Search Results for 'Ciaran Naughton'

Goals win games and there was no recovering from the two goals they shipped inside the opening ten minutes for Castlebar Mitchels on Sunday in MacHale Park.

It's not to often that you see a team come out for the second half of a game in different coloured jerseys from the ones the started the contest in, but that's what happened in MacHale Park on Sunday afternoon. Both Castlebar Mitchels and Garrymore were allowed to start the county semi-final in their home red jerseys, despite the only defining difference between the strips, being the yellow piping on the county towns shirts.

Elvery’s MacHale Park is the place to be this weekend, when the best eight senior club teams in the county do battle for a place in the semi-finals of this year’s club championship.

In a repeat of last years county final Breaffy and Castlebar met in round two of the Mayo GAA SFL league in Breaffy on Saturday night and it was the hosts who came out on top with a 2-13 to 0-7 win over their neighbors. The visitors lined up without Richie Feeney and Barry Moran at their services, while Breaffy weren't able to call on Seamus O'Shea who picked up a knock in their defeat against Ballintubber the previous week.

It was All-Ireland final heartbreak for another Mayo team as Castlebar Mitchels fell to the might of St Vincent’s on St Patrick’s Day. We will never know what might have happened if Richie Feeney had not received a black card after only five minutes.

When 42 minutes into the contest Danny Kirby reacted quickest to a Neil Douglas shot coming back off the post and he drove the ball past Michael Savage from close range, Castlebar Mitchels believed it was going to be their day in Croke Park. Kirby's goal put his side into a 1-11 to 2-7 lead and looked to have Vincent's rattled. But less than a minute later, the Dublin side won a free out on the Cusack Stand side of the field. Tomas Quinn was making his way over to have a crack at the posts, but his team-mate Tiernan Diamond decided to launch a quick one into the the Mitchels penalty area the ball bounced and evaded the grasp of Ciarán Dorney, but unfortunately for Castlebar, Diarmuid Connolly was following in behind and was able to palm the ball past the reach of Ciaran Naughton in the Mitchels goal, to put Vincent's back in front and take the wind out of the Mitchels sails. It wasn't the knock-out punch, but it was the one that left Castlebar unsteady on their feet and needing the end of the round to come quickly for them to recover, but it never came and the Marino team and Connolly in particular kept piling on the blows over the next ten minutes. Over that period Connolly kicked another 1-3, which went unanswered by the Mitchels. The Dublin stars second goal saw him run through the heart of the Mitchels defence, get dispossessed yet he was still able to flick the ball back up into his hands with his right boot and in a continuous movement drop the ball to his left boot and fire it past Ciaran Naughton. That was the knock out blow and it was plain sailing for Vincent's from then on to the final whistle even if Danny Kirby did manage to get a second goal for Castlebar just before the end to close the gap a bit.

Castlebar Mitchels 3-13

He’s been one of the most consistent goalkeepers in Mayo for the past number of years and if you’ve ever been to a Castlebar Mitchels game any time in the past decade you’re sure to have heard him roaring instructions at his defence.

I have never hidden the fact that dubious refereeing and bad decisions by referees during games are pet hates of mine and make my blood boil. Before I attract the wrath of every ref in the county I must admit it is more so at a national level than within the county itself. There have not been many games I attended this year that I left thinking the man in the middle did a really good job.

While driving to Hyde Park in Roscommon last Sunday there were two things on my mind. The first, I was wondering what Santa Claus would bring me, the second, whether I would rather be at home watching the All Blacks against Ireland in the rugby where the All Blacks were bidding to make history by being the first team to go unbeaten in a calendar year. By all accounts the rugby was pulsating, but with GAA in the bloodstream I was definitely in the right place. The Connacht club final between reigning All- Ireland champions St Brigid’s and Mayo champions Castlebar Mitchels was one of the most intense and exciting games I was ever present at. It literally had everything. Brilliant goals, superb defending, disallowed scores, unreal goal keeping, dubious refereeing, and for the week that is in it a scene out of Monty Python when Shane Curran had to be man handled off the field, red cards, and last but by no means least, the last kick of the game levelling scores. I am sure everyone present will take a different memory home with them.