One of the most improved teams in last year's intermediate football championship was Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall. Team manager Jim Mahon is confident that further progress can be made in the coming season. For those looking for a good outside bet for this year's intermediate football championship, they could do a lot worse than place a few euro on Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall. Backboned by players who garnered minor 'premier' championship medals with Inny Gaels in 2000 and 2001, the Cavan-border outfit would appear to have an exciting future ahead of them. Last year, they heralded their arrival as a force to be reckoned with in the intermediate championship by reaching the quarter-finals. There, they were soundly beaten by Rosemount, but according to manager Jim Mahon, they will still be approaching the new season in a confident frame of mind. "It was a disappointing way to go out, but that's in the past now and we're really looking forward to the start of this year's championship," the Ballinagore man says. "I thought we made a lot of progress last year and when you take into account the fact that we fielded two teams that were competitive, it was probably the club's best ever year. There is huge potential in this club and there will be a lot of disappointment if they we don't improve on last year's effort." Given Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall's poor showing in the previous year's championship and the fact that they often struggled to field a team, Mahon admits that he accepted the manager's job with a great deal of apprehension. But 12 months on, he has no regrets whatsoever. "I didn't really know what to expect at the start," he recalls. "With hurling so strong in the area, I wasn't sure if lads would be prepared to give the commitment. But any worries I had in this regard were soon dispelled. "To my surprise, I found the attitude of the players excellent. Their skill levels were also very high which reflected the work that had been done with them at underage level. Another thing that I discovered was the great unity among the players. Apart from one or two, they're all around the 19-20 mark with most of them having tasted success with Inny Gaels over the past two or three years." Under Mahon and his co-selectors Pat Foley and James 'Boiler' Boylan, Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall got their championship campaign off to a perfect start when they defeated Ballinagore by 1-5 to 0-6 at Springfield on April 29, a result which no doubt evoked mixed emotions for the winning manager! But the green and golds were brought back down to earth with a bang three weeks later when they succumbed to a 0-4 to 2-11 defeat to eventual winners Tubberclair. They recovered impressively to record wins over Athlone (0-16 to 0-6), Maryland (3-7 to 0-8) and Ballymore (1-7 to 0-7) before drawing with Tang (2-8 to 1-11). These results, coupled with a walkover from St. Loman's, saw them qualify for the quarter-final, just one point adrift of table-toppers Tubberclair. Confidence was high going into the Rosemount game, but a disastrous five-minute spell before half-time effectively ended the Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall challenge. Points from Ryan Plunkett and Kevin Brazil had the north county outfit level on 0-2 each after nine minutes, but Rosemount dominated the next 10 minutes to open up a five-point gap. Despite wasting a number of scoring chances, Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall were by no means out of it, but then disaster struck in the 23rd minute when centre forward Thomas McGlynn was forced to retire with a bad injury. The injury clearly unsettled Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall, as they conceded 1-3 in the closing five minutes to trail by 1-10 to 0-3 at the interval. Things got worse for Mahon's side on the restart when John Keane increased Rosemount's advantage. Although Ryan Plunkett, Graham Plunkett, Shane McDonnell, Ray Sheridan, Micheál Reynolds and Daniel McDermott replied with points, Cathal Keane put the result beyond doubt when he scored a goal six minutes from the end to seal an emphatic 2-15 to 0-10 victory for the Rosemount men. "Obviously, we were very disappointed with our performance that day. Rosemount's scoring burst just before half-time really knocked the stuffing out of us. But we're a young side and I'm hopeful that the lads will learn from the experience," Mahon remarks. The blow of losing to Rosemount was softened somewhat when the Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall second team captured the All-County League Division 7 title following an unbeaten campaign. The same team also reached the junior 'B' championship semi-final where a controversial refereeing decision proved the difference between defeat and victory against Tubberclair. Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall have gained a reputation for producing outstanding underage teams in recent years and last season was no exception. Under the guidance of Des Doolin and PJ Brophy, the club captured the under 14 'A' championship with a thrilling 2-8 to 1-9 victory over Castledaly at Shandonagh in mid-November. Glen Plunkett gave the Cavan-border side a dream start with a superbly executed goal, but Castledaly fought back to restore parity, 1-3 to 0-6, after 27 minutes. A minute into stoppage time, however, midfielder Eanna Doolin added a second goal to give Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall a 2-3 to 0-6 lead at the break. Further points from Andrew Dermody and Raymond Thompson enabled the winners to open up a six-point lead, 2-7 to 0-7, on the restart. But Castledaly refused to throw in the towel, scoring an unanswered 1-2 to reduce the deficit to the minimum with time almost up. However, Ronan Geoghegan then scored a crucial point to copperfasten victory for the Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall boys. Many of that under 14 team were also members of the St. Michael's side which annexed the 'premier' championship. Following victories over teams such as Mullingar Shamrocks, Moate All-Whites and Rosemount, the Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall and Ballycomoyle combination squared up to St. Loman's in the final at Cusack Park. A brace of goals from Eanna Doolin had St. Michael's perched nicely on a 2-4 to 0-4 lead early in the second half, but St. Loman's stormed back to take control and, in the end, the combination side needed a last gasp point from Dara Lynch to force a replay, 2-5 to 1-8. However, the replay never took place because St. Loman's claimed they had not received formal notification about the fixture and the minor board subsequently decided to award the title to St. Michael's. Despite his team's young age profile, Jim Mahon is expecting a big year from his team. An indication of how seriously Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall are taking this year's intermediate championship is that Mahon is currently taking training sessions in Dublin every Tuesday night where 14 players are based. "We're going to give the championship a serious crack this year. We may be young but, having said that, we won't be fearing anyone. The only thing that worries me is if some of our players are unable to play with us due to hurling commitments. Last year, four of our key players were banned from playing with us by the county hurling manager. I'll be very disappointed if a similar ban is imposed this year," he concludes. The Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall team which captured the under 14 'A' championship was: Enda Sheridan; Jeffrey Nea, Niall McCabe, Matthew Fagan; Nigel Sheridan, Shane Egan, Stephen Bardon; Eanna Doolin, Shane Brophy; Glen Plunkett, Raymond Thompson, Niall Kilcoyne; Andrew Dermody, Ronan Geoghegan, Alan Devine. Sub used: Jerry Rynne. Tweet

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