Castlehaven heroes of 2012 still delivering on the big stage  

IT'S 11 years since Castlehaven brought the Andy Scannell Cup back west after they defeated Duhallow 1-7 to 0-9 in the final of the Cork Senior Football Championship at Pairc Uí Chaoimh.

It was the first success of its kind by the club since 2003 and they used this as a springboard to start another golden era for football in the town. To see it through that lens is to close one eye. 

The real story is Castlehaven doing one of the hardest things there is in sport, and that is making a comeback.

That's because every club has that one period in their history, a time when trophies were plentiful and it seemed like summer would never end. Nothing lasts forever, especially in a sport that's often dictated by locality and access to population. 

Numbers can be boosted by those returning from afar, but the core group can often be determined by the age profile and the talent available to selectors.

GAA - no matter what the code - is just an extreme example of this over the amateur ethos of the sport and the absence of transfers for money. Every club in the country has pictures on the wall of that one panel. No team is immune to the sea of change. 

It’s almost unheard of to have one club – especially in a county as big as Cork – that consistently wins trophies. 

Even Nemo Rangers, the most successful of all sides in the Rebel County, had days when they struggled to deliver. 

The cycle is natural, the hard part is starting again.

Castlehaven's first golden age started in the late eighties, and it saw them win a number of trophies in Cork and Munster. The highlight was two county championships and provincial success in 1989, 1994, and 1997. 

The only piece of silverware to elude the Haven was an All-Ireland title, with a two-point defeat to Erin's Isle in the 1998 semi-finals the closest they got to achieving national recognition. Those days immortalised names like Larry Tompkins, Niall Cahalane, and John Cleary. 

The class of 2012 placed the likes of Brian Hurley and Damien Cahalane alongside them as some of the greatest to ever wear the jersey.

2012 saw a the new generation fully break through after making themselves known by getting to the Cork Senior Football Championship final in 2011 and coming up short against UCC.

All the ingredients were there in hindsight; a young team from a club steeped in history that had just experienced defeat on one of the biggest days in the Gaelic football calendar. 

They just needed to pick themselves up and go again in the new year.

The first-round draw paired Castlehaven with Aghada at Páirc Naomh Eoin and they won 0-12 to 0-9.  Newcestown were beaten after that and Castlehaven qualified for the quarter-finals, where they had to play St Finbarr’s.

The Blues were emboldened by a win over Nemo Rangers in the previous round, and they boasted a young panel that was strengthened by Cork star Michael Shields. 

The two clubs ended up drawing at Charlie Hurley Park, and a replay was needed to separate them. Castlehaven won the rematch 0-12 to 0-9 and they qualified for the final by beating Carbery Rangers at Páirc Uí Rinn.

Duhallow were on the other side of the draw, and the divisional side was looking at winning the Andy Scannell Cup for the first time since 1991.

CASTLEHAVEN STARTING 15

P Hurley; D Limrick, L Collins, T O’Leary; R Whelton, D Cahalane, C Hayes; S Dineen, D Hurley; S Hurley, M Collins, A Cahalane; S Cahalane, D Burns, B Hurley.

The actual game was tight, down to the tension tactics with bodies kept behind the ball.

Only four points were scored during the opening quarter and that was followed by Duhallow’s Pádraig O’Leary and Niall Fleming putting the ball over the bar.

Damien Cahalane chipped one off their lead by converting a 45-metre free and Brian Hurley equalised three minutes before the break.

The scoreboard read 0-5 apiece at half-time and Duhallow dominated possession when the game restarted. 

This was largely down to the work done by Bertie O’Callaghan and Aidan Walsh in midfield, but it meant very little as the team failed to put the ball over the bar.

Jack Cott put Castlehaven a point up in the 56th minute, and that marked a decisive shift in the momentum inside Páirc Uí Chaoimh. The player that capitalised on this was wing-back Chris Hayes by punching a Mark Collins pass past the Duhallow goalkeeper.

A green flag went up and Duhallow only got one more score.

It wasn’t enough and Castlehaven were crowned Cork senior football champions for 2012 shortly after, and a whole new class had graduated in the west. 

There was a new generation that would bring success back to the town.