Following a disastrous campaign in the intermediate championship, Turin went on to have their most successful year in living memory and club stalwart Mick Heffernan tells 'Maroon and White' what it means to the people of the area. Mick has been a life long member of the club and indeed the Heffernan family are steeped in tradition with Turin hurling club. For 2003 Mick was a selector on the intermediate team, while also overseeing the fortunes of St Munna's. In a strange turn of events, the club went from being in the doldrums of having lost all their championship matches to finishing the year with intermediate Cup, Under 21 and Under 16 premier championship wins to their credit, while St Munna's were once again successful in the senior camogie final. The club's adult hurlers began the year with high hopes of emulating the previous year's achievement of reaching the intermediate semi-final only to lose to eventual winners Ringtown. The early part of the season went quite well with a win in the league over senior side Brownstown, being the highlight of their year so far. Former Clonkill and Westmeath hurler Mick Murtagh was once again in charge of the team and numbers were high for training but the loss of five of their first team within the space of ten days and just a week before their opening championship against neighbours Delvin was to prove a set back too much for the club. Delvin won the match by 0-14 to 0-08 and the result was to set a trend for the remainder of the championship as no points were picked up in any of their outings, a fact that was disappointing for all involved with the club. "Things were going better than last year in the early part of the year and there was a great belief among the players that they could win the championship," said Mick. "We had high hopes that we could do very well in the championship but the injuries we got really made a difference. We were very unfortunate in the championship and failed to field a full strength side in any of the games. "But having said that, we can play better than we did and our aim from the start of the year was to do well in the championship. We set out not to rely on other teams results although things didn't pan out that way." The dedication of the team was evident when after their last championship group match, players and mentors alike decide to continue training in preparation for the Intermediate Cup and the Under-21 championship. "We played a number of matches among ourselves with the under-21's playing the rest and we had good numbers turning out even though the championship was over," added Mick. Longford side Wolfe Tones were accounted for with ease in the first round of the Intermediate Cup on a scoreline of 3-8 to 1-5, while Crookedwood were the next opponents in the semi-final. Having suffered a nine-point defeat to their near neighbours in the championship, it was a moral boost for Turin to come out on top in this match after a close contest. "It was a big boost for the club to beat Crookedwood as it was the first time all year that we had a full strength team out and it was definitely our best performance so far in any competition." In the final the red and whites would meet Athlone based side Southern Gaels. It was agreed to toss for the venue of the match, it was won by the South Westmeath side and Turin were forced to travel away from home, although they were surprisingly pleased to travel. "We were very confident going into the final and had no problem in travelling to Athlone for it. In fact it was probably better for us to do so, because some of the lads might have been over confident if it was played in Turin," pointed out Mick. The hunger of the entire Turin panel (29 in all) was evident right from the start of the match as they took the game to Southern Gaels from the start. Victory was set up in the first 15 minutes when corner forward Alan Aughey scored two goals to give his side the perfect start and Turin never looked back from that. The Athlone based side did hang in there and were only two points adrift at half time. Turin were now only 30 minutes away from capturing a major piece of silverware and they made the perfect start to the second half when Christy Doyle fired over a point and Raymond Aughey extended their lead shortly after from a '65. The sides then swapped points; leaving the Shannonsiders trailing by four points with 15 minutes left in the second half. Points by Bernie and Raymond Aughey with ten minutes to left the reds six points in front and when Raymond Aughey pointed from a placed ball with five minutes to go, the large travelling support of the club were getting ready to celebrate a memorable occasion. As the final whistle was blown there were scenes if jubilation and relief among the travelling, support. "It was nice to win that. All the lads played well and it was definitely a team performance with Alan Aughey, Barry Nea, Christy Doyle, James McGrath, Andrew Corcoran and Barry Aughey playing particularly well. Winning something means a lot to these players and to the whole parish who deserve a bit of success." If Turin thought that this was going to be their only success of the year then they were very much mistaken as a further two trophies were on their way to the parish. In the Under 21 B championship, a single point victory over defending champions Castlepollard earned Turin a place in the final where they would meet Cullion. The semi-final win over Pollard was all the more sweeter as Turin came from eight points down with ten minutes remaining to snatch a win from the jaws of defeat. On Saturday, October 11th the club made a historic breakthrough by winning the Under-21 B championship for the first time after they defeated Cullion by three points, 0-9 to 1-3. Turin lead the match from the very start and although it was a magnificent team performance, Nigel Cully's contribution of 0-7 to the score line was a major factor in the outcome of the match. Others who performed well on the day were Andrew Corcoran, Shane McEnerney, James and Aaron Boyle and Barry Aughey and although the win may have surprised other clubs in the county, the Turin mentors of Frank Aughey and Dickie Geoghegan knew there side were good enough. "The Under-21 win was the first for the club," said Mick. "We knew they were good enough to win it out as seven of them were on the intermediate side and Frank and Dickie had done great work with them." In the under 16 premier championship Turin amalgamated with Lough Lene Gaels for the competition and it proved to be a successful combination as they recorded another marvellous win after an epic battle with Castletown Geoghegan that went to a replay. Turin had six players on the panel with five starting the final and one of those, corner-forward Danny Poynton having the honour of captaining the side. The amalgamation side got off to the perfect start and used the aid of a stiff breeze to their full advantage when building up a seven-point lead at the interval. As expected Castletown came back strongly in the second half but Turin Gaels held on by the narrowest of margins to win by 1-10 to 2-6. "It was great for the under-16's to win a premier title and we would look to amalgamate with the Gales again next year as we are short in numbers at underage levels, although we have a good squad at Under-12. Donal Foley must get a mention for the work he done with the Under-16's. He brought them to training and helped in selecting the team," added Mick. Apart from a hiccup in the 2001 championship when they lost to Lough Lene Gales in the decider, St Munna's have dominated Westmeath camogie for the past 16 years winning the title on every occasion apart from the one mentioned. This year was no different as the ladies of the area once again won the championship against surprise packets Cullion but they were made to work all the way by their opponents. The final was played on a rare sunny day in July and despite the low score of 0-8 to 0-6, the match was an entertaining contest with a high skill level. Cullion were underdogs against a very experienced St Munna's side. Scores were traded early on with St Munna's leading by 0-3 to 0-2 after 15 minutes. The experienced Annette Heffernan stretched the lead with a free although both sides missed a number of chances before the break the half time score was 0-5 to 0-3. The second half saw Cullion dominate the early exchanges and they drew level and with eight minutes to go before the Mullingar border club took the lead but St Munna's stepped up a gear and scored three unanswered points to claim the title for the second year in a row. "It has been a great year but we must build from that and it is up to the players to put in the effort needed to make sure we can win the intermediate championship. We will be developing a new underage pitch at the club and hopefully that can entice some of the younger players in the locality to play with us," concluded Mick. For the record the Turin team that captured the Intermediate Cup was: John Gorman, Barry Aughey, Chris Glynn, Joe Matthews, Andrew Corcoran, John P Scally, David Geoghegan, James McGrath, Christy Doyle (0-2), Raymond Aughey (0-5), Barry Nea (0-2), Frank Aughey, Alan Aughey (2-0), Bernie Aughey (0-2), Ronan Leavy. Sub: Ronan Carey for Christy Doyle. Tweet

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