CASTLETOWN-KINNEIGH is a hotspot for sporting success right now. Look at the evidence. Last year, the local GAA club, Diarmuid Ó Mathúnas, excelled in both codes and won the Carbery junior A hurling title, while the local soccer club, Castletown Celtic, won the 2023/24 Championship title and currently sit second in the Premier Division. Heady times, indeed.
While pleased about their fast start to life in the top tier of the West Cork League, Castletown manager Gary Shannon also stressed the importance of going well in cup competitions.
They are already in the Premier Division Cup semi-finals, where they face Clonakilty Soccer Club, but the Beamish Cup is one they want to win.
‘Making a final, especially the last two years after falling at the semi-finals, would be nice,’ Shannon says.
‘I remember as a young fella going to the matches and we’d always pull out a big squad for the cup. We might be going poor in the league but we always seem to get a run in the cup. It is the one to perform in.
‘The Beamish Cup is one of the main reasons that I’m sticking at it. We will try to always get a good cup run. We have been to the semi-final in the last two years. If we can get another run in that, it would be nice.’
Castletown’s last two Beamish Cup semi-final defeats were also against the eventual champions. In 2023, they fell 2-0 to Dunmanway Town and last season lost 3-2 to Clonakilty Soccer Club. They’ve been on-so-close, just not close enough.
They kick off their Beamish Cup campaign at home to Togher Celtic in round one this Sunday at 2pm. These two were due to clash in the Premier Division last weekend, before the entire WCL schedule was postponed because of the bad weather.
‘Preparation hasn’t been great in the sense that we have not played many games lately with the way pitches have gone,’ Shannon explains.
‘That brings no momentum, you’d always be missing a few lads every week. This is one that they’ll all turn up for, meaning it will be hard to pick a settled team and keep everyone happy. That will be a tough test because Togher have had a difficult start themselves in the league so will look to the cup to get going.
‘There are two or three of the Mathúnas lads that play for Togher too so there is a bit of banter between the boys back and forth. There is a bit of slagging each other there.’
Clonakilty Soccer Club's Joe Edmead battling with Castletown Celtic's Tiernan O'Driscoll during the 2024 Beamish Cup semi-final.Given their success in recent times, this has been an enjoyable time for the Castletown boss. He has been involved with the club for just over ten years, since around 2014.
‘My brother and another lad were stuck on it and they took over the football team then at Mathúnas. I was after giving up rugby at the time, and had to retire. The next day, I was going to the matches and I got landed with it and stuck with it since. It has its moments,’ he laughs.
The last time Castletown were in the Premier Division, they finished joint second from bottom with 12 points. Avoiding the drop was the aim for Shannon’s side this season but because of their fast start, their thought process has switched somewhat. Currently, they sit second with 20 points after 11 games, two points behind leaders Drinagh Rangers who have played two games less. Castletown have exceeded expectations.
‘I didn’t think we’d get such a good start but luckily enough we had a good squad to get some good results early on,’ Shannon explains.
‘When we went up the last time, we got 12 points in 18 games. After five games this season, we had 12 points. At the start of the season, staying up was the biggest thing. I had 15 points in my head; if we got that, we’d be safe. We are trying to keep the form together for a cup run now, that’s what we aim for every year.
‘Drinagh B (also promoted from the Championship) are a very good team as well and the teams up there are already good because they are in the Premier. I was thinking at the start of the season, “where are we going to get our points?” It was the peak of the GAA season when we started the league, but it has been an excellent season so far.’
Despite being second right now, Shannon has stressed that they are not in a title fight. Taking each game as it comes is the priority for the rest of the league season.
‘Finishing as high as we can is the aim. With the other teams having games in hand, it is going to be hard to cause an upset, we have to look after our own show. Finishing top three or four would be nice,’ the Celtic manager says, but this weekend it’s all about the Beamish Cup and kickstarting a cup run.
