Seán Rice
THERE is no end to what the human spirit can achieve. When victory seemed beyond them, Castlebar Mitchels drew on that inner force and found a victory at Breffni Park that will forever be remembered.
All was lost we thought in the first half as Crossmaglen outfoxed and outmanoeuvred them. After the break, we stood in awe as the Mitchels seized the lead into which Barry Moran had fired them some seven minutes before the end.
In holding onto that slenderest of margins – while the Ulster champions threw everything at them – they showed courage beyond anything they have reached in the past. In every kick, every tackle, every full-blooded challenge, their dogged resolve found expression.
It was in essence a triumph of belief over adversity.
They had come face to face with their demons, plumbed the depths of a nightmare first half, and reached new heights of conviction and bravery after the break.
Even in the wintry chill of the Cavan air, little groups of supporters lingered afterwards out on the pitch to try to make sense of it all. And having themselves gathered in a corner to cool down and focus for a moment on what they had just achieved, the players had the presence of mind to acknowledge the support of their followers from whom they had drawn strength.
Now the elusive prize is in sight. And amid the euphoria of this dramatic win, there is need for calm and balance as the Mitchels prepare for their battle with Dublin’s Ballyboden St Enda’s, who won their semi-final after extra time with Clonmel Commercials.
Nothing had prepared us for this western re-awakening in the second half after what went before. For the opening seven minutes, Castlebar had been engulfed in a northern whirlpool, paralysed in the abruptness of it all.
Within seconds, Stephen Kernan and Jamie Clarke had them trailing by two points, and by the fifth minute that lead was stretched to three without Castlebar getting a look in. It could have been worse ... if a Crossmaglen shot that skewed across the face of the goal had been diverted into the net.
There were brief squirts out of defence in the persons of Paddy Durcan and Donie Newcombe, but no sooner had Neil Douglas flashed up Castlebar’s opening score from a free than midfielder Oisín O’Neill struck back with Crossmaglen’s fourth point.
They had targeted Barry Moran in the middle of the field. At all costs he was to be stopped. So they harried and hassled him. And picked up the breaks. Their gambit was to get the ball fast into their forwards. And on most occasions they found their target – from distances of 40 and 50 yards.
But big Barry shook off this attention and caused a flap in the northern defence when he moved forward. And gradually the defence, built around the brilliance of Durcan, got a sufficient grip on the Crossmaglen forwards to slow down their progress.
The Mitchels could have had a better return than the two points into which Douglas and Durcan, from long range, had pegged them by the end of the first quarter, but they had no genuine crack-shots like Crossmaglen had in Jamie Clarke.
So when Callum Cumiskey, Clarke and Tony Kernan had the Armagh side ahead by five after 20 minutes, you began to worry about the mindset of the Mitchels. There were too many stumbles, too many uncompleted passes, and too few serious shots at goal. And if Ray O’Malley had not swept the ball off their goal line, it would have been curtains.
Douglas, their most industrious forward, and the indefatigable Durcan had the lead cut to three points by half time, but because of Crossmaglen’s control of the game – their quick, counter strikes and their ability to find their forwards with long accurate foot-passes – you would not have given a bob for the Mitchels’ chances in the half hour left to them.
ASTONISHINGLY, they returned transformed.
Within three minutes, Durcan, Niall Lydon and Kirby had them back on level terms. They had grown in confidence as if a switch had suddenly been thrown. And no one personified their resistance more thrillingly than midfielder Ger McDonagh, a virtual powerhouse of energy and aggression. His fielding and prodigious thrusts through the centre were inspirational.
He, Durcan and Douglas were the rallying force that inspired the rest. Moran, too, with fine fielding and telling drives added to the pressure under which Crossmaglen began to sag.
Eoghan O’Reilly (who had held danger-man Stephen Kernan in close check), O’Malley, Tom Cunniffe, Alan Feeney and Donie Newcombe also added to a growing collective confidence, each supporting the other with gritty determination. Behind them, team captain Rory Byrne controlled the square and dealt capably with what came his way.
On Cunniffe’s shoulders rested the greatest responsibility in having to deal with Jamie Clarke, one of the country’s best corner forwards. There were occasions when the Glen man’s talents yielded fine scores, but Cunniffe never faltered from protecting his goal. A Crossmaglen goal at any stage would have decided the course of the game.
The final minutes were electric. Castlebar had grabbed the lead for the first time in the 52nd minute when Douglas fired over his sixth point from a free. Cian Costello had earlier replaced Niall Lydon, and Cross’ found him tricky, and incisive, sliding by defenders with ease and upsetting the rhythm of the opposing defence.
Tension grew as Aaron Kernan won parity from a free that referee Eddie Kinsella had advanced ten metres because of dissent. Deadlock seemed inevitable.
Two minutes from the end of normal time, Costello teamed up with Danny Kirby, who continues to grow in stature. Barry Moran took the corner forward’s pass and glided the ball between the posts. It proved to be the winner, and with spectacular resoluteness, the Mitchels set about defending it for the following seven tense minutes.
Forwards Shane Hopkins, Neil Lydon, Richie Feeney and Stephen Keane were all involved in protecting that score ... all including subs Fergal Durkan, James Durcan and Aidan Walsh.
Crossmaglen were stunned by the sudden change in direction of the game. They had looked so comfortably ahead at the interval, so clearly in control. Just as Castlebar were left reeling in the opening quarter from the Ulstermen’s onslaught so Rangers were now searching desperately for some foothold to stop the slide.
They had opportunities when Ger McDonagh retired to the sideline following a clash of heads, and Neil Douglas was dismissed for a black-card offence. But in the upheaval of the final minutes of injury time, some Crossmaglen players wasted valuable moments in angry exchanges, while Castlebar stood their ground and held their cool.
