Castlebar Mitchels 4-15
Knockmore 2-12
CASTLEBAR MITCHELS BOOKED their place in the Mayo SFC final with a comfortable win over Knockmore today at MacHale Park.
The county town men were pushed hard for long periods of the game by Knockmore, but they pulled away in the last quarter to run out nine-point winners.
There was just one point between the sides at the break thanks to a goal from Knockmore’s Colm Reape just before the clock ticked into injury time.
Castlebar had two goals of their own by that stage, with Eoghan O’Reilly finding the back of the net, just like his brother did in the previous semi-final for Breaffy [the upcoming final will be the second time the brothers will face each other in the county final in three seasons].
The second goal came from Barry Moran, who was on the end of a move close to goal after Shane Hopkins had intercepted a Knockmore kick-out and fed Richie Feeney, who played in the county man to finish.
That score put Castlebar 2-7 to 0-9 up and looked like a sucker punch to Knockmore, who had closed a four-point gap back to just a point in the seven minutes before that.
Castlebar hit the opening 1-2 of the second-half, with Neil Douglas netting a penalty after 37 minutes, and Cian Costello and Richie Feeney kicking points to push the gap out to six points.
But Knockmore kept plugging away and Keith Rutledge glided his way through the Mitchels defence to grab his side’s second goal, which was quickly followed by a pointed-free from Colm Reape to make it a three-point game.
Those scores rattled Mitchels back into life and they drove on home to victory. Their fourth goal came from sub James Durcan, who showed a clean pair of heels to beat John Brogan to the ball and head for goal. He lost possession of it close in but showed quick thinking to pull on the ball on the deck and put it past Gerry Higgins.
That score wrapped up the game and booked their place in the final against Breaffy in a fortnight’s time.
Scorers for Castlebar Mitchels: Eoghan O’Reilly (1-2, 0-2f), Neil Douglas (1-2, 1-0 pen, 0-2f), Barry Moran, James Durcan (1-1 each), Shane Hopkins, Cian Costello (0-2) each, Paddy Durcan, Neil Lydon, Richie Feeney, Ronan Burke, Fergal Durkan (0-1 each).
Scorers for Knockmore: Colm Reape (1-4, 0-4f), Keith Rutledge (1-1), Kieran Langan (0-2, 0-1f), Darren McHale (0-2), Kevin McLoughlin, Peter Naughton, Alan Loftus (0-1) each.
Castlebar Mitchels
1. Rory Byrne
2. Sean Conlon
3. Ray O’Malley
4. Donie Newcombe
5. Paddy Durcan
6. Eoghan O’Reilly
17. Tom Cunniffe
7. Ger McDonagh
9. Barry Moran
10. Shane Hopkins
11. Neil Lydon
12. Neil Douglas
18. Cian Costello
14. Richie Feeney
15 Danny Kirby
Subs
Ronan Burke for Ger McDonagh (Black Card)
James Durcan for Cian Costello
Fergal Durkan for Shane Hopkins
Stephen Keane for Neil Douglas
Knockmore
1. Gerry Higgins
2. Ciaran Canning
3. Shane McHale
4. John Brogan
5. Justin Rice
6. Diarmuid Walsh
23. Alan Stadler
8. Andrew Keane
9. Kieran Langan
18. Tom Clarke
11. Kevin McLoughlin
12. Peter Naughton
13. Keith Rutledge
14. Darren McHale
15. Colm Reape
Subs
Sean Rutledge for Tom Clarke
Nathan Hardy for Peter Naughton
James Ruddy for Kieran Langan
Jason Coy for John Brogan