Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall have been touted as potential winners of the intermediate football championship for some time now, but on last season's form, they have a lot of improving to do. Highly-rated corner forward Ryan Plunkett admits to being frustrated at the club's apparent lack of progress and is calling for a greater effort in 2006. When Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall landed the minor 'A' championship title in 2001, it seemed only a matter of time before the county's most northerly club would challenge for an intermediate championship crown. Five years on, however, the green and golds are still an intermediate club and, on last year's evidence, are unlikely to win the Peter Geraghty Cup any time soon. Crushing defeats to Killucan and Shandonagh in their first two championship outings left them facing an uphill task and while they bounced back to beat both Moate All-Whites and St. Joseph's, a third loss to Caulry effectively ended their hopes of reaching the knock-out stages. Ryan Plunkett, who captained the all-conquering minor team of 2001, doesn't mince his words when he describes last season as a 'disaster'. He has grown increasingly frustrated at the club's apparent lack of progress and fears that the current team is in danger of never fulfilling its potential. "We've been talking about winning an intermediate championship for the last four or five years, but the furthest we have got is the quarter-final," he says. "We are a much better team than we showed last year and we should be doing an awful lot better. The commitment given by players was very poor and this was reflected in our performances on the field. "We had a successful minor team five years ago and had a strong representation on the Inny Gaels minor teams that won 'premier' championships in 2000 and 2001, but so far nothing has come of those successes. It's high time that the players from those teams made their mark at adult level. We're all around the 23 mark now and we've got to make sure the moment doesn't pass us by," he adds. Plunkett completely dismisses the notion that the strength of hurling in the North Westmeath area has stifled the progress of the Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall footballers. "We can't keep blaming the hurlers for our failure to challenge for an intermediate championship. Darren McCormack, Barry Kennedy and Kevin Brazil are the only genuine dual players we have, so it's not a valid excuse. "In any case, Killucan and St. Malachy's showed last year that it is possible for players to successfully combine the two codes. The reason why we failed last year was because fellas didn't give the required commitment. If they had put in the effort, I've no doubt we would have fared a lot better." Under the management of Ballymachugh man Padraig Cullen and his fellow selectors Gerry Coyne and Owensy Smith, Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall made an ignominious start to the 2005 championship when they crashed to heavy defeats to both Killucan and Shandonagh. Against Killucan, the Cavan-border side was always playing catch-up and trailed by 0-3 to 0-7 at half-time. Following the restart, Killucan increased their lead to 0-13 to 0-4 before Castletown-Finea replied with scores from Ronan Doolin, Ryan Plunkett and Kevin Brazil. But a litany of appalling wides dented their momentum and Killucan finished with points from Noel Lynch and John Shaw to seal a 0-16 to 0-8 victory. The margin of defeat to Shandonagh was even greater - 15 points - as Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall reached a low point in their season. The green and golds never settled into the game and any attack they attempted to forge collapsed in the face of a resolute Shandonagh defence. The writing was on the wall for Padraig Cullen's charges when they trailed by 0-2 to 0-8 at the interval and it didn't get any better in the second half as Shandonagh eased to a 0-20 to 0-5 win. Another loss would have dealt a fatal blow to Castletown-Finea's hopes of reaching the knock-out stages, but they raised their game sufficiently to inflict a shock 0-9 to 2-5 defeat on Moate All-Whites at The Downs. Moate appeared to be cruising to an expected victory when they led by seven points after 25 minutes, but a Christy Fanning goal late in the half threw the north county outfit a lifeline. Castletown-Finea took control after the break, so much so that Moate could only add a solitary point to their half-time tally. Scores from Darren McCormack and Mark Brady cut the gap to the minimum before Ryan Plunkett gave the green and golds the lead when he converted a penalty in the 45th minute. In a tense final quarter, Shane Egan found Mark Brady who fired over the insurance point. Castletown-Finea's resurgence continued when they beat newly-promoted St. Joseph's by 2-10 to 1-4. Despite conceding a goal to David McKnight, the northerners led by 0-6 to 1-1 at the break. St. Joseph's were aided by the wind in the second half, but Castletown-Finea took a grip on proceedings when Christy Fanning scored his second goal in as many games. The Streamstown men reduced the deficit to four points before Eric Sullivan grabbed a second goal for Castletown-Finea, who added three further points to run out comfortable winners. With a quarter-final spot now firmly in their sights, the northerners were expected to account for a relegation-threatened Caulry in their next outing, but came a cropper as they slumped to a 1-7 to 2-13 defeat. The Mount Temple side dominated the first half, but a Christy Fanning goal left Castletown-Finea only three points adrift at the interval. The Castletown-Finea management introduced Martin Egan and Alan Brady for the second half, but Caulry continued to hold the upper hand and a second goal from Anselem Fitzgerald finished off the Cavan-border side. Castletown-Finea's faint hopes of making the knock-out stages were ended when Shandonagh and Moate drew. This left them with nothing to play for against Ballynacargy in their final group match and it showed as the eventual finalists romped to a 4-16 to 0-9 victory. Bal' led by 2-8 to 0-5 at half-time and the game was long over as a contest when Castletown-Finea had two players dismissed in the closing stages. At the time of writing, Padraig Cullen's charges were still in contention for promotion from Division 3 of the All-County League. However, even if they are promoted, they are still likely to end up in a new intermediate league in the coming year. "I'm not trying to make excuses, but it was a real stop-start year for us," says Plunkett, whose father Jim has worked tirelessly for the club over the years. "Our league games were all over the place. We only played our fourth league game in November which wasn't acceptable. The league should have been over and done with by then. Also, I think it's crazy that teams are expected to play championship matches on Monday and Tuesday nights. These times don't suit a lot of people." Despite last year's disappointment, Ryan is hopeful that Castletown-Finea/Coole/Whitehall will show something closer to their true from in 2006. "Assuming everyone is committed, I think we could go very close to winning the intermediate championship. There is no doubt that we have the players to win it. Daniel McDermott and Eric Sullivan are both on the county panel and the likes of Shane Egan, Eanna Doolin and Niall Kilcoyne are exciting prospects. "Inconsistency seems to be a big problem for us. We had a decent year in 2004, but slipped back last year. We badly need to get on a run to get the interest going again. Killucan and Ballynacargy got a few wins under their belts in the early part of last year's championship and they ended up in the final. It's time to deliver and hopefully we'll be able to give our supporters something to cheer about." Tweet

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