As we approach the end of another decade, many clubs might look back and surmise over what may have been. This will certainly not be the case with the Castletown-Geoghegan club, especially at underage level. Obviously, the black and ambers would dearly love to pick up their eleventh senior hurling championship and their first since 2004, but as the old saying goes, the future certainly looks bright for the club. The facts speak for themselves and there is no question that Castletown were the most successful side at underage level as the list of honours is unrivalled throughout the county. Since 2000, the club has lifted titles at all levels. Indeed it is so impressive that each grade deserves a mention. Three under-12 championships have been won, an astonishing six under-14 titles lifted along with three Feile na nGael wins as well as an All-Ireland Feile title, all at the same grade. At under-16 level, the black and amber has won the championship on three occasions also, while the same amount of titles adorn the club's trophy cabinet at minor. Of course, the under-21 championship has headed south of Mullingar on two separate occasions during the past nine years. Other competitions have been won at all levels also, which is an astonishing achievement for any rural club in the country, let alone the county. The Maroon and White Yearbook spoke to juvenile chairman Pat O'Brien about how this success has been achieved and he admitted that it is the fruits of plenty of hard labour. Last year success was achieved in the under-16 championship and the under-14 Feile na nGael final. Most clubs would be delighted with such success and although the Castletown club are thrilled to have lifted these titles, they have set such high standards for themselves that they were disappointed not to do better in the other grades. "I would like to think that we are the leading light within the county regarding our underage structure. A lot of hard work has been put in to developing it over the last few years and we're fortunate to see so much success," said Pat. "A big effort has been made by in fairness a relatively small group of people, who have been left to look after all the teams and they deserve great credit for the work they have done. We're fortunate in that we have a big catchment area to choose from as there is not much hurling in these parts, but the problem we have is that most of the lads that are not from the immediate area go back to their own football clubs and concentrate on that. "One of our biggest challenges was and is to keep lads interested and if we can do that, which I feel we have being doing, then I feel we will be okay." Pat revealed that their location has helped in the development of hurling in the area, which is one of the reasons for the success they have achieved. "We go down to Offaly for a number of challenge matches, while we also play in a Leinster league there as well and I believe that has helped proved the standard of our hurling as the skill level is very high in most clubs there." Of course, there are some exciting talents lining out for the club and Pat admitted that he was confident that a number of these players would soon line out at senior level for Castletown. "The main aim of any underage teams is to bring as many as possible through to the senior team and we're confident that will be the case over the coming years. We have some exceptional hurlers in the club and not only will they play hurling for Castletown, but I've no doubt that they will line out for Westmeath also." In late 2008, the club opened a hurling wall to help develop the skills of the younger players and this was named after the late Finbarr Clarke, who had done so much for the club as a player and a mentor to many underage teams. "Finbarr was an outstanding clubman all his life and his passing came far too soon. It was a fitting tribute that the wall be named after him. He would have loved the weekend as the club brought a shinty team over from Scotland to play a friendly and a great weekend was had by all." Pat believes that the club will be competitive at all levels in 2009 and he feels that a minor championship will be the main aim as they have a strong side. "There is plenty of work to be done. Our minor side will be strong and we're hopeful that we can win that while there will be a big effort put in at under-12 and under-16 also." The 2008 senior hurling championship saw Castletown reach the last four of the campaign where they eventually bowed out to Clonkill. In their opening match, they easily saw off the challenge of Ringtown to enter the winners' group of the championship. Here they were pitted against eventual champions Raharney, Clonkill and Lough Lene Gaels. The match against the Loughegar outfit was one to forget for the Black and ambers as they suffered a heavy defeat. However, they bounced back to draw with the Gaels and then in arguably one of the games of the championship, Castletown were defeated by the narrowest of margins by the champions' elect, which proved that on their day Castletown could match any team in the county. Ironically, the draw against the Gaels was enough to see them through to the quarterfinals where they would meet Castlepollard. Following a hard fought contest, the South Westmeath side triumphed by five points to book their place in the last four. Castletown had a point to prove following the heavy defeat in the group stages and they gave it all, but fell short as Clonkill won by four points. However, the club can take great heart from their performances and will certainly be genuine contenders for the title this year. Tweet

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