Mangan proud to lead talented Castletown Geoghegan outfit

Regan Kelly

It has been another busy year of sport here in the Lake County, and this year's Senior ‘A’ Hurling decider is shaping up to be a fitting finale.

Both Lough Lene Gaels and Castletown Geoghegan have had a successful two years, meeting each other once again in the final next Sunday.

Castletown come into this year's final as defending champions, having beaten Lough Lene Gaels, 1-27 to 2-17, in last year's decider.

Both teams have had some fantastic results along the way, and in every sense, have fought hard to meet each other once again at the final stage.

Lough Lene Gaels just scraped through at the semi-final stage, beating Raharney by one point.

Both Castletown and Lough Lene Gaels have had some impressive scorers this year, with Niall O’Brien and David Williams leading the way as top scorers.

Speaking on the upcoming county final, Castletown’s captain Aonghus Clarke said: “We are trying to maximise our performance, make sure we get the best out of ourselves and come out with the best performance we can give on Sunday.

“We were kept busy with the football, and a lot of the lads were playing for two weeks. We savoured it last year, and we won it.

“There are a lot of games this time of year, it's week on week, so any chance you get to rest, recover, and work on a few things, along with having a few good training sessions internally, I think it's a bonus.”

Aonghus went on to speak about their upcoming opponents and expressed his admiration for the squad.

“The Gaels are a credit to what they have done over the last four or five years; they seem to have broken the Castletown, Raharney, Clonkill dominance over the previous ten years.

“They are a credit. In the way they have completely come out and are now in the top few teams in the county, it really is a credit to them for doing that.”

Castletown Geoghegan’s manager, Alan Mangan, who himself won three Westmeath SHC medals with Castletown, spoke to the Examiner about the original final last year, saying:

“Look, if the game had continued on the first day, God only knows what the result may have been.

“Looking back, we think that we had the lads up for the game anyway. They would have been able to fight their way back from a tough start; it was only 2-0 to no score.

“I think if you ask anyone from Lough Lene Gaels, they may have said the game should have been called off, but really, it probably shouldn't have even started.

“At the end of the day, though, it happened last year; it means nothing anymore. It's gone, and we have given the cup back, so it's now up for grabs on Sunday, and hopefully we are going to bring it back.”

Both teams are well-versed in Senior hurling finals, and Castletown’s respect for their upcoming opponents is evident.

Alan spoke at length about their opponents, saying: “Lough Lene Gaels are coming in for their third final in a row, and obviously they are not going to want to have lost three in a row.

“People seem to be saying that Lough Lene Gaels have a lot of hurt, but we have a lot of hurt ourselves. We lost six out of nine finals before we won one in 2022.

“So we know exactly how they feel, and we don't want to feel like that ourselves anymore. On top of that, we are not going to hand up that cup too easily.”

Both squads are a credit to Westmeath Hurling and are a great display of what the Lake County can produce.

Alan spoke about Castletown’s panel of players and expressed his high impression of them.

Saying: “Look, it's a great squad. But you can say the same for Lough Lene Gaels; they will come up with a lot of scores as well.

“I'm very happy with our bunch of players, since we took over here three or four years ago, these lads have given us nothing but full commitment.

“That's really all you can ask for from a club team. These players have gone out and put themselves through gruelling training sessions. This is the majority of the year, and there is no whinging from them.”

Alan continued praising his squad, saying: “There is no back answering from them, they do anything you ask them to do. We’re dealing with some of the top players who have ever played for Westmeath in our club.

“It's a pleasure to train them; they are an unbelievable bunch of men. Even below the first 15, there are another 20, 25 players behind, and they are the reason we are where we are today.

“They push these lads to the pin of the collar at every training session, it doesn't matter whether a lad is first or second.”

This year’s final promises to be a thrilling showcase of Westmeath hurling, as two of the county’s finest sides go head-to-head once more for the Westmeath Examiner Cup.