Nov 25,2024
After waiting 34 years for a win in the Leinster club hurling championship, Castletown-Geoghegan are bidding for a second upset in a week.
The Westmeath champions were the GAA story of the weekend when they ripped up the script with an unflattering 11-point victory over Thomastown in Mullingar.
They return to Cusack Park today, once again entering as strong underdogs against a Kilcormac-Killoughey still on course for a second provincial title in three years.
Castletown's chances, according to the bookmakers at least, are better this week of causing another shock, yet the Offaly champions are still odds-on to progress. Of the nine sides left in the hunt for All-Ireland glory, only rank outsiders Portaferry are deemed more of an outside shot of going all the way.
Alan Mangan, a club stalwart and perhaps best known for his exploits in helping Westmeath to a historic Leinster football title in 2004 under Páidí Ó Sé, is the man overseeing the memorable journey.
The 45-year-old is still going strong for St Malachy’s, the football club in the parish, having moved from one end of the pitch to the other to take up residence between the sticks.
Football has always been his first love, though the lure of the small ball has always been difficult to resist.
Having made his hurling championship debut for the club at the age of 16, Mangan finally bowed out in 2018 with three county medals to his name. He represented the Westmeath hurlers before switching attention to the footballers. It's now 20 years since he kicked four points in the Leinster final replay victory over Laois in a more democratic era in the Leinster championship.
That performance may have been fuelled by the tough love shown by Ó Sé in the build-up, berating the nippy corner-forward in front of the cameras for the documentary Marooned (from 45.50 below).
"You were f**ed over the line twice. F**ed over the line like you'd catch a f**ing loaf of bread and f** you over the line with a shoulder," he bellowed in the huddle.
Twenty years later and the line still hasn’t been consigned to history.
"It wouldn’t have been remembered only that it worked out," he says 20 years later.
The pep talks this week are likely to be a little more nuanced.
Since losing three county finals in a row, Mangan has twice led Castletown to county final glory, where the six-team county championship is a hotly contested affair. Having lost their opener to Raharney, the remaining four games of this year's group stage took on an almost knock-out quality.
What is notable is that the team are all footballers. Of the side that started last Sunday, goalkeeper Ciarán O’Brien was the only one who didn’t play football championship, having taken the year out.
Not all play for St Malachy’s – the catchment area takes in four or five football clubs – with half a dozen in different colours on football duties.
"We played Rosemount in quarter-finals of the football championship last year against Plunkett Maxwell – who has gone travelling this year – and David O’Reilly," says Mangan. "A week later they were with us in county hurling semi-final."
With two adult hurling teams, they won the intermediate championship two years ago, there is a decent pool of players to pick from, with 36 togging out for the county final. They also have a promising pair of minors who were ineligible to play in the county championship, but theoretically at least could feature in the provincial outings. Managan says he will resist fielding them, but that it bodes well for the future.
"Everyone gets lots of hurling. It's all about keeping the two teams going. You don’t want to give a fella five minutes at senior level and doesn’t get any game time the rest of the year. That’s not fair."
The manager acknowledges the dismissal of Thomastown's Jonjo Farrell immediately after the resumption last weekend was a crucial moment in the game.
His charges reeled off five in a row to crush the Kilkenny champions in style, yet Mangan (below is adamant his team looked set for victory regardless, a view backed up by the towering first-half display; against a stiff breeze they trailed by the bare minimum at the interval.
Kilcormac-Killoughey arrive into the game after a hard-fought win over St Mullins, with hotshot forward Adam Screeney leading the way in the scoring stakes.
Twelve years on from a maiden county title, they have become the dominant side in Offaly alongside St Rynagh's, with a further five titles to add to their collection and an All-Ireland final appearance from 2013.
Few outside the camp expect Castletown's journey to extend at least another weekend, but Mangan insists anything is possible with this group of players.
Two years ago a first Leinster appearance in five years ended in crushing defeat as Ballyhale Shamrocks, minus the services of TJ Reid, ran out 25-point victors. Last Sunday Thomastown were swept aside, nearly a dozen points to spare over a fancied Thomastown. There has been little middle ground in the provincial fare.
"Kilcormac-Killoughey’s aim is to win a Leinster championship," he says. "They breezed through Offaly until the county final. We’re mad underdogs again, but we think we have a chance. If we work hard enough, you never know."
