth and John Donegan gave the green and golds the lead but there was more drama to follow. Dunderry threw everything into attack and the pressure seemed to pay off when the Castletown defence conceded a penalty in the last minute. Stephen O Rourke stepped up to take it but Sean Mooney was equal to the task and emerged as the hero of the hour with a superb save. The final score was Castletown 2-10, Dunderry 2-8. Others to impress were Noel Farrelly, Francis Bellew, Liam Clarke, Michael Hickey and Gordon Weldon. Kilmainhamwood were slight favourites going into the mid-December final which was also played at Kilberry, but it was obvious from the throw-in that Castletown were more "up" for the game than their opponents. Their victory owed much to a scintillating opening five minutes during which they scored 1-2 without reply. With such a commanding cushion, the men in green and gold were always going to be difficult to catch and so it proved. Kilmainhamwood had their chances during the second half when they had the advantage of the considerable breeze, but their prospects took a dive after eleven minutes when Ray Magee's goal effort struck the bar and was cleared by a relieved, but vigilant Castletown defence. Subsequently, there was a prevailing view that it was not going to be the 'Wood's day and although they got to within a goal with six minutes remaining, Castletown's overall balance was always going to prove decisive. The eventual winners had first benefit of the breeze and they weren't long about taking advantage. Within forty-five seconds of the throw-in, Gordon Weldon scored a delightful point and Liam Clarke quickly followed suit. Castletown's morale was boosted by those early scores and there was more to follow. With the game only five minutes in progress, John Donegan took full advantage of a defensive blunder to score a superb goal from over twenty meters. Three minutes later, Christopher Ginnitty added another point to leave the score, 1-3 to 0-0. Ray Magee eventually got Kilmainhamwood onto the scoreboard with a point from a free after ten minutes but Castletown continued to dominate. Despite missing two excellent goal opportunities, they soon stretched their lead to nine points. Gordon Weldon was twice on target and both Barry Smyth and Michael Hickey also found the range. Just before the interval, Magee pointed again for the 'Wood" but even with wind advantage to come in the second half it was difficult to envisage them recovering from Castletown's early blitz. The half-time score was Castletown 1-7, Kilmaimhamwood 0-2. Magee pointed three frees, mostly for fouls on himself, in the early stages of the second half, but he also missed a good point-scoring opportunity shortly after the bar had foiled his goal attempt. Castletown continued to soak up the pressure but it took a fine piece of goalkeeping by Sean Mooney to deny Magee a goal with six minutes left. He did well to deflect the ball over the bar. With the 'Wood continuing to threaten and only three points separating the teams, Castletown found themselves in a vulnerable position. They regained their composure and forced a free which Barry Smyth pointed to the great relief of his team's supporters. The "insurance" point had been a long time coming and turned out to be Castletown's only score of the entire second half. The final score was Castletown 1-8, Kilmainhamwood 0-7. Liam Clarke and Michael Hickey ensured that the winners had the edge at centre-field throughout while there were fine performances in defence from Noel Farrelly, Francis Bellew and Brendan Carry. In attack, Gordon Weldon, John Donegan and Derek Clarke caught the eye. The winning team and scorers was; S Mooney; N Farrelly, K Ginnitty; F Bellew, B Carry, M Donegan; M Hickey (0-1), L Clarke (0-1); J Donegan (1-0), D Clarke, G Weldon (0-3); C Ginnitty (0-1), B Smyth (0-2). Castletown is Barry's cup of tea Castletown were unlucky to lost out to St.Pat's in the Intermediate semi-final this year. Shane O'Brien ask captain Sean Barry 'where did it all go wrong." I have a question to test Meath football afficionados. What player, currently plying his trade with a Meath club, won an All-Ireland minor football medal with Dublin in 1984? Answer: Castletown's fullback Sean Barry. Did you get it? No doubt supporters of the north Meath club had little difficulty with that one - because since joining them he has been one of their most consistent performers. But were they not a bit apprehensive about welcoming a Dub into their midst? Not at all, because the truth is, Sean's father Joe is part of the furniture there, while his brother Kevin is also one of their players - and besides which, Sean has always been a Meath (and Castletown) man at heart. His support of his father's county was copperfastened in 1976. "I've always really supported Meath," he reveals. "It goes back to the '76 Leinster final. Cormac Rowe from Syddan got his jaw broken in a tackle with both Gay O'Driscoll and Sean Doherty. Even though I played for Dublin I never cheered for them after that. I was delighted when Meath began to dominate them in the late eighties - but I could never show it!" The Royal County have had the upperhand on their old rivals quite a few times since then, although it has been by no means one way traffic. Dubs' Ciaran Walsh and Paul Clarke have been at the receiving end on a couple of occasions. Both were team-mates of Sean's in 1984 when All-Ireland minor honours were garnered at Tipperary's expense. Sean lined out at fullback in the decider, and another colleague was Australian Rules star Jim Stynes (brother of current player Brian). The C&C sales rep. was a member of the Dublin minor set-up for a total of three years (1983-'85). The other two years were less profitable. Meath gave them their marching orders in the '83 championship in Drogheda, while as defending champions they made a surprise exit in the first round at the hands of Wexford in Enniscorthy. Junior representation followed between '86 and '94 with Leinster medals garnered in 1987 and '94, while in 1988 he was a member of the Dublin squad which fell foul of Meath in the National Football League decider. That was the last occasion Sean pulled on the sky blue senior jersey. North side outfit St. Monica's was the affable Barry's home club, and he helped steer them to the Dublin Junior championship in 1987 when they emerged unscathed from their final clash with St. Brigid's of Blanchardstown. Two years later Barry and Co. made it to the intermediate equivalent but neighbours Kilmore proved to be the rock on which their championship aspirations perished. Twelve months on, Sean's father Joe had been appointed as manager of Castletown - who, at that time, weren't enjoying the best of luck in the Meath senior division. Despite the long distance he had to travel to training, Sean got involved as coach and the Barry influence rubbed off on the players with them reaching the quarter-final stage, before bowing out to eventual champions O'Mahony's. In 1996 Sean and his wife, Alice (who incidentally hails from Cork) moved to Navan, and the All-Ireland minor medal winner had no hesitation in putting pen to paper for the north Meath club. His arrival came as a welcome boost to the green and gold's who were still recovering from the previous summer's intermediate decider when they lost out to Simonstown. St. Monica's loss was most definitely Castletown's gain. In the year just coming to a close, Castletown blazed an impressive trail to the penultimate stage of the competition but, unfortunately, defeat was to be their lot, with St. Pat's progressing to the final. Castletown were consistency personified in the early stages of the competition. They were the first to qualify for the semi-finals, but injuries to a couple of key players cost them dearly. "Two weeks before the game we lost our full-forward Aidan Young who couldn't play because he had bruised his kidneys," says Sean, who was the club captain for '98. "Then in the match, Liam Clarke hurt his collar bone and he had to be moved from midfield into the full-forward line. "Those two were big losses for us, whereas St. Pat's were in the opposite situation. They had all their injured players back at the right time. It was Noel Collier's first competitive game all year, while they also had Peter Sullivan fully-fit." He continues: "When we went four points up we took our foot off the pedal and were unable to get it back on." It was a disappointing exit for the Castletown faithful who had high expectations at the beginning of the year. "It was disappointing, particularly because of the amount of work we had put in throughout the year. We had eight or nine from the team which won the U21 last year, and there were a few older guys who were giving it one last throw of the dice. But our inexperience told in the end." The management committee of Liam Clarke, Damian McBride, Johnny Duffy, Colm Smith and P.J. Cudden were in no way to blame according to Sean. No stone was left unturned by the management. "The selectors this year did great work. At the start of the year Liam said that if we got out of the group a few outsiders would be brought in to coach us and that's exactly what happened. In the run-up to the semi' Mattie Kerrigan and Martin O'Connell were brought in to help us out. "Liam Clarke has invested a lot of time and energy into the club and a lot of the underage success of the last few years can be attributed to him. Two other people I felt sorry for were the chairman Colm Smith and secretary Johnny Duffy. I don't think the players realise the amount of work they do for the club." All is not doom and gloom for Castletown. The advent of a talented group of young players promises better days ahead. Sean trained the club to the aforementioned U21 success last December and he confidently predicts that their day will come sooner rather than later. "The future is bright, there's no question about that," he states enthusiastically. "A lot of them have already made it on to the first team, and the rest are playing well with the junior B team. If they stick at it and give it the commitment it deserves there's no reason why Castletown won't be celebrating an intermediate win within the next couple of years." Speaking of the future, which club Sean's six year old son Shane (Sean and Alice also have a daughter, Laura (4)) pledges his allegiances to is a contentious issue of debate at the moment. Attending school in St. Oliver's, Navan, the young Barry has been strutting his stuff in the Simonstown mini-leagues. The father refused to comment on this potentially volatile situation! UNBEATEN CASTLETOWN UNDER 14s SECURE DIVISION 3 NORTH FL TITLE IN STYLE The underage footballers of Castletown have had a lot to cheer about in recent times, and in the year gone by the green and gold's Under 14 representatives produced the goods by winning the Division 3 North FL title. Ballinlough, the 1997 Under 13 Division 5 FL champions, provided the final opposition at Carlanstown but they had no answer to Castletown's greater determination and all round ability. The end scoreline read 1-7 to 0-5. Indeed not many teams will recall playing this Castletown XV with fondness as they were unbeaten throughout the campaign. We're sure to hear more about the likes of James Finnerty, David Kiernan, Jason McConnell, Stephen Duffy, Stephen Carry and Michael Finney in the future. Castletown scorers in the final were: J. Finnerty 1-2; F. Hoey, A. Curran 0-2 each; F. Monaghan 0-1. Tweet

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