David Fennin on Championship glory and farming with football

David Fennin was always going to be firmly entrenched within Castlemitchell GAA. The Fennin family farm just a stone’s throw away, he was first brought down to the club by his father, a 1953 Intermediate Football Championship winner with the club. The ‘53 IFC win was Castlemitchell’s first major honour and a feat that would be replicated by his son 39 years later.

“Our whole family was big into it. The first memory I have of Castlemitchell is hearing these lads roaring down in a field. I was wondering what was going on. I walked down and looked over the ditch and it was like watching giants running around. That was my first impression of Castlemitchell,” David explained.

David’s first year in the club’s senior side was 1983 and, at 15 years old, he found his opportunities limited to league action. He remembers a goal he got against Athy’s second team as one of his first big moments in a Castlemitchell jersey. The club would of course win a Junior A Championship in 1983 with a 3-8 to 1-8 over Ardclough in the county final.

“It was a great time. Ger Donnelly, who is a neighbour of mine, would collect me and bring me to training. Bill Hartley used to bring us down to Sandy Bottoms swimming afterwards so it was a different time in terms of recovery,” David recalled.

“We lost a lot lads to America and England after ‘83. It took a few years to find our feet then.”

The next emergence of a Castlemitchell team at the sharp end of Kildare competition was 1991, when they came up short in that year’s IFC final against Ballyteague, 1-12 to 2-4.

“We didn’t play well against Ballyteague. I was just looking at the team there a couple of weeks ago and noticed that it had actually changed a good bit then for ‘92, but we hadn’t got a bad team,” David said.

“During the match, I had a cousin of mine at home driving a combine. When the match was over I went back to the combine to let him off.”

Castlemitchell had another strong run at the 1992 Intermediate Championship, but David would have a more tumultuous build-up to their second final in two years.

“We were playing Ballymore over in Sarsfields. We were miles clear at half-time and Stevie Campbell was the ref, lord have mercy on him. Next minute he gave them a penalty and I said ‘Stevie that’s no penalty’ and he said ‘ah, give them one.’ Next thing they got a goal and another goal, it eventually ended up a draw match,” David laughed.

“We had the replay in Newbridge and I think I was full-forward. Brian Lawless passed the ball into me and the full-back was coming out. I went to grab the ball and spin, but he grabbed the ball and my arm, my elbow went back and all the muscles got pulled. My arm ended up stuck with my fist across my chest.”

Despite the injury, Castlemitchell manager Tony Keogh was determined not to be without one of his star forwards for the 1992 county final and went to great lengths to ensure he would be lining out for Amhrán na bhFiann.

“Tony was some character. He was very friendly with Larry Tompkins and he said he’d bring me down to the Cork county physio. We stayed in Tompkins place and I was going to the physio every day. Keogh had to go home and I said I’d do the same because the barley was nearly ready to be cut,” David recalled.

“Keogh says ‘f*ck the barley, you’re staying’ and this was ‘92, my father died in ‘89. I said I had to go and cut the corn, but he left me in Cork. I hadn’t a cent on me, bar the money he had given to buy underpants and socks. Myself and Larry Tompkins went around shopping then. I got back to Kildare because a lad knocked on Tompkins’ door selling knives and he got me a lift back up with him.”

The big day arrived and David was listed on the bench with his brother Aidan to start at full-forward on the match programme in the hope of throwing off opponents Grangenolvin. The Castlemitchell lads entered the pitch in Athy, all wearing short sleeves barring one, number 21 David Fennin, who beneath his longer sleeves hid two bars to keep his arm straight for the game.

“We struggled to beat Grange that day. We got very jittery and missed plenty of chances, but we got there,” David said.

“It wasn’t comfortable, but you did these things. You were in a county final and this is what you had been working yourself up for the whole time. I watched the video of the match a few weeks ago because we are doing a history of the club at the minute. Even though you want to win and the adrenaline, I was still not in the best condition. You look back on things that you should have done differently in the match. Anyways, I still can’t straighten my arm.”

The losing of a Junior Championship final before winning it the following year is a pattern Castlemitchell would repeat in 2015 at Junior level following their final loss to Straffan the year before.

“I have Daddy’s medal here as well. It’s great for a small little club. Someone said to me one time about how great it would be to be winning Senior Championships with another club and said I’d rather only win the first round with my own and we have great memories of it,” David smiled.

“There was serious drinking done and mighty sessions. I remember as a young lad in ‘83, that went on for a week or 10 days, not that I always there at that age. In ‘92 it was something similar because we had struggled after ‘83 big time with losing so many players going away.”

David’s career at county level and career generally would be hampered by knee injuries and the dangerous Castlemitchell forward got limited time with Kildare as a result.

“I played U14 up to minors and U21s. I was on the Senior panel then with Pat Fitzgerald and I did my cruciate in a game in Dr Cullen Park against Wexford. I was coming out of the tunnel, Chilly Byrne passed me the ball and I just went over on it. I played until half-time, but I could barely walk,” David explained.

“I was with Micko then and it went a second time, so I ended up having to give up football at 30. I never got on with Micko, he used to call me the sheep farmer.”

Facing a knee replacement at 30 years old and immobilised recovery time, he decided to hang up his boots. A decision that wasn’t taken lightly and took a toll on David, who felt he had plenty left to give.

“It was terrible. I couldn’t even go down to the field. I had a head, two arms and two legs, like everyone else, but I just couldn’t do it anymore because of my knee,” David said.

However, that dark time has long since passed and David is now at the heart of the club’s youthful prosperity in his third year as chairman.

David’s investment in both the men’s and ladies team’s, the latter of which he coached for two years, is of course also rooted in family. David’s son, Oisin, and daughter, Iona, are both now playing for the club.