A storming second half display from Castlebar saw them claim their 30th Mayo senior title in MacHale Park on Saturday night, thanks to an inspirational display by Paddy Durcan and Neil Douglas. The county town men led by two points at the interval but ran out 12 point winners at the end where they outscored Knockmore by 3-7 to 0-6.
The vital period of this game was in the opening stages of the second half where Castlebar hit 1-4 without reply, with Durcan’s goal on the 37 minutes the decisive score in the contest. The flying wing back had to leave the field on 45 minutes with an injury and Castlebar will be hoping that it clears up in time for next Saturday’s Connacht championship opener against Sligo champions Tourlestrane.
The first half was cagey affair early on with Knockmore making the brighter start Sean Rutldge broke from deep and swung over a point from the left hand side two minutes in. The north Mayo men pushed two points clear six minutes in when Peter Naughaton landed a beauty with the outside of his right boot under pressure 35m out on the MacHale Road side of the ground.
Castlebar got running on the scoreboard when Paddy Durcan kicked the first of two points he landed from range in the opening half ten minutes in. Knockmore stretched their lead back out to two points through a Colm Reape point.
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Deadly Douglas: Neil Douglas kicked 1-6 for Castlebar. Photo: Sportsfile
That was followed by two poor wides from Barry Moran and Cian Costello for the defending champions, before Neil Douglas kicked his first of the evening from a close range free. Durcan levelled it up with another long range effort 12 minutes from the end of the half. Mitchels then hit a little purple patch kicking three in a row, with Douglas tapping over another free Aidan Walsh hit an effort that Aidan Kilcoyne misjudged the flight of and it bounced over the bar, then Douglas tapped over one from a tight angle from play. Kevin McLoughlin drove over his sides fourth point just before the break to send Mitchels in leading 0-6 to 0-4 at the break.
But the north Mayo men couldn’t keep up the pressure in the second half with Neil Douglas kicking the opening score of the final 30 mintues from a free three minutes in, followed by a Durcan point two minutes later. Durcan’s goal pushed Mitchels eight clear and two further points from Douglas from a free and play had ten between the sides.
Knockmore hit a run of three points from Peter Naughton frees to close the gap back in a bit, but with ten minutes to go Douglas fired home a great goal, that was followed quickly after by a Barry Moran goal to really put the stamp on an impressive Mitchels performance. It was just a matter of winding the clock down from then on in, until Rory Byrne could be presented with the Moclair Cup for the second year in row.
Scores
Castlebar Mitchels: N Douglas (1-6, 4f ), P Durcan (1-3 ), B Moran (1-0 ) A Walsh (0-2 ), D Stenson (0-2, 1f ),
Knockmore: P Naughton (0-5, 4f ), K Rutledge (0-2, 1f ), C Reape (0-1 ), K McLoughlin (0-1 ), S Rutledge (0-1 )
Castlebar: R Byrne; S Irwin, G McDonagh, D Newcombe; R O’Malley, E O’Reilly, P Durcan; A Walsh, B Moran; F Durkan, C Costello, J Durcan; N Lydon, N Douglas, S Hopkins. Subs: David Stenson, Ronan Burke, Danny Kirby, Jake Gannon, Callum Kyne, J Maughan
Knockmore: A Kilcoyne; M Park, S McHale, D Walsh; J Rice, A Keane, N Hardy; T Clarke, K McLoughlin; D McHale, C Reape, K Ruttledge; S Rutledge, K Langan, P Naughton. Subs: B Gibbons, F O’Neill, J Brogan, A Loftus, C Canning
Ref: John Glavey
