Donohoe enjoying new Castlerahan challenge

IFC final preview

Having been a key part of the Ballinagh management team when they won the Intermediate Championship in 2020 and reached the SFC quarter-final last year, Brian Donohoe (below) was in no mood to rest on his laurels when the off-season arrived.

And when an approach came from Castlerahan, the former Cavan senior defender did not have to think very long about whether or not to take the manager’s job.

“If you look back over the last six, seven, eight years, these Castlerahan men have been unbelievably consistent. They’re a team I’ve always admired, their tenacity, their drive and the leaders that they have and I suppose when an opportunity came up, I went for it bald-headed. I was very lucky to get John Clarke on board with me and my brother-in-law Mark Smith with me as well,” Brian explained to the Anglo-Celt this week.

“The three of us gel really, really well together and Castlerahan was an opportunity and a challenge that I just felt was too good to turn down at that stage.

“I had done three years with Ballinagh, great team, great memories and it was probably time for a new opportunity, new freshness and new adventure for myself. Things are going well and I have a lot of really, really talented players, great leaders, great men. We’re in a good place and we’re looking forward to next weekend.”

Castlerahan reached five county senior finals in succession and, in the sixth year, were only beaten in extra time by eventual winners Crosserlough. Their relegation, then, was a bolt from the blue. Meeting the players for the first time as a group, Donohoe quickly realised they were quite down after being demoted. His message was that they would work hard together and fix the problem. So far, so good.

“I could sense the hurt. The spirit and the morale was low now, there is no way of looking round that. Last season did not go well for the group and it spiralled pretty fast, as can happen in team sports.

“They were at a low ebb, things were low but you’ve just got to turn the corner. Get to the gym, get to the pitch, get bigger, faster, stronger. The full squad, reserve and senior, we’ll stay together for the year.

“We need to drive, we need to keep continually improving, 2021 is gone now and we need to move on to ’22. And in fairness, we did that.

“The All-County League was great, we really looked forward to that and we had a decent league. A little blip around April, May time but things picked up towards the end and we’ve driven on then into the championship.”

To reach the final, Castlerahan had to face Cuchulainns three times, eventually winning in the semi-final replay last Friday night. When the Celt caught up with Brian the next day, he was still processing the win while already starting to plan for the next match.

“It was a very tough trilogy. We started off with a tight cagey affair in Virginia in round one and leaving the pitch that day, I said to Mickey Lyng, ‘see you shortly’. We knew our paths would cross again.

“We had a very tight drawn semi-final as well and then thankfully we prevailed before the end of the replay. We’re delighted to be there.

“With the four rounds, you just know you need to get through it, whether you are one, two, three, four, seven or eight, it doesn’t matter. We had a couple of very tough games with Denn and Killinkere and we were delighted to get them.

“It showed our boys that this Intermediate Championship is going to be very hard won and that you must attend to all facets of play. They were great games to get. Round four was probably a little of silly beggars or whatever, Ballyhaise didn’t play their full squad but we were very happy to get through on the seven points and that brought us forward then into the quarter-final.”

This year marks the silver anniversary of Cavan’s 1997 Ulster Senior Football Championship success. Donohoe was a part of that successful squad and, 25 years on, he’s obviously still heavily involved in the game on the other side of the white line.

What is it about football that he enjoys so much?

“Getting involved with a group of players that you hope to bring on both individually and collectively. That’s the challenge, night after night, you’re giving them debrief, you’re looking forward on drills and games. I love it, I’d be constantly searching for new ways of doing things and trying out stuff and I have to say, the Castlerahan guys this year have been very receptive to new ideas and thought processes that we brought together as a management team so fingers crossed we keep it going.”

As for Castlerahan’s final opponents, Donohoe believes they have been very impressive thus far and will take a lot of beating in the decider.

“They are strong favourities, I think they have been the form team all year. They waltzed easily into an All-County League semi-final, they had an excellent league, took out some big teams in Division 1 and I think they coasted comfortably through their championship games.

“They dismissed Denn in the quarter-final and then had a good test against Cootehill but as we know, Cootehill have a lot of good strikers, a lot of good players. That was a good game. I think Ballyhaise will be ready, they will be looking forward to it.

“They have a lot of strengths, a lot of attacking strengths and they have some big men too so we have work to do.”