When looking at‚ Castlewellan now it is easy to see that it is thriving in local soccer terms. There are now three senior teams in the club and the first team swept all before them in 2003 and are through to another Harry Clarke cup final. This success does not just merely happen, a lot of hard work, early mornings, and time go in to bring young players through the ranks of Castlewellan FC. One look at the Downpatrick Youth League shows where that work is ongoing. The town now have four teams competing on a weekly basis at U-16,U-14,U-12 and U-10 leagues. This is crucial to the club and when one casts their minds back seventeen years ago, there were no youth teams in Castlewellan for anybody wanting to play soccer.
Then there were street leagues at different age levels and teams from Station Avenue, Drumee,Bunkers Hill, Circular Road and Burrengrove among others competed at events like the August Festival. In the thick of these matches and always ready to lend a hand was two individuals whom I feel deserve the credit for reviving youth football in Castlewellan, Francie Steele and Charlie Mc Alinden. Bubbles and wee Cha, as they were affectionately known gave up countless evenings to organize matches among a crowd of young children eager to be the next Ray Houghton and score the winner against England in a major championship. It is no coincidence that the rebirth of youth soccer in Castlewellan coincided with the rise of big Jack Charltons Rep of Ireland team. It was decided then to have regular training and to try and bring all these “warring tribes” together under the one team.
The Protestant school was chosen as the venue and Francie and Charlie proceeded to try and instill a little skill into the eager bodies who arrived. A friendly was arranged with Killyleagh and a strip was found courtesy of Kilmegan YC and so Castlewellans first competitive match was underway. I do not remember what the score was, but I think we were beaten, and I do remember a player from Killyleagh going by the name of “Juggy”who frightened the life out of everybody. Although I think this was more to do with the fact that he had one eyebrow shaved (a rare sight in little backward Castlewellan in 1987). Mervyn Love was another gifted young player for Killyleagh and he and his team mates were subject to a few rough challenges when their superior technical ability threatened.
Our first competitive game ended in defeat but our appetite was well and truly whetted and we wanted more. A decision was made and we found out that we were to be entered into the DYFL. At that time there was only two age categories, U-15 and U-18 leagues, so we entered the U-15 league with nearly half our squad 13 or under. The first year was really difficult and we were on the receiving end of a lot of hammering from our more illustrious opponents. Teams that had been playing at that level for years like Comber, Killyleagh, Down Roma, and Drumaness. All through these defeats we were getting stronger both physically and mentally and we were learning with every game. At the start of the season we were losing games 6-0 and 7-0, but towards the end of the season we were only losing to those same teams by the odd goal or two and picking up some points along the way.
Transport was always a problem and many a time Markie Burns, Jimmy Kelly, and Pascal Toner were called upon to ferry us to Downpatrick in the back of work vans. This was a great learning curve for a young team playing football at a time when shinpads were not even compulsory to wear (that rule came in the following year), and on a national scale the big two in Merseyside were dominating the league and Luton Town were winning the league Cup.
The next season 1989-90 the club felt confident enough to admit a team into the U-18 league. This was to be managed by a young goalkeeper from the town, Jim Burns and ably assisted by a fresh faced 21 year old John Ward. Jim and Yohi also gave Charlie a hand in his second year with the U-15’s as seven players; D.Valentine, J.Burns, M.McVeigh, M.Healy, M.Keown, C.McGrady and I played for both squads. An arrangement was made with the league to play the U-15 games at an earlier time and then these players would go and join the U-18’s. Not only were we playing two games in a row but we were 14 year olds up against 17 and 18 year old men. As with the U-15 team the U-18’s struggled in their first year, but the U-15’s fared much better in their second year, coming third in the league and getting to the semi final of the cup before falling to all conquering Down Roma. In that season a number of footballers from Newcastle and Dundrum joined the ranks, players like Scott and Richard Kidd, Simon Gribben, Mark Forsythe, Mark Walker, Marco Rosato, Darren McKibben and Darren King RIP and in later years Damian McGreevy RIP from Kilcoo. These players were welcomed with open arms and gave their all for the town in the youth league.
One resounding image and one you can still see if you look out for him at football matches, are of Charlie McAlinden standing on the sidelines, in a short sleeved shirt, peeling an orange in the middle of the pouring rain! That was the type of dedication shown by these men(often with young families) just to give fellows a game of football.
It was with renewed hope and vigour that Jim, Yohi and Charlie got their squad together for the 1990-91 U-18 season. At last they had their original squad altogether, and all the players who had gathered that first time at the secondary school as rough diamonds were now into their second and third years as battle hardened pros.
The squad for that year was;
Player Age Position Player Age Position
D.Valentine 15 Goalkeeper M Walker 16 Striker
G.Keaveney 15 Defender R Kidd 15 Striker
J.Burns 16 Defender T Mc Cann 16 Midfielder
T.McEvoy 17 Defender S Rice 17 Midfielder
J.Trainor 17 Defender M Forsythe 14 Striker
Noel Napier 17 Defender M Gould 17 Striker
Paul Kelly 17 Midfielder M Healy 14 Midfielder
C Mc Cabe 16 Midfielder M Keown 14 Striker
S Kidd 15 Midfielder C Mc Grady 16 Striker
M Mc Veigh 16 Striker C O’Neill 17 Goalie
M Kennedy 17 Striker
The team started off slowly and in their first 5 games drew 3 and lost 2. It took the visit of neighbours Newcastle to get the team off to winning ways and despite being 2-0 down at half time romped to a 5-2 victory. For the next 8 games we remained unbeaten, recording 6 wins and 2 draws to finish in 3rd place in the league cup. The senior league then started and not for the last time that season Newcastle put a dent in the town’s title ambitions, beating us 2-0 in the opener. That was to be the only defeat in the league campaign for us as we had a further 7 wins and 4 draws in the rest of our league programme. Drumaness ended up winning the treble that year and we ended up empty handed despite having lost only 4 times in the 3 competitions.
In our penultimate league game against Drumaness we put on our best display of the season to totally thrash our cup final opponent’s 4-1 and the score line flattered them at the final whistle. It was in our final league game that our season started to go wrong. In a match we had to win for our title ambitions we could only draw, and I was sent off after the final whistle. This was to have dire consequences for the cup final as I had played in left back every game that season, and we had to start with our most influential midfielder Scotchy Kelly in that position. It is interesting to note that our equaliser against Newcastle was an own goal scored by future town stalwart and captain Donal Burns.
So to the cup final and one of the worst moments ever in my career, as I watched the team line out for the game. As history shows we lost that final and so ended up with nothing, in a season, which I believe we were the best team. Photos of cup final report and pictures That 1990-1991 team was certainly the best team I have ever played with in youth football and of the squad mentioned only 7 went on to play senior football for the club first team. In goals we were spoilt for choice, Declan Valentine was the regular keeper who could do the most fantastic and daftest things all in the one minute. Then came Conor O’Neill towards the end of the season who was a superb goalie with a great kick out. The defence hardly changed all season with myself and John Jap Trainor two tough tackling speedy full backs. In the middle was Tommy Toby Mc Evoy who won every ball in the air and on the ground, and in behind was Zoom Zoom who was the best Castlewellan defender ever to grace DYFL and won the DYFL player of the year award.
The midfield mainly consisted of Mickey Healy a tough tackling, in your face midfielder, Deceptively good in the air; Tony Mc Cann fast and skilful on the right wing; Seamus Rice, another flying machine not afraid to mix it; Scott Kidd and Cormac Mc Cabe two cool footballers, guaranteed to keep their heads among all the mayhem of a midfield battle ground. Finally Paul Scotchy Kelly our inspirational captain and the man everybody turned to when the going got tough. I still can not believe Scotchy is not playing soccer now at a senior level, in my view he was the best player in a very good team. Up front we had a variety of strikers, but the main man was Mickey Mc Veigh, a player with blistering speed who was prolific in that season scoring 18 goals. Mickey was another player who never really fulfilled his potential although a bad shoulder injury did not help the following year. Mickey was partnered by different strikers through out the season including mark Forsythe (5 goals) Richard Kidd (5 goals) Martin Kennedy (2 Goals) and David Stranney who now plays for Downpatrick FC.
Although I played for a further 2 years in the youth league, the season 1990-91 will always be the one to remain in my memory more than most. The term “team spirit” was made for this team that had so many characters. From brilliant footballers like Paul Kelly, John Burns and Mickey Mc Veigh to boys who very rarely got a game like Mark Gould, Cormac Mc Grady and Marty Kennedy, nobody missed a training session or game. Going home on the bus, was as much part of the fun as playing and many a good sing song was had with myself, Decky, Yohi and Hovis striking up the music and everyone else joining in. Rumour has it that even Jim Burns was heard singing along one day. Many stories are remembered, more forgotten in my five years in the youth team. Silly stories like Davey Mc Cormac dumping a bus load of boys in Kilcoo because we were all whistling and screaming in his ear. Getting a police escort home after a game, Leaving boys home to Dundrum to a chorus of rebel songs and laughing as they run off. Hovis scoring 2 goals against Strangford to win 2-1 and him stopping old women on the street to tell them of his exploits and Charlie Mc Alinden being held down and stripped to his underwear in the back of “bertha” as our bus was affectionately known as.
Many people have been involved in and helped develop Castlewellan in the DYFL but I believe four men in particular deserve the full credit for putting Castlewellan on the map in youth football, they are Charlie Mc Alinden, Francis Steele, Jim Burns and Yohi Ward. As for me and the others who kicked a ball about the Protestant school (which will tragically soon be a housing estate) I am proud and glad I was given the chance to be part of the first generation of Castlewellan youth football.
