Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall were crowned Intermediate Cup winners for the first time following a landslide victory over championship winners Ballinagore last December. Not surprisingly, corner back and club PRO Ray Sheridan is hoping the north county outfit can build on that success in the season ahead. Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall achieved a major breakthrough in the latter part of 2007 when they captured the Intermediate Cup for the first time. It was the club's first ever win at intermediate level and first of note since they claimed the junior championship in 1998. It also atoned for the disappointment of losing the 1999 Intermediate Cup decider to Milltownpass. "This was our biggest win since the junior championship in '98. We won a Division 4 league title in 2004 but that was only after we were relegated the year before so it didn't count for much. This was our first win in intermediate football and hopefully it will prove to be a stepping stone to bigger things in 2008," enthuses Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall defender and PRO Ray Sheridan. "It has given everyone involved with the club a huge lift going in the new season and it's a long time since I've seen such confidence among the players. Ballinagore may have been a bit tired after their exertions in winning the intermediate championship, but it was still a great achievement to go down to their pitch and beat them by 12 points in the final." Sheridan, who captained the Westmeath minor footballers in 2002, claims the Intermediate Cup win went a long way towards making amends for a disappointing championship campaign which saw the county's most northerly club miss out on a place in the knockout stages for the third year in-a-row. "We were disappointed that we didn't do better in the championship last year," he admits. "It was a bit like the year before in that we started the campaign with a win but then drifted out of contention. We were out of the championship by time the Intermediate Cup started up, but we got a win over Moate in our first game and the whole thing took off after that. We started back training one night a week and were delighted to end the year with silverware." The quarter-final clash with Moate All-Whites saw Finea's splendid new dressing rooms in use for the first time, and the home side marked the occasion with a 1-12 to 2-7 victory. In the semi-final, the green and golds travelled to Ballynacargy and registered a 3-11 to 0-11 win over the home team to set up a meeting with Ballinagore in the final at Pairc an Bodhrain on December 9. Despite the appalling conditions, Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall produced arguably their best performance of the year to secure a shock 1-11 to 0-2 triumph. The Cavan-border side laid the foundations for their success in the opening 20 minutes when they built up a 1-4 to 0-0 lead. Daniel McDermott, Ryan Plunkett and Niall Kilcoyne had all scored points before big full forward Eric Sullivan fired home the only goal. Ballinagore responded with scores from Thomas McDaniel and Jason Winfield to trail by 0-2 to 1-4 at half-time but, remarkably, the newly-crowned intermediate champions failed to score in the second half as Finea pulled away for an easy win. Plunkett and Kilcoyne extended the visitors' advantage to seven points within five minutes of the resumption, and despite introducing county star Michael Ennis, Ballinagore were unable to make any headway against a tight-marking Finea defence. Having broken the home side's spirit, Finea sealed an historic victory with further points from Niall Kilcoyne, Eric Sullivan and substitute Graham Plunkett in the final quarter. By contrast, the intermediate championship campaign proved a major disappointment for Finea. Under the management of Des Doolin, Jim Mahon and Patsy Farrell, the north county outfit registered a 1-12 to 1-6 win over Milltownpass in the opening round at The Downs. Finea only led by two points at half-time, 0-8 to 1-3, but they never looked like losing after Kevin Brazil and Ray Sheridan combined to set up the outstanding Ryan Plunkett for their only goal three minutes into the second half. Des Doolin's charges were brought crashing back down to earth when they suffered a 1-6 to 2-11 defeat to Maryland in their second outing. Despite a first half goal by Daniel McDermott, Finea trailed by 1-1 to 1-6 at the break and their challenge was ended when James Reynolds grabbed Maryland's second goal after 42 minutes. Castletown-Finea got back to winning ways when they edged out Ballynacargy by 1-9 to 1-7 at Cusack Park on June 26. In what was a classic game of two halves, the green and golds led by 1-5 to 0-2 at the interval with Ryan Plunkett once again getting the goal. But Ballynacargy came storming back in the second half and Finea were left hanging on for a 1-9 to 1-7 victory. Deprived of the services of Westmeath hurling captain Darren McCormack, the Sullivan brothers, Eric and Gary, Shane Egan and Andrew Dermody, Finea were always going to be up against it when they faced Ballymore in their fourth championship outing, and so it proved as they crashed to 0-6 to 3-11 defeat. The sides were level on 0-3 each after 16 minutes, but by the 40th minute, Ballymore had added 3-1 without reply to end the game as a contest. Going into their last group match against Ballinagore, Castletown-Finea were still in contention for a quarter-final spot. They were the better team for long stages, having led by 1-5 to 0-4 at half-time, but they didn't have a finisher of the calibre of Michael Ennis who inspired Ballinagore's second half comeback. Ennis grabbed 1-2 as Ballinagore came from behind to snatch a 1-8 to 1-7 victory. In recent years, Finea have joined forces with Ballycomoyle to form the St. Michael's underage club and 2007 proved to be a successful year for the north county amalgamation. St. Michael's recorded an extra-time victory over Tyrrellspass to land the under 16 Division 3 championship title in early October, and their under 14 team reached the Division 2 final later in the month, only to suffer a heavy defeat to a powerful St. Malachy's/Ballinagore side. In the under 16 final which was played at St. Loman's, St. Michael's raced into an early 0-5 to 0-2 lead and were 1-7 to 0-4 ahead at half-time thanks to a goal from team captain Stephen Boylan. But Tyrrellspass were a transformed team in the second half and looked set for a three-point victory before Boylan blasted a free to the roof of the net in the dying moments to force extra-time. A scrambled goal from Glen Flynn had St. Michael's 3-11 to 2-13 ahead at the end of the first period of extra-time, and two more goals from man of the match Boylan in a three-minute spell handed the north county side a 5-15 to 3-15 victory. The St. Michael's under 14s won't have happy memories of their 1-4 to 7-15 defeat to St. Malachy's/Ballinagore in their Division 2 final, which also took place at St. Loman's. But they can still look back on the year with much satisfaction, having won all of their games en route to the final with the exception of a one-point defeat to St. Mary's. Following last year's Intermediate Cup triumph, Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall will have their sights firmly set on championship success in the months ahead under new manager Tom Keigue and his selectors Declan Cahill and Ray Dobson, who captained the 1998 junior championship winning side. "Our target is to win the intermediate championship which might sound a bit optimistic considering we haven't reached the knockout stages since 2004, but we genuinely believe we have a squad of players good enough to go all the way this year. With the younger lads like Niall Kilcoyne and Eanna Doolin maturing all the time, we'll be that bit stronger and I know for a fact that our new manager Tom Keigue, who previously managed St. Loman's and Ballinlough in Meath, won't be leaving any stone unturned in his quest for success," Sheridan concludes. The Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall team that defeated Ballinagore in the Intermediate Cup final was: Gary Sullivan; Ray Sheridan, Eanna Doolin, Glen Plunkett; Mattie Fagan, Colin Farrell, Willie Coyne; Daniel McDermott, Michael Moran; David Thompson, Niall Kilcoyne, Ronan Doolin; Ryan Plunkett, Eric Sullivan, Donal Moore. Subs used: Shane Egan, Aidan Farrell and Graham Plunkett. Tweet

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