BY GER McCARTHY
AFTER watching Castlehaven’s adult ladies’ team record five county titles in a row, Mark Collins jokes that the club’s senior men’s team was feeling the pressure!
In a memorable 2023, both teams won county senior football titles – the ladies winning the county senior B crown in their first year at senior level – while Castlehaven also won a Rebel Óg U17 final as well, and it’s this collective success that earned the Haven the prestigious West Cork Sports Star Club of the Year award.
‘This award is a lovely bonus,’ Castlehaven captain Mark Collins said.
‘At the start of any year, you set out looking for success so for our club to gain success with three different teams was a great achievement.
‘It’s our ladies football team that has set the tone for that over the last number of years. Winning five county titles in a row is phenomenal. We felt a bit left behind there a small bit! We had to do something to join in and get into the action this past year!
‘On top of that then, you had our U17s winning a county as well. That just made the whole year extra-special.’
Despite Castlehaven’s men’s team coming up short in their bid to win an All-Ireland senior club title, 2023 was still a remarkable year. Collins was part of a panel that claimed Cork premier senior and Munster senior titles, the latter in the most dramatic of circumstances.
‘Well, from our point of view, if you had offered me a premier senior county and Munster senior championship at the start of the year, I’d have bitten your hand off,’ Collins stated.
‘We’d been knocking on the door for the last four years without getting over the line in the county. When we finally did, it was very sweet. We put a big emphasis on the Munster campaign and it was brilliant we managed to get over the line in that as well, especially the way we did it.
‘Obviously, it was disappointing in the end, losing to St Brigid’s, but they are a very good team. They were probably the better team on that day.’
Quite what 2024 holds for Castlehaven teams is anyone’s guess, but the West Cork Sports Star Club of the Year award winners will be no less hungry for more success.
