JOHN Caffrey was involved with a successful Castlerahan U21 side in 2007, and feels that as far as lifting the Oliver Plunkett Cup goes it may be now or never for those players who have since graduated to the senior ranks.
From that underage side, the club has watched players such as Cian Mackey, Ronan Flanagan, Jamie Leahy, Enda O’Connell and Joe O'Connell all progress to pull on senior jerseys.
There was a bad beating in the 2011 final against Cavan Gaels and an agonizing one-point loss to Kingscourt last year.
On Sunday, they are seeking a first county title in their own right, having been champions in 1976 when joined up with Munterconnnaught as St Mary’s.
Standing in their way is an exciting young Ramor United side. The club’s last appearance in the final was 1992, which resulted in a point win against Bailieborough Shamrocks.
With teams such as Kingscourt Stars, Cavan Gaels, Ballinagh and Mullahoran out of the way, it does look a golden opportunity for either Castlerahan or Ramor, to lift the title.
“Personally I would expect Castlerahan to win it, but I wouldn’t be over confident as such,” said Caffrey.
“Ramor have had a good championship - they have probably been more impressive than Castlerahan. They would possibly be the team of the championship so far. They’re a good strong young team.
“Castlerahan haven’t been playing well up to now. They scraped through against Lacken and whilst they played a bit better against Gowna - Gowna wouldn’t be as good as Lacken.
“That 2007 crop of players – they are coming to the stage where it is now or never, do you know that kind of way? They’re 28 or 29 now – they need to win the first one anyway.”
Ramor United manager Micheál McDermott, in his first year as senior boss after being involved last year with the club’s successful U21 side, has hailed the impact of his young guns.
In group four of the Cavan championship, the Virginia based side put 4-18 past Denn, 2-15 past Mullahoran and registered 2-13 against Ballinagh. Just as impressive were the lowly totals they conceded - 1-6, 0-7, and 0-9 respectively.
They then got the better of holders Kingscourt in the quarter final 1-8 to 0-7 before beating Lavey 2-10 to 1-10 in their semi-final clash.
“We said at the start of the year that we were going to put our faith in the youth, mixed with the experience,” said McDermott.
“Those young lads really have stood up and become leaders this year - probably ahead of their time and it's those guys that have got us there for Sunday.
“We're delighted to be there. Of our performances so far - we were happier with them in the earlier rounds.
“They may not have been up to scratch in the quarter-final and semi-final but we showed battling qualities in those two games to win compared to the way we were winning in our earlier matches.
As for Castlerahan, McDermott is expecting to come up against keenly motivated opponents.
“I would say that Castlerahan were very unfortunate last year not to win the county title,” he declared.
“Kingscourt probably stole it on the day.Castlerahan had their chances, but it'll give them a great drive and ambition to come back this year and try and win it.”
