Castletown Geoghegan keen to avoid the ‘bridesmaids’ tag

While Castletown-Geoghegan’s unwanted hat-trick of Westmeath senior hurling final defeats in 2019, 2020 and 2021 is not unique, the record books show that no club has had the misfortune to lose four in-a-row, writes Gerry Buckley.

Accordingly, there will be no shortage of motivation in the ranks of the men who wear the famous black and amber-striped jerseys to avoid that dreadful feeling of looking up yet again from a thronged pitch in TEG Cusack Park as the opposition captain lifts the Westmeath Examiner Cup to the delight of his colleagues, mentors, family and supporters.

Worryingly, despite some tinkering around with formats in recent years, there is no immediate sign of a diminution in the dominance of the current undoubted ‘big three’ in Lake County hurling. While Castlepollard and Lough Lene Gaels will inevitably trouble any of the three in round robin games, there has been a frustrating predictability for close on a decade now about the identity of the teams who will battle it out for the silverware come the business end of the championship. One has to go back to 2014 to see a final without the ‘big three’.

The decision to reward the team which tops the group with a direct slot into the decider clearly has merit, but elsewhere in this paper Clonkill skipper Shane Power concedes that there is a lot to be said for playing a semi-final (once it’s won, obviously!) rather than waiting in the wings. The vast, vast majority of Westmeath Gaels would have confidently predicted that the Loughegar men, in addition to Raharney and Castletown-Geoghegan, would fill the top three positions.

And so it came to pass, with the latter dethroning the former to set up a repeat of the classic finals of 2019 and 2020. The second of these prompted this self-explanatory opening paragraph from this scribe: “The term ‘fake news’ has annoyingly entered the world’s vocabulary over the past four years, but it’s surely not fake to rate last Sunday’s epic Westmeath senior hurling final as one of the best in living memory, with battle-hardened Clonkill winning a third Westmeath Examiner Cup in succession in dramatic style after they needed extra-time to edge past Castletown-Geoghegan.”

‘Fake news’ expert President Trump may have been ousted from the White House (I wonder will the sports editor let me say, ‘Thank God’?) and replaced by President Biden, who will surely be seen wielding a camán when his inevitable visit to the land of his forefathers takes place, but it is far from ‘fake news’ to state that next Sunday’s showdown is one of the most eagerly awaited in years, not just among the participants but by neutrals all over the county and further afield, with Westmeath’s status in the small ball game enhanced by an impressive Division 2A success in the spring and a highly commendable championship campaign, including an excellent draw with Wexford and a comprehensive defeat of long-time nemesis Laois. Ironically, of course, the man who made most of the headlines in the maroon and white colours, All Star nominee Killian Doyle, will only be looking on, despite the Deelsiders’ skipper almost singlehandedly getting his side past Castletown in the semi-final.

Niall Mitchell, another man who may well have featured in the conversations of the All Star selectors, proved to be Clonkill’s trump card two years ago when sprung from the bench by Pat O’Toole. The dual star excelled for The Downs last Sunday in their Flanagan Cup semi-final victory over Tyrrellspass, and the toll of virtual week-in, week-out games seems to have, if anything, improved the big man’s all-round game in both codes. Indeed, Lar Wall will have the rosary beads out next weekend, praying hard that Mitchell, the mercurial Luke Loughlin, Darragh Egerton and others emerge unscathed from their hurling exploits.

For many years, the green and gold-clad outfit relied on the remarkable power and scoring ability of Brendan Murtagh (it was a travesty that he did not get an All Star nomination in his pomp in the late ‘noughties’). While he is likely to be part of the squad next Sunday, he is no longer the main man for Clonkill and the burden of responsibility will fall on other experienced players to guide quite a number of likely county final debutants on the big day.

In this regard, Castletown may have the edge with their marquee threesome of Niall O’Brien, Aonghus Clarke and Liam Varley all pretty much at the optimum age for a sportsman. Some of their younger players showed up extremely well in the defeat of Raharney, with David O’Reilly a unanimous choice for ‘man of the match’ among the press corps in attendance.

Castletown-Geoghegan manager Alan Mangan will also be mustard keen to avoid an unwanted hat-trick, after wearing the sky blue and navy bainisteoir bib when Tyrrellspass lost successive county finals to St Loman’s, Mullingar. His on-line experience will be crucial, but he is up against a wily old fox in O’Toole, a man of few words but very astute at reading a game.

Much will depend on how the respective youngsters adopt to the white heat of a county final. Such contests invariably unveil a hitherto-unsung hero. Yours truly expects black and amber ribbons to belatedly adorn the Westmeath Examiner Cup on Sunday.

But if betting was easy, I would be ringing in my bets from a yacht. And I just about own a ten-year-old car!