Farrell hails his charges after 'special' victory

Padraig Farrell has been assured of eternal reverence in Castledaly. The Tubber man only took over the reins in Castledaly at the beginning of the year and has managed to guide them to a first ever senior county title. Their two point victory over Garrycastle, who have been something of a bogey side for Castledaly in recent finals, ensured Farrell and this current Castledaly crop of players will never be forgotten in the South Westmeath village. Speaking after the dramatic win on Sunday, Padraig Farrell told the assembled media what the victory means to him and the people of Castledaly. 'I"m breathless after that,' sighed the Castledaly bainisteoir. 'We tried to play things down in the build-up to the game but I have to admit we were under a serious amount of pressure. Everybody was calling us bottlers or losers of finals but we used those words as motivation. I didn"t really enjoy the game, to be honest. I was under a lot of pressure on the sideline. I"m delighted for everybody associated with Castledaly and it"s a bit special for me because my two parents are Castledaly natives. There was a lot of emotion at the end of the game. The club lost a loyal servant in Ollie McLoughlin earlier in the year and his son, MJ, was excellent today. This win means an awful lot to a lot of people. I"m delighted for MJ McLoughlin and the rest of the players, they were great throughout the campaign,' added Farrell. Garrycastle had won the previous two final meetings between the sides and many pundits rated them as favourites to see off Castledaly once again. However, Farrell and his troops had other ideas. 'At the back of it all, I fancied us to win today,' Farrell said. 'We trained for a high intensity game and put a lot of emphasis on trying to stop Dessie Dolan and his supply line to Garrycastle"s forwards. We put Derek Heavin on Dessie and he did a terrific job. Dessie had dictated most Garrycastle"s matches before now, so it was imperative to stop him doing what he does best. I felt we had a tremendous hunger for it today and that"s a huge thing. Nobody associated with Castledaly could even comprehend leaving here on the losing side again and thankfully we"ve managed to claim that elusive first county championship. It"s a big moment for the club.' Sunday"s match was Castledaly"s fifth outing in as many weeks - and Farrell believes their extra match sharpness stood to them. 'Garrycastle had an extra week to prepare but I didn"t make an issue of it,' he said. 'Our last two matches against Tyrrellspass were hard, tough games and I feel they stood to us today. The replay against Tyrrellspass also showed we can win tight matches and that was important for us. Some people reckon we were lucky to qualify from the group because Martin Flanagan scored a late goal to eliminate Mullingar Shamrocks, but we did enough to get through and I feel we played better and better as the championship went on.' Farrell also had praise for goalkeeper James Kinahan. The Clara man made a number of vital saves at crucial times on Sunday. 'Our "keeper, yeah, I thought he was superb. "Goosey", as we call him, made some very good saves. He"s our only goalkeeper so we"re grateful to have him!' said Farrell. The Castledaly manager said he will also have the players prepared properly for the Leinster quarter-final on November 9 against the champions of Meath (Navan O"Mahony"s) or Wexford. 'That"s a bit down the road but we"ll deal with it,' said Farrell.