Dalzell dream comes true for Forest

By Jonathan Brown

Castlewellan Forest made history on Boxing Day, thanks to a 4-0 win over Downpatrick in the Bobby Dalzell Cup final. The result meant Forest became the first seconds team to complete the Newcastle League cup double, adding to their victory over Killough in the 2023 Harry Clarke final.

Joint-manager Jack Murnin, who manages the Castlewellan seconds alongside Joe O’Neill, described his emotions after the final whistle at Robert Adams Park. “Not bad for a seconds team, eh? It’s unbelievable – I said at the start of the year that we’d be happy with a top-half finish and a trophy, that’s half the job done, so I’m buzzing,” he said.

Murnin believes his side deserved to take the trophy home, given their performance over the course of the 90 minutes, and he was particularly impressed with Forest’s second-half showing. “I thought we had the better chances in the first half, we just didn’t take them, so we just wanted to go out and kick on in the second half. We said at half-time that it was our game to win, and it was an unbelievable performance in the second half.”

Murnin added: “We started to get on top but Downpatrick are no pushovers, they’re a very good team, but the chances just seemed to fall for us, and we took them well. I thought we played really well.”

For Murnin, it was very much a team performance that secured the result in the second half. “Scott Kinley was brilliant upfront holding the ball up, McKibbin (Callum) and Beckett (Thomas) both won the ball back in midfield really well. Defensively, we kept a clean sheet, something we haven’t had in a long time, and Cormac (Watson) was super in nets. But everyone was outstanding on the day.”

The manager went on to explain the importance of experienced players like Barry Travers, Shane McCann, and Conall Burns, who lifted the Harry Clarke Cup in 2023 as player-manager. “They were vital – it’s a young squad, so having those experienced players in there just took the pressure off the younger players today,” Murnin said.

And the champagne after the game will have tasted even sweeter than usual for Murnin and his players, knowing they’d secured a spot in the history books of not just the Newcastle League but Castlewellan Town FC. “It feels great – we’re the first seconds team to do it (win the Bobby Dalzell and Harry Clarke cups), so we’ve written history. The firsts have obviously won this trophy a lot, but this is the first time the seconds team have done it, so it’s special, especially when we’re competing against firsts teams every week, it just adds to it.”

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, 28-year-old Murnin hopes Friday’s memorable win can propel the Forest squad to a top-half finish in the Newcastle League Premier Division, and he already has his sights on more silverware. “We’ve a really strong squad here, we just need everyone to stick at it and not fall off after winning this. We’re sitting third in the table at the minute, and we’ve maybe played the most games, but there’s no reason why we can’t push on and go on and get a top-half finish and hopefully get a good run at the Harry Clarke Cup too.”

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