Castlehaven will be hoping to avoid the pain and agony of another All-Ireland semi final defeat

IN the storied history of the All-Ireland club football championship, agony is as much a defining theme of the competition as ecstasy – because for every story of elation, there is invariably a corresponding chapter of devastation.

That agony is all the greater again when the chance to heal some of that pain presents itself again, but the outcome is still the same. 

The agony is even more excruciating when that pain returns on multiple occasions, leaving a scar that will never heal.

Roscommon’s Clann na nGael will always be regarded as one of the most heart-breaking storylines of the club championship; after losing the 1983 All-Ireland final to Portlaoise, the Roscommon club lost four successive finals between 1987-’90.

Nemo Rangers were staring down a similar type barrel during the 2003 All-Ireland final when they were on the verge of losing a third All-Ireland final in a row. 

Yet Nemo delivered a brilliant second half performance against Crossmolina, who had beaten them in the 2001 final, to win by two points.

Even if Nemo had lost that final, nobody could have argued with their status as the greatest club in the history of the All-Ireland club championship. 

That 2003 title may have been their last but they still remain top of the roll of honour with seven titles. 

Furthermore, no club has come close to reaching as many finals as Nemo, with 12 appearances on that All-Ireland stage.

Clann na nGael are one of 22 clubs that reached an All-Ireland football final and never got the job done again afterwards. 

Clann na nGael, Castlebar Mitchels, Walterstown, Éire Óg (Carlow) and Slaughtneil returned to at least one more final but the outcome was still the same as the first time.

It isn’t any consolation now but at least those players can always say that they featured on the biggest club day of all. 

A multitude of provincial champions never got that far. Castlehaven are one of those clubs but the west Cork side also have one of the most unwanted records in the history of the competition.

Across the past five decades, the Haven are one of 26 clubs in the four provinces to have won three or more provincial championships. 

Yet only two of those 26 – the Haven and St Mary’s Sligo - never reached an All-Ireland final.

St Mary’s lost three semi-finals in 1978, 1981 and 1984 to Thomond College, Walterstown and Nemo Rangers respectively. 

In two of those years, the sides that narrowly defeated Mary’s went on to win the All-Ireland final comfortably.

The Haven know all about that pain, having lost All-Ireland semi-finals in 1990, 1995 and 1998 to Baltinglass, Kilmacud Crokes and Erin’s Isle respectively. In two of those seasons, the teams that beat Castlehaven went on to win the All-Ireland.

The 1995 defeat to Crokes is the only game that the Haven don’t have regrets from. 

They lost by four points but the Stillorgan side led by seven with five minutes remaining. 

However, the other two defeats were stacked with such an overbearing weight of regrets that some in the club are still carrying that load.

When Castlehaven played their first semi-final in 1990, one team got home advantage and Baltinglass preferred to play in Aughrim as they had never been beaten there. 

On a horrible day, the Wicklow side played with the breeze in the first half. They had 1-5 on the board by the 20th minute – and didn’t score again.

Castlehaven were six down at half-time, which they felt was manageable with Larry Tompkins and John Cleary up front, but they lost Mike Maguire to a sending off and the Haven went 17 minutes in the second half without a score. 

They only managed 0-6 and lost by two.

The 1998 defeat to Erin’s Isle though, was a whole different world of pain. 

The Haven produced one of their most complete performances of that era, scoring 0-17, 0-15 from play. With a few minutes to go, Castlehaven were five points up and Erin’s Isle were down to 14 men.

After the Dublin side got an unanswered 1-1 to bring it back to two, Colin Crowley had an opportunity to put the Haven three up but he went for goal and the ball hit the post and came back out.

Moments later, the ball was trickling out wide at the other end but there was a mix-up between Michael Maguire and Denis Cleary, which allowed the Erin’s Isle corner-forward to poke it back across the goal, where Niall Crossan shot. 

The ball hit the post, went across the line and hit the other post before popping out into Tompkins’ hand, who cleared it down the field.

The umpires looked at each other and put up the flag. After a couple of minutes of chaos, the goal stood. 

As soon as Tompkins caught the resultant kickout, referee Pat McEnaney blew the full-time whistle.

It was the most devastating way imaginable to lose. A few days later, Castlehaven sent the TV footage to Sky Sports in a bid for a virtual replay salvation, but nothing came of their bid. 

McEnaney subsequently stated in his report to the GAC that Crossan's shot had crossed the line. 

Subsequent TV footage acquired by ‘Sunday Sport’ showed that the ball had bounced behind the line by a considerable margin before hitting the second post.

It has taken Castlehaven 26 years to get back to this stage. 

Similar to their last two semi-final appearances, this game is also on in Thurles. 

The main difference this time around is that the Haven are playing a team from outside Leinster for the first time at this stage.

And they are desperate to finally cross that semi-final line and reach Croke Park.