Gibbons’ new broom sweeps clean for Castlebar Mitchels ladies

CASTLEBAR Mitchels are not only back in senior football, they are very much back where they belong.

One got that sense from the way they dispatched Louisburgh to win back the intermediate title for the first time since 2021.

That particular win began an adventure that got them to an All-Ireland final in the spring of 2022.

Whatever happens this season, one gets the sense that this not-too-young but not-too-old Mitchels side will be there-or-thereabouts at senior level for some time to come.

“It’s where we want to be and where we should be,” stated their captain Gráinne Flynn afterwards. “We put it up to a lot of the senior teams, so we’re glad to be where we are now.”

One of the men who guided them there, Russell Gibbons, was understandably ‘delighted’ with the win.

“I’m used to managing male teams, came in and took the girls this year. They’ve been fantastic with us,” said the ex-Mitchels footballer. “We’ve got a huge response from them. We pushed them to their limits, they are able to take it, no excuses, no giving out, nothing. They play exactly the way they are told to play, and I’m just delighted for them now.”

But a somewhat easy win did not necessarily make for an easy watch.

“I wouldn’t say it was an easy watch for me, I’m on edge all the time,” laughed Gibbons.

“I couldn’t really relax in the final minute, so no, we just had to keep doing what we were doing and it was working, so if your concentration went away, they were always going to come back into it. We saved a goal off the line. If that went in, who knows what would have happened. Fair play to the girls, they stuck to their task and got there in the end.”

They’ll always trot out the ‘can’t look too far ahead’ excuse after games, but it’s a genuine excuse when you’ve a Connacht semi-final against Sligo champions Drumcliffe/Rosses Point coming up on Sunday.

Too early then to dream again of 2021?

“It was great two years ago, but you just have to take every game as it comes,” said Flynn. “We can’t get ahead of ourselves. Keep going each game by game and see how we get on.”