For the past decade, Raharney hurling club has been going through a transition period, but following last year's performance in the senior hurling championship, county star John Shaw believes that the Deelsiders are now ready to challenge for major honours again. It's eleven years since Raharney last annexed the Westmeath senior hurling championship. The club had to endure a relegation play-off in 2002 when they had to pull out all the stops to avoid being put down to the intermediate ranks. However, the last two years have seen a vast improvement in the Joristown-based club's performances that have coincided with a number of youngsters making the breakthrough to the senior ranks. At only 23 years of age, John Shaw is regarded as one of the more experienced players in the side. John has become one of the best known forwards in the county and has been a permanent fixture on the Westmeath senior hurling team for the best part of four years now. 2004 was a busy year for the talented Shaw as he lined out for the club at senior and junior level, while also helped Westmeath to the Division Two National Hurling League final and it must not be forgot that he was also part of the Killucan side that made it to the quarterfinal of the intermediate football championship. "I was certainly kept going alright, but I enjoy it and that's the main thing. We made a huge improvement with the club and that has created huge interest, which can be seen with the big turnouts we get at training now, compared a few years back when things were not going too good," said John. "Only three years ago, Lough Lene Gaels beat us by twenty points in the park but this year we were very unlucky to lose against all the big times and we were hugely disappointed to lose to Castlepollard in the quarterfinals. We can take great heart from our performances and hopefully we can take it a step further this year," added John. The draw for the championship saw Raharney begin their campaign with a match against neighbours Clonkill. Relations between the clubs had fallen foul following a well documented row the previous year and this was an eagerly anticipated match for all neutrals. However, the match failed to live up to expectations with neither side performing to the best of their abilities. Clonkill got off to the better start but the Deelsiders did not lose sight of their opponents at any stage and a goal late in the second half gave them great hope, although the Loughegar outfit did enough to hold on to win by the narrowest of margins, 0-11 to 1-7. John said: "There was a lot of talk before the Clonkill match about what happened the year before, but in all fairness the players were not letting that get in the way and if anything, we used the situation to motivate us, although it was probably our worst performance of the championship." Raharney soon got their campaign back on track with a 2-17 to 0-13 win over Ringtown, a side who had defeated them 12 months earlier. They followed that up with a seven point win over Brownstown, another team that Raharney had struggled to beat in recent years. "You could see the improvement in our performances as we struggled to beat clubs like Brownstown and Ringtown in previous years but had fairly easy wins over them in last year's championship. We have definitely closed the gap on the bigger teams in the county," stressed the 23-year-old. In their fourth outing of the campaign, Delvin were easily disposed of by 4-15 to 0-9 to leave Raharney with six points from four matches, although they had to face the big three of Castletown-Geoghegan, Castlepollard and Lough Lene Gaels yet. A tight affair against the defending champions resulted in Raharney suffering their second defeat of the campaign as Castlepollard called on all their experience to fend off the challenge of the youthful Raharney side. The champions elect were next up and for long periods of this match, Raharney looked to be in the driving seat as they held a six-point advantage midway through the second half. Castletown put in a storming finish to come out on top by two points in a highly entertaining contest 3-16 to 5-8 with the Raharney goals coming from Brian Connaughton (2), Nick Weir (2) and Brian Smyth. Despite the defeat, Raharney were not too desponded by the result as it was another sign that the club were moving in the right direction, although John believes that they did let the match slip from their grasp. "We should have held on to the lead of six points. That is something we have to work on this year. Hopefully with a lot of the younger lads having a year's more experience, we won't let situations like that happen again. Raharney could quite easily have made it straight through to the semi finals if luck was on our side a bit more, but maybe last year came a bit too soon for us." A week later, it was another case of what might have been following their clash with Lough Lene Gaels as the Collinstown club failed to score in the final quarter of the match, although Raharney could not convert their possession into scores. The Gaels got off to the better start and were it not for the excellent free taking of John Shaw then Raharney would have been further behind at the interval but still they trailed by seven points. The match was turning into a battle of the free takers as Shaw and his county team mate Killian Cosgrove were deadly accurate from placed balls. However, it was the Raharney man who came out on top in their personal battle by scoring nine points in total, the same as his opposite number but Shaw hit five of his total from play compared to Cosgrove's four. The loss of Brian Connaughton and Paul Greville was a huge blow to Raharney during the course of the match as the Deelsiders had now suffered defeat in three consecutive matches but still made it through to a quarterfinal meeting with Castlepollard. Played in less than favourable conditions, the quarterfinal meeting never lived up to expectations and in the end turned out to be a dour affair. The fact that Raharney only scored one point from play was to play a big part in their downfall as their inexperience was shown. Pollard got off to a good start when they scored a goal in the opening ten minutes and it took Raharney all of 15 minutes to open their account with a pointed free by John Shaw before Brian Connaughton added a second score. The defending champions never let go of the lead and held a five point advantage at the interval. The second half saw Castlepollard tighten their grip on the match and with their defence getting the better of the Raharney attack, the outcome looked bleak for the men from Joristown. Further points by Shane Leavy and John Shaw narrowed the gap but it was Pollard who finished the stronger and went through to the semi final by virtue of a 1-9 to 0-6 win. It was the end of the road for Raharney in the 2004 championship, but it was a year that they could look back on with some pride. "We were very disappointed following the loss to Castlepollard. The fact that we played so badly was worse than anything. Before the game the lads were confident of beating Pollard but they weren't the defending champions for no reason and their experience counted on the day," said John. Although their exploits in the senior championship were over Raharney were still left in three adult competitions, Junior championship, Feis Cup and Division One League. Defeat to Clonkill in both the Feis Cup and the League final left their neighbours with a clean sweep of victories through the year, but success was tasted in the Junior. As John had been in the States the previous summer and missed the entire senior campaign, he was eligible for last year's junior championship with both themselves and final opponents Lough Lene Gaels having a strong appearance to their line ups. Raharney had the better of the opening exchanges as John Shaw was once again deadly accurate from placed balls as they raced into 0-3 to 0-0 lead. The blues then hit four wides in a row as they dominated proceedings but the Gaels clawed their way back into the match and were only trailing by a point, twenty minutes into the match. Brian Smyth settled his side's nerves after Lough Lene Gaels had a 'goal' disallowed for a square ball and Raharney held on for a 0-8 to 0-6 interval lead. The second half saw the leaders hit a purple patch as points from Shaw (3), Niall Flanagan and Smyth stretched their lead and with ten minutes left to play, they lead by seven points and looked like cruising to victory. But, the Gaels fought back and two goals in the space of five minutes either side of a pointed free left the sides level at 0-15 to 2-9. A Francis Boyle point restored parity between the sides before Shaw and Flanagan completed the scoring for Raharney as Collinstown could only manage a point for the remainder of the match. "There was a huge effort put in for the Junior championship as we knew that we had a strong enough team to win it out. We trained two nights a week in St Loman's under lights and that stood to us. It is nice to win a championship at any grade and it was a huge boost to Raharney to do so," revealed John. Success in the under 12 'B' championship was also secured during 2004 to make it one of the most successful years the club have had in the last decade. However current form in the senior championship suggests that Raharney will not have to wait too much longer for their ninth county title. Tweet

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