A rainbow split the sky before throw in Sligo on Saturday afternoon and Castlebar Mitchels followed it to the end to find their way into a home Connacht semi-final against Corofin next Sunday in MacHale Park.
The Sligo champions set out their stall from the get go pulling as many men into their defence as they could and trying to work the ball through the hands up the field, it was a slow process that never really paid them any rewards. It did create one gap three minutes in when Brian Egan found Alan Dunne but Rory Byrne pulled off a great save to deny him.
Mitchels lined out with out Paddy Durcan, Cian Costello and Neil Lydon from the starting side that won the Mayo senior title last weekend, with Danny Kirby, Rhyne Collins and David Stenson coming into their starting side.
The defending Connacht champions hit their first score seven minutes in when James Durcan finished from distance, two minutes later Neil Douglas who finished the day with 1-5 to his name and a black card kicked his first point from a placed ball. The Mitchels full forward made it 0-3 to 0-0 when he reacted quickest after a Fergal Durkan effort came back off the post.
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Just before the 20 minute mark Mitchels hit 1-1 in the space of 90 seconds to kill off the game as a contest. Aidan Walsh hit a defence splitting pass into the breadbasket of Douglas who fired it low past Padraig McVeigh to put his side six clear. The same man was on the end of a quick fire move to flick it over the bar in the next play and it was 1-4 to 0-0 and Mitchels were in the groove. James Durcan added another long range effort and Douglas made it 1-4 for the half for himself in the next few minutes, before Tourlestrane finally got the scoreboard going for them with a Gary Gaughan point.
The Sligo champions had the aid of a strong breeze for the second half, but they never made it count as they continued to play the ball through their hands rather than let it in long. The half was most memorable for the four black cards that were handed out with Neil Douglas and Aidan Walsh going for Mitchels and Cathal Henry and Liam Gauaghn for Eamon O’Hara’s side.
Mitchels had only managed to add on two scores before injury time in the final period through Douglas and David Stenston, with their opponents kicking four points in response. But Mitchels finished off the game with points form Cian Costello and Fergal Durcan to send them home 1-10 to 0-5 winners and into next weekends semi-final against the Galway champions.
Scores
Castlebar Mitchels: N Douglas (1-5, 0-3 f ), J Durcan (0-2 ), C Costello (0-1, 1f ), D Stenson (0-1, 1f ), F Durkan (0-1 )
Tourlestrane: B Egan (0-1, 1f ), G Gaughan (0-1 ), P Harte (0-1, 1f ), L Gaughan (0-1 ), N Egan (0-1 )
Castlebar: R Byrne; S Irwin, G McDonagh, D Newcombe; R O’Malley, E O’Reilly, R Collins; A Walsh, B Moran; F Durkan D Stenson, J Durcan; D Kirby, N Douglas, S Hopkins. Subs: C Kyne for N Douglas (BC ), N Lydon for D Kirby. A O’Boyle for A Walsh (BC ), C Costello for J Durcan, R Burke for R Collins, D Joyce for D Stenson
Tourlestrane: P McVeigh; C Neary, B Kennedy, JF Carr; G Gaughan, A McIntyre, J Leonard; S Henry, J Quinn; P Harte, C Henry, A Dunne; J Kelly, J Marren, B Egan. Subs: B Walsh for J Leonard, L Gaughan for A Dunne, N Egan for C Henry (BC ), S Dunne for J Kelly, J Kelly for L Gaughan (BC )
Ref: E O’Grady
