Classy Castlebar Mitchels ladies bounce back to senior football with six-goal county final win over Louisburgh

MAYO LADIES INTERMEDIATE FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL 

Castlebar Mitchels 6-8

Louisburgh 0-9

In MacHale Park

THE Castlebar Mitchels ladies are back in the senior ranks after a classy victory over Louisburgh this afternoon.

The local girls were the dominant team from start to finish, driven by several impressive performances and spearheaded by a hat-trick from Aisling O’Reilly plus goals from Niamh Hughes (2) and Mayo Minor Suzanne Tuohy. 

Mayo senior Danielle Caldwell commanded a defender that curtailed her fellow county woman Tara Needham and held the Louisburgh forwards to two points from play in the second half. 

But by then, Mitchels had most of the hard work done in an impressive first half which they won 3-5 to 0-5. 

Aisling O’Reilly and Niamh Hughes set the tone with goals in the fourth and fifth minutes before Louisburgh struck three points on the bounce.

Mitchels went ten minutes without scoring a point but finished the half with momentum, hitting 1-3 without reply. 

In a mirror-image of the first half, Niamh Hughes (a penalty) and Aisling O’Reilly both found the net as Louisbrugh struggled to get scores even with a strong breeze.

The Mitchels mirrored the first half yet again when they struck in the last ten minutes, with Suzanne Tuohy landing the goal. 

The win marks Castlebar Mitchels’ first intermediate county title since 2021, the year they won the Connacht championship and went all the way to the All-Ireland final. 

A full report plus reaction from Castlebar Mitchels’ Gráinne Flynn and Russell Gibbons will be carried in Tuesday’s Mayo News.