Challenge Cup final: Castleford's local lad Andy Lynch to fulfill his boyhood dream

Andy Lynch says that winning at Wembley for his hometown club Castleford next weekend would fulfill a childhood dream.

The former England international, now in his second spell with the Tigers, learned his game with local junior club Kippax. Even in those days he wanted to walk out sporting the amber and black Castleford strip in the shadows of the Twin Towers.

On Saturday that hope will become reality for the 34-year-old prop forward, though it has been a long time in coming.

Having signed for the Tigers Academy from Kippax, Lynch made his senior debut in 1999 and went on to make 137 appearances before moving on to Bradford Bulls, where he was made captain, and most recently Hull FC.

However, despite being with some elite clubs it took 15 seasons for him to make it to Wembley, when he was part of the Airlie Birds team beaten 16-0 by Wigan a year ago. Now he has a second bite at the cherry and he says this time it means that bit more to him.

Great feeling

“To play for your home town club, one you have supported from being a kid at Wembley it’s going to be a great feeling.

“I thought about it when I was playing for Kippax. It’s something that you think about when you’re a young lad.

“Actually, Kevin Beardmore took me at Under 16 and he had already been a Wembley winner with Cas. They got to the final again during that period and so it was fresh in the mind back then in the early ‘90s and it was something I wanted to do.

“Obviously I was away from the club for a long time but to be back has been fantastic and I can’t wait to travel down there on Thursday. Everyone just can’t wait to get out and play.”

The fact that the final is against arch rivals Leeds Rhinos spices the event up even further and Lynch admitted “It’s great playing in a local derby at Headingley or at Cas. The atmosphere at both places is renowned but at Wembley it will be so much better.

“We’re expecting a tough, physical game. We have got to be on our game because if we don’t we know that Leeds will hurt us.

“One thing that we have shown this year is that we’re all willing to work for each other.

“They’ve got great individuals like Rob Burrow, Danny McGuire, Zak Hardaker and Kallum Watkins and if someone does miss (a tackle) then we will have to be at our best to cover for them but that’s what we’ve done all season.”

Defence

Castleford’s defence has been among the best in the competition and was again in evidence in their semi-final success against Widnes. Lynch says that is a source of great pride for the Tigers.

“It’s a huge part of the game and most of the time we have defended really well this season. We work hard for each other and we know we’ll need to do that more than ever in the final.”

The teams have met twice in the First:Utility Super League already this season, Leeds winning at Castleford before they fought out a 24-24 draw at Headingley last month.

“We probably played well enough to win that night but we didn’t and we can put that right on Saturday,” said Lynch, who says that he can turn last year’s losing experience into a positive one this time.

“It was a great experience last year. I know we lost the game but this time going with Cas is just massive for me.  I just want to enjoy the occasion and I would sa