Lough Lene Gaels may have looked upon the 2006 campaign with some disappointment as the senior side only managed to win one championship match for the whole year, but along with annexing of a junior title, the club's underage structure has gone from strength to strength. Club stalwart and county star Christo Murtagh has lent his considerable knowledge to training the club's under-16 side and he admits that these youngsters put in every bit as much of an effort as any senior club in the county. Christo has been around long enough to know a thing or two about hurling and when he says that the latest crop of youngsters in the club have what it takes to go on and win further silverware for the Collinstown outfit, then you have to sit up and take notice. "We have a group of about 18 to 20 players at under-16 level and the effort and commitment that they have put in since March 2006 has been immense and it is a credit to all of them," said Christo. Lough Lene Gaels have been joined with Turin in recent years at underage level, but the clubs have decided to go their separate ways and build their own structures. "It was always a case of helping Turin out more so as we would have been able to field a team on our own, especially in 13-a-side, but we would have struggled in the premier competitions. Turin only had four or five lads at some grades and to be fair we had a fair share of success together, especially winning the under-16 championship a few years back. "However, we have always worked with tight numbers and never had really big squads even when I was playing underage. That is why it is so important to bring as many lads as possible through to the senior ranks on a regular basis. "Fortunately we have managed to do that so far and there seems to be one or two coming through every year. Of the five championships we won in ten years, the side would have changed dramatically during that time and that is a good sign." For the 2007 campaign, former county manager Mick Cosgrave will be back at the helm and Christo admits that there is a determination in the squad to improve on last year's performances. "Last year, was a very poor year for us in the senior championship. Winning only one game is not good enough and we know that we are capable of doing an awful lot better. The lads are back training already and there is a sense of belief in the squad that we can mount a more serious challenge this year." At the time of writing the Lough Lene Gaels side were still awaiting to play the under-16 'A' championship final, which was initially abandoned after the referee, was allegedly abused by the opposition's officials. "We went through the league unbeaten winning every game along the way. We have some very good hurlers on this team and it's just a pity they have had to wait so long to play the championship final. The lads are training almost a full year now, which is tough going for anyone," he revealed. The long serving defender believes that like the adult grade, the underage matches should have a fixture calendar in place in order to avoid burn out. "It can be hard on everyone as the games go from one end of the year to the next. Parents have to fly around dropping kids to training and games, while when they are back at school, they have to fit homework and training in, which is not really fair to them. "I believe that the games should be finished by September or October at the latest. It is not easy for young lads to play games in the poor weather conditions and it can take its toll." Even though the Lough Lene Gaels club have a big catchment area to choose from, they are relatively tight on numbers in all age groups, but Christo admitted that this is something that the club have learned to deal with down through the years. "As I said, it's always been tight with numbers, but this possibly benefits us in that there is a bond between most teams and that can help you at the end of the day. The only problem is that if there are a few lads missing from any of the age groups then we will struggle and that is the case with the under-16 team this year." A winner of five senior hurling championship medals, Christo Murtagh has been one of the top rated hurlers in the county for over a decade and there are no signs of him slowing up just yet. "I had an operation on my groin there before Christmas and I'm still recovering from that although I have started back doing a light bit of training. Despite what many people think our squad is not that old and I'm sure with the right effort then we can go very close to winning another championship or two." Having donned the maroon and white jersey for the past 14 years has not affected Christo's appetite for the county scene either and he is hopeful that the hurlers can return to the top tier this year. "It was great to play against the likes of Kilkenny, Waterford and Galway last year and we would love to be able to return to that so winning the Christy Ring Cup again will be our main aim, while we also feel that we can do very well in the league." This campaign could well be a defining moment in the history of the Lough Lene Gaels as another poor campaign could herald the end of some of their older players careers, however, it would take a brave man to bet against the Collinstown outfit lifting the Westmeath Examiner Cup once again. Junior 'B' consolation for Gaels For the first time in over a decade, Lough Lene Gaels failed to feature at the business end of the senior hurling championship last year. But there was some consolation for the Gaels when they beat neighbours Delvin to land the junior 'B' crown. After a decade of unprecedented success, 2006 proved to be a largely disappointing year for Lough Lene Gaels who surprisingly failed to reach the knock-out stages of the senior hurling championship. This, coupled with 2005 champions Castlepollard's shock relegation to the intermediate grade, were two of the main talking points from a year that saw a wind of change blow through Westmeath hurling. Between them, Lough Lene Gaels and Castlepollard won nine senior championships between 1995 and 2005, but if last season is anything to go by, then the next 10 years won't be nearly as successful for the two North Westmeath hurling giants. "Both ourselves and Castlepollard have had a lot of success, but on the minus side both senior teams have a high age profile at this stage," notes Lough Lene Gaels club stalwart David Kelly. "The 'Pollard team would be even older than ours, but it was still a huge surprise to see them go down. By recent standards, 2006 was a very disappointing year for the Gaels. Before last year, we contested 10 senior championship semi-finals in-a-row and played in eight finals, winning five of them. We also won a three-in-a-row (1998, '99 and 2000) in that same period, so you could imagine how disappointed the lads were not to have even reached the knock-out stages last year." There was some consolation for the Gaels, however, in the form of a junior 'B' championship title which they claimed at the expense of neighbours Delvin in late September. The team was a mix of youth and experience, and was captained by Ciaran Williams, who was involved in all five of the Gaels' Examiner Cup successes between '96 and 2002. The Collinstown men set out with the intention of retaining their junior 'A' crown, but after finishing third behind Castletown-Geoghegan and Clonkill in the round-robin series, were forced to turn their attention to the 'B' championship. Managed by Bernie Conaty, Tom McNicholas and Mattie Conaty, the Gaels junior team played five matches in the junior championship proper before facing Cullion in the junior 'B' semi-final. They recorded victories over Southern Gaels (1-18 to 3-9), Turin (1-14 to 0-10) and Brownstown, and also received a walkover from Ringtown. However, defeats to Clonkill (1-13 to 2-19) and Castletown-Geoghegan (0-13 to 2-12) ruled them out of the running for 'A' honours. The junior 'B' semi-final against Cullion was played at Archerstown on September 9. The Gaels looked to be in trouble when they trailed by 0-3 to 2-3 at half-time, but they turned it around in the second half to run out 0-17 to 2-5 winners. The purple and golds returned to Archerstown on September 30 for the final against Delvin. By then, more than a month had passed since the Gaels' interests in the senior championship had ended and this placed added pressure on the junior side. Delvin, too, were under pressure to perform after the club's bitterly disappointing showing against Brownstown in the intermediate final three weeks earlier. After an evenly contested opening half, the Gaels gained the upper hand after the resumption to emerge as six-point winners, 1-14 to 0-11. The game was dominated by respective free-takers Darragh McCormack and Tomas McEnerney, and it was the latter who opened the scoring for Delvin. Noel Conaty levelled for the Gaels and they took a 0-3 to 0-2 lead when Michael Walsh and McCormack added points. The Valley regained the lead before McCormack and James Boyle edged the Gaels back in front by the 20th minute. Further points from McCormack and Padraig Fitzsimons saw the purple and golds lead by three, but Tomas McEnerney's fifth free cut the deficit to two, 0-8 to 0-6, at the interval. Delvin were back on level terms within minutes of the restart thanks to scores from McEnerney and substitute Patrick Farrington. But the Gaels responded with four unanswered points from McCormack (three frees) and Fitzsimons to ease into a 0-12 to 0-8 lead with 12 minutes remaining. To their credit, Delvin hit back with points from McEnerney and Farrington to leave the game in the melting pot once again. But just when it seemed a tight finish was on the cards, Noel Conaty inflicted the killer blow on Delvin when he soloed past two defenders before finishing to the net with seven minutes left to play. McCormack added two more points before the end to seal the win. Following their replay defeat to arch rivals Castlepollard in the 2005 county final, Lough Lene Gaels had high hopes of making amends last year under their new manager Albert Kelly (St. Rynagh's) and selectors Sean Molloy and Francis Carley. But after accounting for newly promoted Crookedwood in their opening game, the Gaels suffered successive defeats to Castletown-Geoghegan, Clonkill and Raharney to exit the championship with a whimper. No-one could have predicted such an eventuality after the Gaels' 3-9 to 0-11 victory over Crookedwood on June 19 at Cusack Park. Albert Kelly's charges struggled in the early stages and trailed by 0-1 to 0-4 after 20 minutes. But two goals in as many minutes from rising star Noel Conaty and Daniel Carty turned the game on its head and the Collinstown side went on to lead by 2-4 to 0-6 at the break. The Gaels resumed in blistering fashion with Carty pouncing for his second goal. When Carty followed up with a point, the purple and golds were eight points to the good. But the 'Wood weren't finished and had reduced the deficit to five points with 13 minutes remaining. Without playing close to their best, however, the Gaels made victory safe with late strikes from Mark McNicholas and Carty. Sadly for the Gaels, it all went pear-shaped after that. A crushing and totally unexpected 1-7 to 5-14 defeat to Castletown-Geoghegan in their opening game of the new winners' group was a shattering blow to the team's confidence. Castletown could do no wrong and, in particular, full forward Keith Gorry who finished with a personal tally of 2-6. Former Roscommon hurling star Colm Kelly also chipped in with 1-4. A blistering start by Castletown saw them lead by 1-5 to 0-2 at the end of the first quarter, and they were not flattered to lead by 2-12 to 0-3 after a first half which saw a player from either side dismissed. When the expected Gaels backlash didn't materialize early in the second half, Castletown took full advantage to run out facile winners. Clonkill heaped more misery on Albert Kelly's side when they powered to a 2-16 to 1-10 victory on August 13. The writing was on the wall for the Gaels when they trailed by 0-1 to 1-4 after only eight minutes. Further scores from Andrew Mitchell and Christopher Austin left the Loughegar men perched on a 1-9 to 0-4 interval lead. Against the odds, though, the Gaels brought themselves back into contention by outscoring their opponents 1-3 to 0-1 in the third quarter, with Darragh McCormack getting the goal. But Clonkill dominated the latter stages, and a Martin Scally goal pulled the rug from under the Collinstown men. Lough Lene Gaels' interests in the championship were finally ended by Raharney, but only after they produced arguably their best performance of the campaign. Most of the good hurling was played in the first half, at the end of which the Deelsiders led by 2-7 to 2-5. The Gaels led by 1-4 to 0-4 at the end of the first quarter, but goals from Niall and Christopher Flanagan - either side of a Derek McNicholas strike for the Gaels - gave the Deelsiders the edge at the break. The sides were level on four different occasions during a tension-filled second half before Niall Flanagan's point in the second minute of injury-time gave Raharney a dramatic 2-12 to 2-11 victory. Despite entering a period of transition, the Gaels will hope to make a far greater impression in this year's championship and perhaps challenge for the Examiner Cup once again. Former county and Railway Cup player Mick Cosgrave has returned as manager and will have Matty Conaty and Tom McNicholas as his selectors. And Killian Cosgrave, who was such a loss to both club and county last year, is also expected to return after recovering from a long-term back problem. "Obviously, there was a lot of disappointment after last year's performances but we hope to put that right this year," Kelly concludes. The junior 'B' championship winning Lough Lene Gaels team was: Brian Conaty; Alan Murray, Ciaran Williams (captain), Francis Kennedy; Francis McDermott, Seamus Carroll, Fergal Moran; James Boyle, Joey Williams; Shane Fitzpatrick, Darragh McCormack, Michael Walsh; Noel Conaty, Damien Conaty, Padraig Fitzsimons. Subs used: Brendan Williams, Niall Conaty, David Murray and Padraig Hannon. Tweet

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