The Evan Regan show ends unbeaten run for Castlebar Mitchels

Mayo Senior Football League 1A

Castlebar Mitchels 1-11

Ballina Stephenites 3-23

In Castlebar

BALLINA inflicted the first defeat of the season on Castlebar Mitchels in Pairc Josie Munnelly on Saturday night and did so in hugely impressive fashion. The county champions arrived in Castlebar with an air of determination and they began in explosive fashion when Even Regan buried the ball in the net after just 12.7 seconds. 

Castlebar Mitchels went into Saturday's match undefeated, but right from the throw-in, Stephenites went about changing that. After an unexpected home defeat at the hands of Davitts last week, the reigning back-to-back county senior champions were out for redemption.

Former Mayo attacker Evan Regan was in a league of his own as Ballina went about their business in explosive fashion. The corner-forward brought his lucky boots with him as he scored an impressive 2-13, including three two-point frees in a four minute spell midway through the second half. 

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There was no stopping him. Clinical with the precision of a heart surgeon, Regan chipped, bombed and curled balls between the sticks, Castlebar were beaten with 15 minutes to spare. 

Mitchels were down 0-9 to 2-9 at half-time, but they roared back into contention. Five unanswered points from Neil Douglas, Stephen Keane and a goal from Joe Forry at the start of the second half cut the deficit to a single point. 

However Castlebar wouldn't raise a single point in the remaining 27 minutes. The Stephenites were all over them. Defenders David Tighe and Liam Golden turned in stellar performances.

One has to put a little asterisk on the Stephenites win, as Castlebar weren't at full strength, with Paddy Durcan, Donnacha McHugh, Bob Tuohy and numerous others not included.

Whereas Ballina were boosted by the return of pivotal players, like Sam Callinan, who put in an enormous shift.

"If you have players like him back, and the likes of Frank Irwin there, it makes a huge difference to what you're doing," Ballina manager Niall Heffernan told The Mayo News after the match. 

"We had a more complete performance today. We worked much harder. The players have reacted well to a couple of poor performances," Heffernan pointed out.

The third Ballina goal was scored by Mikey Murray who fisted the ball to beat Mitchels goalkeeper Rory Byrne.

A full match report will be carried in Tuesday's Mayo News.

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