This year's Armagh senior hurling championship went to the Middletown club following an exciting win over favourites Keady. Team joint- manager Sylvester McConnell and club chairman Aidan Mallon spoke to Hogan Stand magazine about the work that has been done in recent years. In 1981, Middletown won their first senior hurling championship and since that period they have accumulated nine titles in total, the last of which before this year's success came in 2000. The club was formed in the early 1900's but had limited success and following a mass exodus from the area due to emigration in the early sixties, the club was forced to disband. However, in 1969 Andy's father Gabriel along with the local headmaster Gerry O'Neill, who incidentally played for Armagh in the All-Ireland final defeat to Kerry in 1953, decided to field a team once again and Middletown have been growing ever since. In 1981 the club lifted the senior hurling championship title for the first time in their history and the eighties proved to be a fruitful era for the club. "We officially opened our grounds, PJ O'Neill Park in 1984 and that was named after Gerry's father PJ, who was a founder member of the club also when it was first formed," said Aidan. "Winning the first senior title was a magnificent achievement, because it was the efforts of many who had worked hard for years that helped the club win their first major honour." To this day the club are still building and developing their grounds and Aidan revealed that are various plans in place to acquire more land for pitches in order to cater for all the teams. "We have a sub-committee in place to help develop the grounds. With all the underage and teams we have in football, hurling and Ladies football, there is just not enough room for all the teams. "Fortunately there are a good group of people working to raise funds to purchase more land. We recently held a pig race and there are plenty of fundraisers in the pipeline," added Aidan. The club have also organised a celebratory function in order to mark the 25th anniversary of the club winning the senior hurling championship for the first time. "On December 2nd, we will have the function and we expect it to be a great night. Most of that side are still involved in the club in one capacity or another, which is great." The success of the Armagh ladies football side in reaching the All-Ireland final this year has also seen the interest rise in the game around the county and Aidan admitted that Middletown could soon have their own representatives in Ladies football. "There is a path worn to the door of the house with people looking to start up a ladies team and this is something that we are currently looking at. This is why we need more playing pitches and hopefully everything will work out fine." During his three years as chairman, Aidan has seen the club garner success at underage level especially in the Feile na nGael, the GAA's leading underage hurling event. "Middletown won Feile na nGael titles in a row in the last few years and were crowned All-Ireland champions in 2001, which was an amazing achievement for the club." With only 400 families in the area, the dual club has a small catchment area to choose from, but that has done little to prevent them fielding teams in all grades in both hurling and football. Sylvester has just completed his second year as manager of the senior side and winning a title in such a short space of time is a magnificent achievement, but the modest coach believes it was the hard work of the players and his management team that deserve the most credit. "The players have really progressed in the last few years. There are a lot of young players in the squad, while we also have plenty of experience, which makes for a good blend," he said. "In saying that we thought it could take another year or two to win the championship, but fortunately that was not the case. A lot of the younger lads have won at underage level and this helped their development on to the senior team. "We started training very early in the year and I was fortunate enough to have Gerard McCann with me as joint manager, while Dominic McArdle and Jimmy Gaffney were selectors." Middletown's excellent youth system is the envy of many of their peers in both hurling and football and Sylvester revealed that they have had some top coaches up to help the youngsters and indeed the senior team. "We have brought the underage teams to the Joe Cooney School of Excellence in the past, while coaches like Mattie Lennon have given us the benefit of their knowledge. "Wexford hurler Diarmuid Lyng has also been up here and it is amazing how much the lads can learn from these sessions. This is something we have been very pleased with in recent years." Even though there are only four senior hurling clubs in the county, the fact that the league comprises of clubs from the surrounding areas, makes for a very competitive competition. "There are two teams from Tyrone, two from Fermanagh and 3 from Dundalk, along with the Armagh teams and these from a strong league. To win the championship we had to play two matches and in the final we beat Keady," he revealed. Middletown have quite a few dual stars in their ranks, but Sylvester stated that there is never a problem between the two clubs and that training was always gone according to plan. "The club is very well run and problems like that don't arise. The fact that it is a small community means everyone is willing to work hard to get things done." Following the county final win, Middletown faced Tyrone champions Carrickmore in the Ulster intermediate hurling championship. The fact that the sides know each other considerably was evident as they played out a draw, before Middletown won the replay. Down side Liatroim were the opponents in the semi final and despite a gallant effort, the Armagh side lost by a narrow margin, but are sure to bounce back next year. Tweet

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