Castle Villa - more than just a football club
The Castle Villa squad ahead of their title-clinching 6-1 victory over BBC United.
One of the titans of Kildare soccer came roaring back to life last week, when Castle Villa clinched their first piece of silverware in ten years; longer than many would care to remember.
The Castledermot club have been rebuilding over the last number of years having fallen down the divisions, but they have finally started to course correct under the tutelage of player/manager, Aidan Murphy.
A 6-1 victory over BBC United clinched the title for Castle Villa, as they six points clear at the top of the KDFL Hill Mechanical and Electrical Division 2 with only one game left to play.
It was Villa’s 12th win from 15; a truly remarkable accomplishment in a testing division that includes the likes of Old Fort Celtic, Allenwood, and Newbridge United ‘B’. Those three were the only teams to take points off Villa all season, with Allenwood winning 1-0, Newbridge winning 3-0, and Old Fort holding out for a 2-2 draw.
Oddly enough, all three of those games came at Mullarney Park, while it was on the road where the Castledermot side blossomed, with a perfect away record en route to the championship, including an extraordinary run of five consecutive away wins between June and August.
Castle Villa Chairman Alan Proctor spoke with The Kildare Nationalist last week to reflect on the huge success of this season.
“We started back in January for the first full year of this year under Aidan Murphy – Aidan’s an ex-player of ours, and still actually registered as a player, so, a player/manager technically,” he said.
BBC had beaten Villa twice last season, once in the league and once in the cup, and the meeting between the sides earlier this season had been a cagey affair – scoreless until the 70th minute when Castle Villa found two late goals to secure the win – leaving Proctor wary of what was in store at Moyvalley.
“With results going how they’ve gone in recent years, we thought this was going to be close; BBC haven’t had a spectacular season by any stretch of the imagination, but they’ve a lot of good players up there – you could name four or five, but in particular Dean Tyrell is a goal-scoring machine,” Proctor said.
“We weren’t counting chickens before going up there. But we were 1-0 up after eight minutes and no word of a lie, Jack Anderson’s goal for us was world class. The Premier League started back (last) weekend and Jack Anderson’s goal was still the best goal I’ve seen all week. It was absolutely phenomenal.”
By half time, the game – and thus the league – was over and done. 5-0 to Castle Villa and no turning back for BBC.
“Everything we wanted to go right went right; we wanted to get an early start, we wanted to build on an early start, we wanted to cut their chances, we wanted to stop supply of the ball to their really good players. Everything happened for us,” Proctor said.
“Peter Coogan, who, he won’t mind me saying, had a shaky enough game the week before; but he was blooding outstanding for us against BBC; he dealt with everything so comfortably and gave that confidence to the back four as well.”
Proctor is uniquely qualified to offer goalkeeping advice, have spent over quarter of a century minding the net for Castle Villa during some of the club’s most successful years.
“I played 27 different seasons,” the chairman told us. “I was lucky with injuries and I retired when I was 39/40. We were struggling for a goalkeeper, the year I was 42; then I spoke to the manager at the time, I thought I might have something to offer. I played 12 games and to be honest, those 12 games, I treasure them, I really do.
“They weren’t at the top level where we used to play; I was very lucky to come into a team in ’94 that was challenging for trophies. I have a few medals, I was very lucky to win leagues, Lumsden Cups, divisional cups and a couple of shields. I came into a team that was very, very strong; and it remained strong for a long time – there was a lot of good players playing in front of me. That made my job very easy at times; I think I did my part at times too. We were a very, very good side for a very, very long time.”
Having lost their senior team in 2019, Castle Villa began the traumatic slide out of the top tier of Kildare football and down the divisions. They began a rebuild, concentrating on the young talent emerging for the underage ranks. Things were looking up for the Castledermot club, but they narrowly missed out on promotion two seasons running, once by just a single point.
But the have now finally returned to Division 1 despite having a very inexperienced squad, with Proctor identifying several impressive young players.
“We have Aaron Barady, who was outstanding in midfield for us this year; Callum Dowling, who’s numbers are like something that a grizzled auld pro would through out there. He has goals, he has assists, he’s full of pace, full of energy; he’s 17 years of age, playing in the same team as his father, Vinnie, which is very, very rare.
“We have Jack Anderson, who scored that world-class goal, he’s still an U18 player. We had Greg Kelly last season, who has been phenomenal with the GAA and made that Minor Football Team of the Year. And there’s more coming through that U18 team, like Cian Byrne who’s in the squad, that will feed into next year.”
Castle Villa are making progress in other areas as well, with a re-development on the cards at their home ground, Mullarney Park.
“We’re talking about developing the site – we’re making it 150% bigger. We were lucky enough to do a deal with the landowner there and we’re finally going to get that over the line in the next couple of weeks,” Proctor said.
“So, instead of having one good pitch In Mullarney we’re going to have two good pitches, two smaller pitches, plus develop the car park, develop the dressing rooms – there’s a load of plans in place there.”
The squad brought their newly won Division 2 trophy to club legend and current President, Tommy O'Connell, with Proctor saying, “I’ve known Tommy since I was old enough to know anybody, you know. We all knew Tommy growing up; we were speaking about it the other day and we’re fairly sure he’s the most successful manager in the history of the club.
“When we won the Lumsden (Cup) ten years ago, we brought it to Tommy’s as well. I wouldn’t call it a tradition, but I’d like to think that if I get to an age where I can’t go celebrate with them in 40 years’ time, someone might bring the trophy down to me as well.”
The squad also met up with other club legends, such as Pat Corr and Ollie Coleman, to help celebrate the victorious season.
“We’re very proud of our 57-year history and we always try to include the old guard in it,” Proctor said.
“This isn’t just a football club, it’s an institution with the Castledermot community and we hope it will be for a long time to come.”
