Team of the Decade
April 30, 2010The noughties will go down as the most successful decade in the 29-year history of Garrycastle who firmly established themselves as the best team on the Westmeath football landscape.
The Athlone-based club ended the decade with four senior championship and five league titles to their name, and contested their first Leinster club final last December following an exciting provincial run which yielded victories over Clonguish and, more memorably, Ballyboden St. Enda's.
Since making the breakthrough in 2001 following an historic victory over the decade's second most successful team, Tyrrellspass, Garrycastle have contested five more county finals, winning three of them in 2002, 2004 and last year when they proved far too streetwise for a youthful St. Loman's side. The only blot on an otherwise perfect year was the 1-5 to 1-9 Leinster final defeat to Portlaoise - a game in which Garrycastle simply didn't do themselves justice.
That loss means that Westmeath's long wait for a Leinster club senior football title continues. Athlone, The Downs, Tyrrellspass and now Garrycastle have suffered the disappointment of falling at the final hurdle.
After losing the 2005 and 2008 county finals to The Downs and Castledaly respectively, Garrycastle's objective for 2009 was to win back the Flanagan Cup after a five-year lapse and round off the decade in style. Under the management of former Galway hurling star Anthony Cunningham, they went through the championship unbeaten with five wins and one draw. The only blip came in their opening group game against Mullingar Shamrocks in late April when they were held to a 1-6 to 0-9 draw.
Garrycastle secured their first win at the expense of newly-promoted Maryland in a feisty second round encounter at Tubberclair. A major upset looked to be on the cards when David Martin's 17th minute goal had the Drumraney men 1-4 to 0-4 in front at the interval, but in a much-improved second half performance, Garrycastle pulled clear for a 2-9 to 1-5 thanks to goals from Dessie Dolan and impressive newcomer Mark McCallon.
The Athlone side chalked up their biggest win of the campaign when they walloped Bunbrosna - a team they had struggled to beat in 2008 - by 5-14 to 0-5 at Cusack Park. Such a scoreline seemed highly unlikely after a sluggish start by the champions-elect which saw them fail to score before the 17th minute.
But once county under 21 midfielder Aidan Browne opened their account, they looked a different team and they went on to score an unanswered 3-3 in the final 10 minutes of the first half to take a 3-4 to 0-2 lead into the break. Dessie Dolan bagged their first two goals, with Johnny McGuire accounting for the other.
It continued to be one-way traffic in the second half with further majors from Dolan and Alan Daly completing the rout.
A 1-10 to 0-10 victory over Castledaly ensured Garrycastle of a top-place finish in Division 1A and automatic qualification for the semi-final. The victory not only atoned for Garrycastle's surprise 2008 county final defeat, but also ended Castledaly's reign as county champions.
Garrycastle were full value for their win and would have won by a bigger margin but for a tally of eight wides. There was little to separate the sides in the opening quarter, but in the second quarter, Garrycastle outscored their opponents by 0-4 to 0-1 to take a 0-7 to 0-3 lead into the break.
After MJ McLoughlin narrowed the gap to three points from a free just after the restart, 1995 and 1999 All-Ireland minor and under 21 winner Alan Daly set up James Dolan for the only goal, and the result was never really in doubt after that.
Following a four-week break, Garrycastle met 2006 and 2007 champions Tyrrellspass on September 13 for a place in the final at Cusack Park. The game proved to be surprisingly one-sided as Anthony Cunningham's charges cruised to a 1-16 to 0-6 victory.
Not for the first or last time, Dessie Dolan was the star of the show by helping himself to a personal tally of 1-6. Despite wasting a number of good scoring opportunities early on, Garrycastle still led by 0-4 to 0-1 before the former All-Star finished off a fine flowing move for the only goal in the 17th minute.
With Martin Flanagan and Denis Glennon totally subdued at the opposite end, Garrycastle pushed on to lead by 1-8 to 0-4 at half-time. Tyrrellspass did manage to reduce the margin to five points by the 36th minute, but that was as close as they got as the southerners move up a gear again to run out easy winners.
That performance made Garrycastle the hottest of favourites to beat a St. Loman's team who were appearing in their first final in 41 years, and they duly lived up to that billing by posting a comfortable 3-8 to 0-6 victory. Displaying superior levels of skill, class and experience, the Shannonsiders made quick-fire starts to both halves which left their Mullingar opponents playing catch-up throughout.
With Dessie Dolan again pulling the strings, the result was never in doubt with three early points from the county star setting the tone for the afternoon. Garrycastle's opening goal arrived three minutes before half-time when team captain Gary Dolan set up his cousin James Dolan who fired to the net to give Anthony Cunningham's charges a 1-4 to 0-3 interval lead.
St. Loman's, who missed a host of opportunities in the first half, were severely punished on the restart when Gary Dolan and Alan Daly pounced for two further majors to give Garrycastle a 3-5 to 0-4 lead after 38 minutes.
To their credit, St. Loman's kept battling with rising star Conor Lynam slotting over three points, but there was never any danger of Garrycastle letting their big lead slip.
Anthony Cunningham was in no doubt afterwards that Garrycastle's greater experience played a big part in their success.
"I'm delighted for the players and for the club," he said.
"I suppose we were trying to balance up the books having missed out on last year and over the last couple of years, so they definitely deserved to win another final. Loman's had a bit of inexperience there today at the start, but full credit to our guys, they worked extremely hard all year so I am delighted for them."
Having failed to make an impact in their previous Leinster sojourns, Garrycastle were determined to put that right last year and they delighted their supporters with an impressive run to the provincial final.
They needed extra-time to get the better of Longford counterparts Clonguish by 1-14 to 0-15 in a cracking Leinster club quarter-final at Pearse Park After leading by 1-5 to 0-4 at half-time, the Westmeath champions looked like succumbing to a fine Clonguish second half rally, only for Enda Mulvihill to force extra-time with a last-gasp fisted point.
Clonguish regained the lead in extra-time when Joe O'Brien pointed, but Garrycastle then enjoyed a dominant spell that yielded four unanswered points per Stephen O'Reilly, James Duignan (two) and Dessie Dolan that gave them a 1-12 to 0-12 lead at the end of the first period.
In the second period, Paul Barden, Colin Clarke and David Barden all found the target to bring Clonguish to within a point before Dessie Dolan sealed the issue with the last kick of the game.
The Athlone side looked set for a comfortable victory when Dolan's eighth minute goal helped them to a four-point interval advantage. But Clonguish came out for the second half with all guns blazing and scored six points on the trot through David Faughnan, Paddy Dowd (three) and David Barden (two) to take the lead for the first time.
But Mulvihill's late equaliser made it 1-8 to 0-11 at full-time and Garrycastle regained the upper hand in extra-time to set up a semi-final against Dublin champions Ballyboden St. Enda's in Cusack Park.
With Dublin clubs having claimed the last two All-Ireland football titles, Garrycastle faced a huge task but they rose to the challenge magnificently by pulling off a superb 1-8 to 0-6 victory. Significantly, it was also the first time the Lake County champions had beaten a side from the capital in this competition.
Ballyboden came to Mullingar with a lofty reputation, but struggled in the wet and windy conditions against a Garrycastle team that played some inspired football, particularly in the second half when they faced into the elements.
In another man of the match display, Dessie Dolan scored the first two points before Dublin hurling captain Stephen Hiney - who had earlier missed a glorious goal-scoring opportunity - finally opened Ballyboden's account in the 20th minute. Paddy Mulvihill, Dolan again and James Duignan tagged on further Garrycastle points before Andrew Kerin made it 0-2 to 0-5 on the stroke of half-time.
When Simon Lambert cut the gap to just two points - 0-5 to 0-3 - one minute after the restart, it looked as though the wind-assisted Dublin champions would go on to win. But an outrageous point from Dolan into the teeth of the wind in the 39th minute restored the Athlone's side half-time advantage before 19-year-old wing back Mark McCallon fired home the only goal moments later following a great move to put six points between the sides.
Conal Keaney, who was unable to start the game due to a bout of 'flu, came on to send over a '45', and Kerin added another point for 'Boden, but Garrycastle were always in control and sealed victory with late scores from Gary Dolan and David O'Shaughnessy.
Sadly for Garrycastle, they failed to reproduce that performance against Portlaoise in the Leinster final at Tullamore on December 6. Anthony Cunningham's side played against a strong wind in the first half, but must have fancied their chances at half-time when they only trailed by four points and had a numerical advantage following Peter McNulty's dismissal on a second yellow card in the 28th minute.
When Gary Dolan rose highest to fist home a goal three minutes after the restart, the margin was down to the minimum but, crucially, Portlaoise immediately restored their four-point lead with a similar score from Barry Fitzgerald at the opposite end and despite creating ample scoring chances thereafter, Garrycastle couldn't get any closer as their long season ended in disappointment.
The Garrycastle team that contested the Leinster club football final was: Cathal Mullin; Padraig Rattigan, Enda Mulvihill, John Gaffey; Mark McCallon, Karl Henson, Doran Harte; Seanie O'Donoghue, David O'Shaughnessy; Paul Dillon, James Duignan, James Dolan; Patrick Mulvihill, Gary Dolan (captain), Dessie Dolan. Subs used: Aidan Browne, Donovan Hermbusche, Shane Mulvihill and Alan Daly. Tweet
