A 35 year wait was a mighty long one for a club with a proud tradition like Walterstown. That wait finally came to an end last year when we won our first adult title since 1984, claiming the Junior C Football Championship title at the expense of Dunderry. Last Friday night we celebrated that victory again with a medal presentation in the club, while we also unveiled their Junior Player of the Year, Intermediate Player of the Year and the Club Person of the Year.
The last man to guide the Blacks to a junior title (1978) was Michael O’Brien and he was on hand to present the winners medals to the latest crop of players to bring a trophy back to the Oldtown Road.
Chairman Stan Cooney, speaking at Friday’s event, said he hopes the junior’s victory will be the start of a new era for the club, just like it was back in 1978. On the back of winning the Junior and indeed the SFC title in ‘78 we went on to win the Keegan Cup in 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1984. With the 2020 club season just one game old for Walterstown, our main aim is to get back to the senior ranks next year.
[ngg src=”galleries” ids=”31″ display=”basic_imagebrowser”]Last year’s Junior C team, managed by Robbie Barrett, mostly consisted of young up and coming players who will be keen to impress and make intermediate boss Martin O’Connell stand up and take notice. One of those players, Cormac Freeman, was named as the Junior Player of the Year last Friday night, a well deserved accolade for the young defender.
At intermediate level last year, we reached the quarter final stage of the championship where we bowed out to eventual winners Nobber in Trim, a game we probably should have won.
The Blacks have a number of young players already making their mark such as current Meath U20 men Barry O’Connell and Conor Farrelly, however it was the more experienced Alban Crosbie who picked up the Intermediate Player of the Year award last week. Crosbie has been a loyal servant for Walterstown and was a deserved and popular winner of the award.
Every club relies on an army of volunteers to keep going year after year and Walterstown is no different. Picking a Club Person of the Year isn’t often an easy task, however that wasn’t the case this year. The award went to Brian Farrell who is the club’s registrar, former PRO, the man who looked after all the pitch bookings and all the IT issues amongst many, many other things. A man of view words, Farrell prefers to just get the job(s) done and the club would certainly be lost without him.
The celebrations in the club house the night Walterstown won the Junior C Championship were reminiscent of the ones that were plenty in the ‘80s. Here’s hoping it won’t be another 35 years before the club sees the likes again!
