Clint Eastwood became a Hollywood immortal with his convincing portrayal of avenging angels in epic spaghetti westerns. Westerns' 2002 season resembled one of Sergio Leone's most famous productions: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Midfielder Martin Kane reflects upon a year in the life of a six-shootin' Westerns footballer. Two-thousand-and-two was an historic year for Westerns GFC. Having rustled the previous season's Division Three league, the Reaghstown outfit contested the intermediate championship for the first time ever. They got off to a flying start, pistol-whipping Geraldines in the first round, and also recorded a memorable victory over neighbours (and 2001 finalists) Sean McDermotts in a thrilling gunfight. But that was as good as it got for Padraig Brennan's team: defeats at the hands of Naomh Malachi and O'Connells put paid to their championship aspirations while a league campaign that never quite for off the ground condemned the Jekyll-n-Hyde Westerns to an instant return to the basement grade. It was a thoroughly disappointing climax to a season that carried genuine promise. Looking back on the campaign, Westerns' influential midfielder/full forward/full back Martin Kane admits that the step-up into unknown territory was something of a shock to the system but insists that the men from Reaghstown proved their mettle at times, particularly in those superb championship defeat of Geraldines and Sean McDermotts. "There was a great buzz at the start of the year. We brought in Nudie Hughes as trainer and started training in January. The turnouts were encouraging, the enthusiasm was high and we were super fit. We were flying at the start of the year. We beat the Malachis in the Shield and ran the Dreadnots close. "We were in great shape going into the championship and we knew we were well able to hold our own against anybody. The win over Geraldines was unbelievable and so was the victory against the Seans. Those results proved what this team is capable of when everybody pulls together. Unfortunately, it all fell apart in the second half of the season. Once the heads dropped, it was very hard to arrest the slide." Westerns taught the Geraldines a lesson in football when they defeated them by 1-11 to 1-8 at Pairc Mhuire, Ardee on June 2nd - their first ever intermediate championship match! But they were well beaten by the Malachis in the second round a week later. The concession of three first-half goals contributed enormously to Westerns' downfall as they capitulated on a scoreline of 3-8 to 0-8. Ironically, the two teams Westerns met in their opening Group B fixtures went on to contest the IFC final! Westerns beat neighbours and arch rivals Sean McDermotts in their next outing before losing heavily to O'Connells. County men Mark Stanfield and Stuart Reynolds scored 3-5 between them as the Castlebellingham/Kilsaran side prevailed by 4-11 to 0-10. That game was a killer blow in every sense of the term, and wreaked a devastating effect upon Westerns' league and championship bids. From there on, things assumed a downward trajectory, as Martin relates: "Ever since the O'Connells game, heads went down and there wasn't the same interest. Training wasn't as good and the stuffing seemed to be knocked out of us. "Going out of the championship really took the wind out of our sails. The commitment wasn't there any more and the numbers dropped." Of course, such a fade-out is understandable for such a small club as Westerns. They draw from a small close-knit community and have extremely limited availability of personnel. Things are tough and demands are high - even at the best of times. As Martin explains: "A lot of the lads have to work or are at college and even at peak times when things are going well we would usually only have 20 players maximum. It's a small parish - what can you do? But there's a very good close-knit vibe about the club and when things are good, they are very good." And there were some "very good" times in 2002: "We were on a real high after those wins over the Geraldines and Sean McDermotts. We beat the Seans with fourteen men . . . we were buzzing. People thought that coming up from junior for the first time we wouldn't have a clue how to conduct ourselves in the intermediate championship, but we have some excellent players and, in general, our championship form was quite impressive. It was the way we played in the league that let us down really." Up to a point, Westerns looked like they could be one of the surprise packets of 2002. They had momentum behind them and were seemingly taking to the higher grade like ducks to water: Says Martin: "Everything was going perfectly following on from 2001. We never thought we could win the championship but always fancied ourselves to put it up to other teams. If we had beaten O'Connells, we would have been through to the knock-out stages, but we had no answer to their two county men and they were the better team on the night. "Some of our defeats in the league were more disappointing, in games that didn't have the same hype surrounding them but ultimately were probably bigger matches for us. We threw away a couple of games early in the season - against O'Raghallaighs and the Mochtas - and that left us under pressure for the whole year." At the start of the year, how high did the Westerns set their sights? "Survival in intermediate was our only aim. For us to go up to senior would be ridiculous! We don't have the numbers and we're not good enough at the moment, ever though we were flying back in January under Padraig Brennan, Eugene Duffy and Nudie Hughes..." Martin Kane has lived in the Reaghstown area for the past three years and joined the Westerns from Cooley Kickhams in July 2001, before helping them out of junior ranks for the first time in their history. He has no regrets and points out that the Westerns have excellent facilities and a strong committee in place and that the foundations are there for a sound future. The population in the area is growing and feeder juvenile outfit Baile Talun have emerged as a juvenile force, so the future looks promising. It's up to Martin Kane and his team-mates to leave a lasting legacy for the young people of the area: "It would be nice to have something worthwhile here for the young lads. Westerns have already made an important breakthrough by coming out of junior football for the first time ever. Slipping straight back down again was a big disappointment, but the next step is to try and become a steady intermediate team. "It would be lovely to think that when these young lads come through, they will have intermediate football waiting for them. That's definitely something worth aiming towards..." Tweet

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