Castlebar Mitchels are through to their second All-Ireland club final in three years after a heroic semifinal win over club kingpins Crossmaglen Rangers in Breffni Park last weekend. It really was a battle royal with both sets of players getting stuck into each other from the get go. I don’t imagine either team came up against such intensity in their run to the semifinal.
There are so many talking points, so many key moments, that ultimately decided the game. Crossmaglen hit the ground running and had their first score on the board inside the first minute. Things looked ominous for the Mayo champions in that first half as Jamie Clarke most definitely brought his A game and terrorised the Mitchels defence and Tom Cuniffe in particular. The message from the Castlebar management was simple — in Tom we trust, he is their best man marker, however he was very isolated in his full back line in the first half and Clarke took full advantage. Clarke finished the half with 0-3, it could easily have been 1-04 or 2-03 had he taken all the chances offered to him. In fairness, Turbo Tom was on a hiding to nothing as Clarke was given some unbelievable passes by the three Kernan brothers which were simply impossible to defend against if on your own.
O’Malley’s block was key in the victory
For me the key passage of play in this game came in the final minute of the first half, Neil Douglas hit the post with a left foot effort that came back off the post and the rebound fell to Crossmaglen’s Oisin O’Neill. From the resulting counter attack Johnny Murtagh won a cross field ball over Alan Feeney in the Mitchels’ square and then slid his shot under the outstretched Rory Byrne towards the Castlebar net, only for Ray O’Malley to brilliantly save on his line which would have left the half time score at 1-08 to 0-4 and probably would have been insurmountable for Castlebar. The Mitchels’ counter attack from O’Malley’s save was decisive and inspiring, resulting in Paddy Durkin scoring a fine effort to leave only three between them at half time. A scoreline of 0-8 to 0-5 looked a whole lot better than 1-08 to 0-4 which it could so easily have been. Paddy Durcan’s earlier effort in the first half was the highlight for Castlebar when he sat in the pocket just inside the Crossmaglen 45 like a fly half in rugby, and while his team mates tried high and mighty to break the gain line they were left with no option but to lay the ball back to Durcan who shimmied to the left before unleashing a radar like arrow over the Crossmaglen bar. Johnny Wilkinson would have been proud.
Keeping their heads when it was easy to let them go
The most pleasing aspect apart from the result was the way Castlebar never panicked despite going five points down on two occasions in that first half. They stuck to their game plan and took Crossmaglen head on and fought fire with fire, not one player shirked responsibility, and for that they must be applauded. The management must have been delighted to be still in the game at the break without playing to their ability. Castlebar reeled off three lightning second half scores which had them level by the 33rd minute and had Crossmaglen wondering what had hit them. It was nip and tuck for the rest of the half with some intriguing battles taking place on the field and off it. Cian Costello showed real energy when introduced and had a real bearing on the result. He took on Martin Ahern, the much feared Crossmaglen centre back every time he got the ball, Costello’s impact was instant and decisive. It was going to take something special to win the game and the Mayo champions saved their best score for their last. Costello fired a bomb in on top of the hugely impressive Danny Kirby, who won an almost impossible ball on the Crossmaglen 21 yard line before delicately dishing it off to Big Barry Moran who pointed brilliantly, such soft hands from Kirby for such a big man. It was a massive result for Castlebar and for Mayo. For me it was a toss up between Kirby and Paddy Durcan for the man of the match. I’m sure Stephen Rochford was taking note.
Tourmakeady put on a night of glitz and glamour
I had a great night at Tourmakeady GAA’s Strictly Come Dancing which attracted an unbelievable crowd to the Castlecourt last weekend. I feel I put Bruno Tonioli to shame with my wealth of knowledge about dancing. Full credit to Tourmaekeady who raised an enormous amount of money to help them get their grounds ready for the Comortos Peil which they are hosting in 2017.
