Natural progression might have suggested that Castletown would win the Intermediate Football Championship this year. They suffered the disappointment of losing at the semi-final stage to neighbours Rathkenny in 2006 and the pain was even more severe approximately 12 months later when they were beaten in the final by Donaghmore/Ashbourne. They might have been tempted to think that 2008 would be their year and that a first title in the grade since 1976 was on the cards. However, things worked out very differently and instead of contending for honours Castletown endured a difficult campaign which resulted in a major struggle in their group and at one stage it looked as if they were destined for a battle for survival. However, after losing their first three matches to St Ultan's, Syddan and Ballinlough, they got the victory they so badly needed when getting the better of fellow strugglers Drumconrath in the final group assignment to knock any suggestion of a relegation dogfight firmly on the head. Sean Kelly and Sean Barry were the management combination last year when Castletown scraped through the qualification stages, but then progressed to the final where they made a whirlwind start. However, they ended up losing to a very useful young Donaghmore/Ashbourne team by 1-11 to 1-15 in a highly entertaining curtain-raiser to the drawn SFC final between Seneschalstown and Navan O'Mahonys. Kelly and Barry departed to take over at O'Mahonys for the 2008 campaign and Wayne Callan from Dundalk stepped into the Castletown hot seat. However, it was a seat he didn't occupy for too long, despite the fact that he came highly recommended. Callan had been involved with the Armagh senior team while Joe Kernan was manager and also had involvement with Monaghan and the Louth minors. At the time of writing he was with the Armagh ladies' team. His time as Castletown coach lasted for only three league games as some players were unhappy with the set-up. He departed and a number of players also opted out at that stage. Therefore, the struggle that followed wasn't a surprise. When the championship started last spring it must have seemed like a very long way back to the final for the players in particular and the hard road proved too lengthy and demanding on this occasion. By that stage Vivion Hoey had taken over as coach, with Darren Clarke carrying out the training duties and James McConnell and Aidan Young also acting as selectors. Castletown were drawn in group B of the IFC, a section that looked very tricky as it also contained 2006 junior champions St Ultan's, last year's senior relegated side Ballinlough, Drumconrath, who were beaten intermediate finalists in 2006, and Syddan, the runners-up from the previous year. It had all the makings of a divisional campaign that would test Castletown's resolve after recent disappointments - and so it proved. St Ultan's, who reached the knockout stages in a satisfactory first year back in the intermediate grade last year, provided the first round opposition at Meath Hill and came out on top by 1-9 to 0-9 after a thrilling contest. Castletown made a very poor start as they missed an early penalty and fell behind by 0-0 to 1-2 after 12 minutes. The St Ultan's lead stood at 1-6 to 0-3 by half-time and when they scored the first point of the second period last year's runners-up were clearly in deep trouble. However, aided by the wind they kept battling away, though the Bohermeen/Martry combination still held a six point lead at the three-quarter stage. The deficit was down to three points with eight minutes to play, but Castletown just couldn't make sufficient inroads and were still that margin adrift at the final whistle. It was back to Meath Hill for a second round meeting with Syddan who had lost to Ballinlough in the first round. And it turned out to be another disappointing visit to the venue for Castletown when they lost by three points again, this time on a 0-10 to 0-13 score line. Castletown were again in trouble at the change of ends when they trailed by 0-2 to 0-9, but they used wind advantage to bring the deficit down to 0-5 to 0-9 by the three-quarter stage. They continued to eat into Syddan's advantage and got to within two points at one stage, but they were always playing a game of catch-up. Having lost their opening two group matches there was plenty of importance attached to the third round meeting with Ballinlough at Carlanstown where Castletown were deprived of a share of the spoils by a late Peadar Byrne point. This was a close encounter throughout and Ballinlough enjoyed a 1-4 to 0-5 lead at the break. Castletown got back to level terms and looked set to take something from the game until Byrne gave Ballinlough a dramatic victory as it finished 1-9 to 0-11. The stark reality after another defeat was that Castletown were in danger of falling into a battle for survival less than a year after reaching the championship final. Their opponents in the final group match, Drumconrath, were also pointless at that stage and the scene was set for a tense struggle at Syddan between the beaten finalists of the previous two years. Castletown had a superior score difference going into the crunch match, but they were determined to win and copper-fasten their status in the middle grade. And that's how it turned out as they won comfortably by 2-11 to 1-6 to bring a difficult campaign to a successful conclusion and send Drumconrath into the relegation play-offs. Of their four group games, this was the only one in which Castletown managed to find the net and they did it twice for good measure. Gerard Farrelly's goal helped them to a 1-5 to 0-2 lead at the interval and they had the points safely wrapped up by the time Joey Carry added a second goal near the end to put the icing on the cake. When all was said and done in group B, St Ultan's were at the top of the table on seven points, followed by Ballinlough on six and that pair were safely through to the quarter-finals. Syddan were third on five points and faced into a preliminary quarter-final meeting against Carnaross. Castletown were fourth on those two points garnered against Drumconrath who were pointless at the bottom. Last year turned into a tremendous adventure which brought Castletown all the way to the intermediate final. This year was so different, but at least they didn't end up in a dreaded relegation dogfight. "A lot of the older players are getting older and there are not a lot of younger players coming through," trainer Darren Clarke said. "We have been in two quarter-finals, one semi-final and a final in the space of four years. That takes a lot out of you and a lot of the older players are probably getting tired. Maybe we went to the well once too often. "Aidan Young has retired. He played just one junior game this year. He has been a tremendous player for the club over so many years. If more lads took a leaf out of his book it would be great. He was a great one." A year after contesting the intermediate final, it would have been disastrous for Castletown to lose their status in the grade, but that win over Drumconrath proved invaluable and ruled out a battle for survival in the dreaded relegation play-offs. "We went into the game against Drumconrath with a lot of unwanted pressure," Clarke added. "But we won it and avoided a relegation play-off. That was a big relief." The hope for next year will surely be that Castletown will have a full quota of players to choose from and that they can recover to mount another challenge for the intermediate title which has eluded them for over three decades. Certainly, the performances of players like Alan Smyth, Jimmy Finnerty and Gerard Farrelly during the 2008 campaign augur well for the years ahead. Smyth, Farrelly, Joey Carry and Jonathan Ginnity were members of the Meath junior panel which won the Leinster Shield earlier in the year, while PJ Cudden was a selector with the county under-15 side. Darren Clarke was with the Meath juniors and under-14s and Anthony Monaghan and Michael Clarke were both involved with the county ladies' footballers. Another very positive development in 2008 was the new amalgamation with Syddan known as Killary Emmets which caters for footballers in the under-15, 16, 17 and minor grades. This was the first year of the arrangement between the clubs and it should enable players to perform at a higher level which will aid their development. Anthony Monaghan is coaching in the local national school once or twice a week which is something that can reap rich rewards for the club in the future. Another big success was 'Fun Do' for four to eight year-olds which proved highly popular. This initiative was started by Meath coaching officers Dudley Farrell and Christine O'Brien. Tweet

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