What a year for Castlewellan Town Football Club and all involved. The start of the year came in quickly with a fresh approach to the first team and its dealings with Kieran ‘Bert’ Toner at the reins. The Petsy Corrigan Tournament was the first piece of silverware on offer and after convincing wins over Ballykinlar Rec and Killyleagh, with a mixture of old and new faces and minus our gaelic stars we found ourselves in the final against Downpatrick FC. On a foggy damp day we went in 1-0 up against a team striving to get into the Premier section of the amateur league courtesy of a Paddy Keown header. In the end though we were beaten by a fitter and technically superior side 2-1 and thus ended another glorious failure in our own competition. Although the team that competed at this early stage was new and unaccustomed to each other, the foundations and commitment were evident from even this point.
Sadly as we all know Kieran Toner passed away on 10th august 2002. This shook the whole town. The league was put back for the firsts and all of the club could barely think straight never mind focus on football. Kieran dedicated most of his adult life to coaching junior football with the town and was very much relishing the prospect of the jump to senior management.
With the first team without a manager Mickey Ward, who was Bert’s second in command, pulled in Jim Burns and Charlie Trainor.
Jim was no stranger to this bunch of lads as he had managed many of them with the clubs second string a few years previously and even further back, in the Downpatrick Youth Football League. Charlie was an older generation town man who did the rounds, had more clubs than Jack Nicholas, and won a few things with Maghera among others. Nostalgia and trophies from Charlie, motivation and direction from Jim and calm and collection from Mickey. It was a good mix and one that certainly worked.
We started off with seven points from nine and Paddy Keown registering 5 goals in those three games. Next up was the Bobby Dalzell Cup first round match away to Carryduff YM. From what I saw that day there were not too many young men among that group. With them playing premier opposition they were definitely fired up for the game and went about it like possessed souls. The town 1 nil down and ten minutes left the home side made their only mistake. They started to feel the result was in and therefore lost their concentration. It didnt even go to extra time. Mickey Healy and Dean Anderson with the goals and the Towns first real hurdle was overcome. The next three games brought three wins with one of those being the cup. This is mid October time and the Junior Cup and Shield are coming into the fray. Paddy Keown was on 18 goals and banging them in for fun. The discipline was in control and the club were hit with fewer fines from the league at this stage than any other year.
The quarter and semi finals of the dazzler saw the emergence of Dean Anderson as a big game player. He scored in both games and was instrumental in both wins. No man of the match awards though. That went to Stevie Trainor in the semi final victory over a good Killyleagh side. There was a vicious rumour that the league representative who was picked to choose the winner of this accolade was on holiday in the Balearics at the time, thus being unable to see the game! Off course this later turned out to be untrue!
After three postponements the Junior Shield game away to FC Antrim was finally played. A comfortable 3-0 victory the result here. The Town going well on all fronts. Decembers program was decimated by the weather but one game stood out. A 1-1 draw away to Kilkeel Athletic. Why? The Town goal was scored by none other than Connor Stratton. Not the most prolific goal scorer by any means!
We were rolling into Christmas and the Dalzell Cup Final.
Strangford were the opponents and a close, tense game was anticipated.
1. Michael Watson
2. Gerard Lawless
3. Donal Burns
4. Paul Hanna
5. Ciaran Burns
6. Niall McArdle
7. Dean Anderson
8. Michael Healy
9. Steven Trainor
10. Patrick Keown
11. Sean Ladd
12. Garrett Keaveney (capt)
13. Connor Stratton
14. Sean McVeigh
15. Paul McArdle
16. Raymond Cunningham
A strong team on paper indeed. No one in the town team was guaranteed their place and as you can see from the above list, our club captain Garrett Keaveney started the game on the bench. As stated above, the winter months saw Dean Anderson rise in stature. And this proved to be his game. Dean scored both the town goals in a narrow 2-1 victory that saw the Dazzler return to the town for the first time since 1988.
From a personal point of view, and that of one of the elder members of the squad, this success at Christmas was a huge relief. An enormous amount of effort went into this competition. It was known among the boys and the management that the effort was directed in the memory of our deceased friend and mentor, Kieran ‘Bert’ Toner. Now that this pressure was lifted the squad could go on to achieve something special and forever memorable in the months ahead
With one trophy safely in the cabinet and our assault on the next one due to begin 8 days later the squad made its way to a frozen Iveagh Park to play Rathfriland seconds. Without ever really getting out of second gear we came away with a 4-1 win. We were again drawn away in the junior shield and despite some poor refereeing decisions we came away with a 3-2 win. Cup games were coming thick and fast and next up was a Harry Clarke Cup game against old foes Tollymore. A real close game was anticipated but the challenge was brushed aside as we strolled through to the quarter finals with a 4-0 win, Donal Burns getting a rare goal. The first of February brought us yet another away day in the junior shield and a trip to Grove United seconds. Despite the home team trying to intimidate us from the word go we kept our cool and came away with a superb 3-1 victory. It was on trips like these that team spirit was built and the squad often had its best craic on these away days. This was of course the day when Rays night time activities came to the fore and “the knickergate scandal” reared its ugly head. Another local side stood between us and our second semi-final in the Harry Clarke cup. Newcastle seconds were expected to be a pushover for us and so it proved to be as we won 10-0 in Donard Park and had 7 different goalscorers with only G.Keaveney,P.Hanna,M.Watson and Dean Anderson failing to find the net.
So back to the bread and butter of the league and our first game in that competition since 14/12/02 was at home to Killyleagh and there was no love lost the day after valentines day as we were held to a dour goalless draw. Killyleagh thus became the only side we failed to beat that year in the league .Killough were the next visitors to fortress Bann road and they were dispatched with ease 5-1 the goalscorers being the usual suspects S.Trainor,S.Ladd,P.Keown and P.McArdle(2). McGiggles coming off the bench to claim his brace and prove that despite Paddy Keown undoubtedly being the best striker at the club, when it came to the “fox in the box” nobody did it better than twiggy. After our brief stint back to league football the Junior shield called again and our luck turned as we at last got a home draw, our first since thrashing Kelvin OB 6-1 4 months and 4 rounds ago. Our opponents were Castletown United for a place in the last 8 of the competition and this was our trickiest game yet. Despite falling behind to an early goal we played our way back into the game and deserved our 2-1 victory. The goals coming from the inevitable P. Keown and a speculative punt forward from L. Lennon that hit the only dry patch on the field and bounced over the goalkeepers head.
With games coming thick and fast our biggest game of the season was nearing. A semi-final showdown with Valley Rangers in the Harry Clarke cup. Rangers had knocked us out the year before 3-2 in their own back yard although that was more to do with our lack of preparation the morning of the match than Valleys skill. This was something Jim had drummed into us before the game and it was a pumped up Town team that took to the field in Dromara. Valley took the lead when a shot squirmed into the net and this just enraged us even more and we went about Valley like men possessed. We went 2-1 up just before the break and then banged in a further 3 goals in the second half in a performance that had the local papers raving about us. We came off the pitch delirious and Mickey Ward led the chorus of singing in the changing rooms afterwards as we looked forward to our second final of the season.
As fate would have it our next opponents were Kilkeel the team we would face in the Easter final. It turned out to be the Sean Ladd solo show as we put down our marker for the final and won 5-0, Sean scoring 4 and Shay McVeigh finishing off the rout.
So after our last 2 games where we had scored 10 goals a hard game was expected as Carniny Rangers came to the Town in a game were we could make our own piece of history by becoming the first Castlewellan team to reach the semi-finals of a junior competition. The challenge of Carniny never materialised and we ran out easy winners 3-0 with goals from M.Healy, N.McArdle and D.Anderson. As we moved into April we had a Harry Clarke Cup final, a Junior shield semi-final and with the Bobby Dalzell cup already in the bag we were still unbeaten. The only worry now was the amount of League games we had to play, 12 in a month on top of the cup games. Valley Rangers were next up in the League and they were sent packing with a 1-0 defeat, a result all the more remarkable considering we spent the last half hour down to ten men, M.Healy being harshly sent off. Stevie Trainor scored the only goal in a performance where the defence were superb. Ballycam Celtic were next and in a typically tough game “over the water” we came away with an excellent 2-1 victory.
Wednesday the 16th of April will go down as the one black spot in an otherwise perfect season. This was the date we played the semi-final of the junior shield, a massive game in a major tournament, a tournament that down the years this club looked on with disdain and disinterest. All through our run to the semi-final we played without the talismatic Sean Ladd, who was cup tied, but on the night of the game we also had to do without P.Hanna, S.Trainor, M.Healy and M.Toner who deputised for Ladd throughout the competition. The game as a contest was over after 20 minutes. Oliver Plunkett went 3-0 up and there seemed no way back. We started well in the second half but then fell further behind 4-0. To our credit though we pulled 2 goals back and had Plunkett on the back foot when they hit us with a breakaway fifth. So our first defeat of the season after 27 games and we had to pick ourselves up for the Harry Clarke cup final in 5 days time at the same venue in Drumaness.
Kilkeel were our opponents, a team we had beaten 5-0 exactly a month before Easter Monday, though nobody at the club was expecting a repeat scoreline the local papers had tipped us to win easily. Like ourselves Kilkeel had brought all their players through the youth system and at a damp wet Drumaness both teams met to lock horns for the Harry Clarke Cup. The Mourne team started the stronger and took the lead when Ian Grahams cross come shot somehow squirmed under Mickey Watsons body. This was a double blow as in the 7th minute centre half Paul Hanna limped off after pulling his hamstring. Lesser teams would have folded but we responded superbly and as in the semi-final took the game to our opponents after falling behind. Paddy Keown drilled the ball home on 37 minutes for our equalizer and 3 minutes later we went 2-1 up when Dean Anderson fired in after good work by Paddy. On the stroke of half time we had a great chance to go 3-1 up but the Kilkeel custodian somehow saved a point blank volley from Paddy Keown. The second half was much of the same as we steamrolled Kilkeel but as happens in these sort of games Kilkeel equalized out of nothing with 14 minutes to go. So to extra time and more chances were missed with Shay McVeigh hitting the post with the last kick of the game.
Despite a dominant performance the cup final was going to the lottery of penalties. The five brave men to step up for the Town were Sean Ladd, Shay McVeigh, Dean Anderson, Niall McArdle and Stevie Trainor. The first four scored and Stevie had a chance to be a hero but missed and handed the hero status to Mickey Watson who saved Ian Grahams penalty kick and was duly mobbed by his delighted team mates. A great night followed in Maginns and the following few days as we realised the double was won and the treble was within our grasp although this was tempered by the knowledge that we had a gruelling schedule coming up in the League.
The first of these games was a trip to Mourne Rovers 4 days after the final and it is a credit to the panel that we went there and ground out a 1-0 victory with Dean Anderson producing the goods yet again. It was even suggested by Mickey Ward that some of the panel were drinking the night before but this was refuted by Garrett and the two “binmen” Shay and Paddy. Our next three games on the Saturday, Tuesday and Thursday were also away and they were notoriously hard places to go to. Portaferry was first on the Saturday and the unbeaten run was on the line as we found ourselves a goal down and a man less, Dean getting himself sent off after shipping one bad tackle too many. It was left to the skipper Garrett Keaveney to come up with the goods this time with a rare goal for the equalizer. Next came Killough on the Tuesday night, a venue that had been good to us over the years and another three points were claimed courtesy of Paddy Keowns lethal left foot. One nil and another super defensive show. The week was finished off on the Thursday with our best display of the three when we travelled to Valley Rangers and totally dominated the home team to win 2-0. The goals coming from the terrible twosome Paddy and Stevie. So we dragged our weary limbs home for 2 days rest and got ready for Portaferry at the Bann Road. In a terrible day where it lashed for 90 minutes we were being frustrated by both the conditions and a Portaferry team who had obviously came for a damage limitation exercise. With the game at stalemate Garrett Keaveney gathered the ball, rode a tackle and smashed home a screamer from 25 yards. The whole team erupted, Mickey was screaming in peoples ears and the ice-cream man ended up doing a shite. This seemed to open the floodgates and we scored two more late goals the last being a belter from big Paddy.
That Tuesday we finally had the chance to claim the League and thus complete the treble with a home game against our one time rivals Strangford. Over the last few weeks Strangford had been struggling to field a team and even suggested that their “team bus” had broken down on their way to Mourne Rovers. Against us though they came with probably their strongest team all season, to stop us winning the League and end our unbeaten run and thus gain some revenge for their Bobby Dalzell Cup defeat. In a tense, dour game we came through with a 1-0 victory, Ciaran Burns scoring his first and last goal of the season and Mickey Watson pulling off a fantastic penalty save.
The Championship was presented to captain Garrett Keaveney by League secretary Bobby Reid amid spraying bottles of champagne and wild celebrations. We had done it ! Done what no other club in the Newcastle League had done before. Great teams down the years like Annalong, Downshire, Ardglass, and Temple Rangers, our own double winning teams of 79 and 93, and of course the all conquering Maghera team had all tried and failed to win the treble. There was a great sense of relief that we had achieved this feat, but there was still one final piece of the jigsaw to complete, and that was to stay unbeaten. We still had four League games left to go and we felt we had to remain unbeaten to really make us stand out and forever be remembered.
As tired limbs started to take their toll over a long hard season, players were rested and squad players and seconds players were now starting in those last four games. Players like Colm og Crilly, Ruairi McArdle, Chris Brannigan and Sean Lennon. Ballyvea were dispatched 5-0 in their own backyard as we went goal crazy. Paddy Keown hitting his now customary hat-trick, Shay McVeigh scoring and Paul McArdle literally limping on to nod in the fifth. On the Saturday it was a proud Mickey Healy who led the Town out through a very sporting Ballycam Celtic guard of honour. Celtic were very unsportingly paid back with a 5-0 thumping, Paddy scoring a brace, Mickey Healy, Sean Ladd and Shay McVeigh also scoring.
Tuesday night we welcomed Mourne Rovers to the Bann Road and amazingly came away with another 5-0 win, the goals coming from Niall Toner, Conor Stratton, Sean Ladd and another couple from Paddy Keown who was rapidly closing in on forty goals for the season. The League programme was completed with a trip to Strangford on the Thursday and we topped off an amazing season by scoring 5 goals for the fourth game in a row. Sean Ladd did a Paddy Keown and scored a hat-trick, Niall McArdle finally chipped in with a goal after 110 shots at goal in the last 3 games and big Paddy scored his 40th goal of a prolific season.
So the season finished with us claiming the first ever Newcastle League treble, a glorious feat achieved and the most successful season ever in this clubs long and proud history. It was achieved by a squad of local men, most of who were born and bred in the Town, all of whom had played for the Town through youth and seconds team football, and most of all wanted to win for their home town. We had the perfect mix of youth and experience, of power and pace and each member of every squad picked on a Saturday was dedicated. We also had 3 excellent managers who worked in tandem to bring out the best in this talented squad.
Charlie Trainor who had a wealth of experience throughout his illustrious playing career coupled with Mickey Ward who had seen and done it all with the Town in the Harry Clarke 97 and League 98 winning teams, were the perfect partners for Jim Burns undoubtly the best manager Castlewellan FC have ever had at any level. Jim coached the squad throughout the years at youth level and had the satisfaction of seeing all his hard work and early Saturday mornings bearing fruit. Among all the celebrations and back slapping the final thoughts will go to why this season was so successful.
The Bobby Dalzell Cup was won for one man and one man only and that cup win was the foundation on which our treble was built. Would we have won the treble had events unfolded differently? Nobody knows, but one man is smiling and raising his bottle of bud in a toast to Castlewellan FC treble winners 2003.
