Seán Rice
THE pinnacle is in sight, and the Mitchels in place for the final heave to the top. The bookies have made them clear favourites to get there, and having cleaved a convincing path to the final few will argue about the merits of the Mitchels’ advance, or why bookies have chosen them to go all the way.
But in an All-Ireland final, no team, however impressive their passage, has a better than even chance of winning ... especially when a Dublin side provides the opposition. Ballyboden St Enda’s are now waiting in the long grass, content to sing the praises of Castlebar for seeing off the challenge of Crossmaglen, sentiments designed to entrap impressionable opposition in a false sense of security.
Complacency is not something Castlebar has indulged since that extraordinary semi-final win. Management has worked hard to root out any feeling that they will get away with something less than the enormous effort it took to get by Crossmaglen. Over-confidence has a habit of burying aspirations and mocking everything you have achieved.
What singles out this Mitchels side is the manner in which they have kept their feet on the ground all through the campaign, entering every game not with any sense of arrogance but with unflagging self-assurance. Enduring bonds have fashioned a sense of selflessness in their play, all of them working for one another in a spirit of togetherness.
That’s why each member of the squad has contributed immeasurably to the journey and all are now consumed with a desire to clinch a title that means more to some players than All-Irelands they have won with their counties.
Let’s not put a tooth in it. It is an enormous challenge. The Dublin champions, brash enough at the best of times, will have the motivation of being outsiders. Inferiority is not a characteristic.
In county man Michael Darragh MacAuley, they have a midfielder who flips about everywhere, ghosting and fading into and out of challenges as if on wings, always difficult to control, always a key man in their wins. He sets the pace for the rest.
Clonmel Commercials matched them step by step in the semi-final. Only in the last, taut seconds were they hauled back to level terms and beaten in extra-time, much in the same way that Mayo conceded leads in recent years to Dublin sides.
Seven minutes from the end, Ballyboden had their star Declan O’Mahony,dismissed for a straight red card offence. They were trailing by three points, yet were able to find a way into extra time where they won by five points.
They’ll miss O’Mahony in the final. But MacAuley, Conal Keaney, Stephen Hiney, Colm Basquel, Darragh Nelson and Andrew Kerin are players of immense quality. And their goalkeeper, Donegal’s Paul Durcan, has been flown from Dubai for games.
Experience isn’t everything, as Crossmaglen will testify, but Castlebar will surely draw on what they have learned from losing to St Vincent’s in the final two years ago. Composure ought to be the chief benefit of that experience, an ability to remain cool under pressure, to be able to solve problems as they meet them, to play with the assurance that they are the better side.
In Donie Newcombe, the Feeney brothers, Tom Cunniffe, Barry Moran, Paddy Durcan, Ger McDonagh and Neil Douglas, they have leaders of proven quality. Their stunning recovery in the second half of the semi-final is testimony of their maturity, of their ability to surmount setbacks.
Rory Byrne, their goalkeeper and captain, has been one of their big success stories, commanding the square with some authority.
The strength and vigilance of Ray O’Malley, the versatility of Eoghan O’Reilly, the growing influence of Danny Kirby, the quiet efficiency of Shane Hopkins, and the adaptability of Stephen Keane and Aidan Walsh have helped them form a mosaic of skills of which any club, or county, would be proud.
One more impassioned effort is demanded to fulfil their dream. Nothing less than outright victory will compensate them for their effort and sacrifice over the past couple of years. And nothing less that a performance comparable to anything they have ever produced will realise that dream. The moment is now.
O’Shea fails to get fair play from officials
THIS was no Clones. Mayo’s five-point loss to Kerry was almost a complete contradiction of the fire and brimstone quality with which they earned their first points of the league the week before.
Having moved smoothly into a lead of four points in the first half, despite a plethora of missed opportunities, a continuation of the form shown against Monaghan looked likely.
But on the stroke of half-time, Kerry prised open the Mayo defence, and through the hole in the centre Johnny Buckley galloped before sticking the ball in the net. From that moment on it was all Kerry. The lions of the week before had lost their teeth.
Mayo should have had the game clinched before Kerry got through for their opening goal. Self-inflicted wounds, however, cost them dearly. Points were missed from play and easy frees, goalkeeper Brendan Kealy came to Kerry’s rescue from point-blank range.
And, critically, Aidan O’Shea was denied a penalty.
The big man has become a target for referees as well as players. Because he is a big, strong man, his efforts to run with the ball while the opposition hang out of him are frequently punished by referees. Less strong players win frees for minor tackles on them compared to the badgering O’Shea has to endure.
The incident during the second quarter is a case in point. O’Shea won possession on the fringe of the box, headed for goal, was hauled to the ground by three defenders, had his jersey pulled and still managed to get the ball over the bar while the referee looked on.
Similar decisions against the Breaffy man are now commonplace, and you wonder have referees concluded that his every move is looked upon as an illegal charge.
Apart from that particular incident, Mayo kicked a total of 12 wides, many of them squandered from easy range. It is at times like this the accuracy of Cillian O’Connor is sorely missed.
The second half was painful to watch. Kerry stepped up a gear, and Mayo seemed to flounder. And when in the 42nd minute, Donnchadh Walsh fisted the ball into the net after Robbie Hennelly mis-punched the attempted clearance, the game took an inevitable course. It put them four points ahead, and the Kingdom knows how to protect their leads.
Strangely, Mayo seemed to be yards off the pace in the second half.
Even when they lost Kieran Donaghy for double-yellow-card offences twenty minutes from the end, there was no diminution in the authority Kerry had assumed. They played as if they had the extra man, while Mayo seemed drained of energy.
What’s in store now is the mother of all battles with resurgent Roscommon on Sunday week in Hyde Park. They will have the Castlebar players back from their club commitments, but even their inclusion may not be sufficient to check Mayo’s free-fall into Division 2.
