TransFaughMation
November 27, 2011The junior 'C's were undoubtedly Castleblayney's busiest team of the year. They were the adult club's first team to play a game in 2011 - beating Emyvale by 6-13 to 2-7 at St Oliver Plunkett Park on St Patricks Days - and contested the Division Four Football League final on Sunday, November 6th, beating neighbours Blackhill by 1-10 to 0-6 at Killanny to lift the silverware for the first time.
With the O'Duffy Cup already in the bag since July, it was certainly a successful year for 'Blayney's second and third strings. Those two wins demonstrate the strength in depth evident in the club and, with an army of exciting young talent coming through the ranks, the future is looking good for the Faughs.
'Blayney got off to an ideal start in the RFL4 final with points from minor stars David McMahon and Fergal Malone before further scores from Brian McGuigan, Ciaran McGinn, Fergal Duffy and McMahon (free) had them ahead by double scores at the break, 0-6 to 0-3. Blackhill came back into it upon the resumption but wing back Mark Burns lifted the siege with a point and McGinn then settled the issue with 1-1. Captain Ray McArdle and McMahon sealed the win with late scores. When the final whistle sounded, the following personnel had made history:
Aaron McNamara; Ultan Brady, Gareth Duffy, Bernard McDonald; Mark Burns (0-1), Mark McMahon, Fergal Malone (0-1); Niall Dignam, Ritchie Smyth; Sean McGeough, Brian McGuigan (0-1), Fergal Duffy (0-1); Ciaran McGinn (1-2), David McMahon (0-3), Ray McArdle (0-1) Sub: Justin Hanratty.
Veteran campaigner Ray McArdle, who won an unbelievable nine county SFC medals with 'Blayney during the course of an illustrious first-team career that spanned from 1990 until 2010, was delighted to captain the club to the historic breakthrough, even if the Division Four reserve league might not be the most prestigious title in the world:
"I was only captain by default as Paddy Conlon had been promoted onto the senior team," he admits. "It was great to win it and we were delighted with how things went. I was lucky enough to captain the first team in 1997, when we got to the county final, and again in 2002, when we were beaten at the semi-final stage, but I didn't manage to collect a championship as captain…"
But NINE senior county medals is an exceptional haul by any standards - how proud is Ray of that? "While it's lovely to have them, I have to say I was very lucky to play on a team that had a lot of great players. We were producing real quality players year in, year out and those players were in a rich vein of form. The likes of Peter Duffy, Paul O'Connor, Edwin Murphy, they were all brilliant footballers and they could have commanded a place on any club team in the country - so it was a real honour to lay alongside them. Even though it was never easy to win a SFC, 'Blayney had massive quality at that time."
Returning to the 2011 RFL4 triumph, Ray continues: "From the start of the year, the club had set a target of winning it. When there's a trophy you haven't won, you try to get it to complete your collection. Also, when the club is going through a barren patch at senior level, you can't take anything for granted, especially when there are young lads coming through and reserve football is offering them a platform to get some experience of adult football.
"We were able to blood a lot of minors throughout the year and three of them - Fergal Malone, who is minor again in 2012, Aaron McNamara and David McMahon - started the final. Pauric Greene, who was a county minor, would have been there too but he broke his collarbone twice during the year, unfortunately."
Reserve football is no longer a medium to put older players out to pasture. Instead, it's all about the youth these days… "That's a major strength of the competition," says Ray. "You can introduce young lads to adult football without having to throw them in at the deep end of senior league or senior championship. After Scotstown knocked us out of the [third-team] championship, we had to regroup. It can be difficult to get back on track - especially when there are other competitions going on at minor and junior 'B' levels and we also lost Paddy Conlon, Gerry Brady and Bart McNamara to the senior team - but we kept going and the players can take a lot from their year."
Was there much interest in the final in and around the town? "For the team, and for a lot of people in the club, it was a big game because of the local rivalry element with Blackhill. I had never personally played against Blackhill at any level, so it was fantastic to line out against them. The match itself was very tough and the final scoreline didn't reflect how close the two teams were. They were very well organised with skilful players and they made it very difficult for us.
"We got off to a good start but they got back within a point in the third quarter before we scored the killer goal. Blackhill are a very proud club and they contributed a lot to that competition. The 'C' team had never won a cup before and, indeed, had suffered a few hammerings over the past ten or twelve years, so it was good that Castleblayney were competitive at all grades this year - the first team, the second team and the third team."
Alongside Brian Sherry and Keith Hanratty, Ray is also one of the main driving forces behind the club's innovative juvenile winter training programme, which is proving extremely popular and represents a major step forward in terms of sowing seeds for the future. "We've had to take a look at ourselves and put the work in at juvenile level," Ray notes.
"Two or three of us got together a few years ago and decided that the juvenile coaching in the club wasn't structured or organised properly. Sessions were being done off the cuff and it wasn't really good enough.
"Paul O'Connor was organising seminars and workshops for clubs and we got a lot of assistance from him and the whole thing has grown over the past two years. We've brought in more coaches and the numbers are up, so the priority now is to keep the young players interested.
"We have good facilities and Our Lady's Secondary School has been very good to us by allowing us to use their gym and astro turf facilities, while we also have the use of the Rath na nOg gym across the road from the school, which is great, allowing us to facilitate large numbers.
"We have about 170 youngsters from U10 down, including boys and girls. We started the gaelic for girls this year because we feel that's an important element of any club. We're well set up now to cater for boys and girls.
"The winter programme runs from October through until December and takes a two-week break for Christmas before starting up again and it then runs for the whole year. So it's not just a winter training programme - it's year-round, going for nearly 50 weeks.
"We start teaching them the fundamentals at U6 and then by the time they get to U10 they are ready to play games. Inevitably, it does get a bit more competitive at that level. It's human nature and you can't take that out of them. Drills are important, but youngsters very quickly get to a level where they want to play matches."
The club generated tremendous interest in its 5km road race on December 4th, a fundraiser cleverly dubbed Operation TransFaughmation. Initiatives like this are helping to induct Castleblayney Faughs more and more into the local community. "There's the coaching and playing side of it and then you have the PR side of it," says Ray. "We're advertising the Faughs with floats and stands at local events and the summer camp was fantastic for the kids this year. Operation TransFaughmation invited people to get fit. We had training sessions on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and they could run or walk on the Sundays, all building up to the 5km run on December 4th. It was a huge success, with well over 100 people taking part.
"While it was a fundraiser first and foremost, it also brought a lot of people into the club. It was a great way of introducing the Faughs to people and letting them know what's going on in the club. It's a win / win situation for us. The profile of the club has never been so high; we have reinvented ourselves and are coming at things from a different angle.
"Over the years, the club has been great at leading the way and we have always taken a different direction than other clubs. Hopefully we are still doing that because we need to promote ourselves as well as we can. There's a lot of competition out there from other sports and from the PS3 and the Xbox so you have to stick your head out every chance you get. And that's not just Castleblayney but every GAA club; we all have to roll up our sleeves and keep ourselves in the shop window."
Castleblayney take SHC crown
back from Inniskeen
The seven-in-a-row may have been ended in last year's county final by Inniskeen but Castleblayney were keen to regain their status as Monaghan's top dogs in hurling. So it proved to be at Clontibret on county final day as they ran out easy 2-16 to 1-7 winners and in the process gained revenge for 12 months ago.
Barry Reilly opened the scoring for 'Blayney but Inniskeen took the lead when Ronan Meegan fired a free to the net. Mickey McHugh landed three points to restore 'Blayney's lead. Inniskeen responded with scores from Michael Lennon and Ronan Meegan to move 1-2 to 0-4 ahead, but 'Blayney landed the last four points of the half to go in at the break 0-8 to 1-2 in front.
The sides swapped points on the resumption but Inniskeen's hopes were hit hard when Meegan was dismissed nine minutes into the second half, with two points between the sides at that point.
Blayney made the most of the numerical advantage and with McHugh in excellent form, were 0-14 to 1-6 ahead with time nearly up. In the final minutes they added two goals, as McHugh and Barry Reilly blasted to the Gratton's net, to seal a seventh title in eight years for the green and golds.
Castleblayney - R McAteer; P Collins, P Murphy, J Lacey; D Bolger, J McHugh, M Treanor; P Treanor, G Boyd; F Rafter (0-1), D Connolly, B McGuigan; B Reilly (1-2), M McHugh (1-11), H Byrne (0-2). Tweet
