Mitchels topple Ballintubber to finish second in Division 1B

Mayo Senior Football League Division 1B

Castlebar Mitchels 0-16 Ballintubber 0-6

Oisín McGovern in Josie Munnelly Park

CASTLEBAR Mitchels reigned supreme as they toppled Ballintubber to finish just below Westport in Division 1B of the Mayo Senior Football League.

Bob Touhy was the only county player on display as Mitchels romped home with an impressive display – despite the absence of several key players.

The home team excelled in most aspects of a game where Ballintubber struggled to transition defense into attack.

Ethan Gibbons, Mark Cunningham and Neil Douglas were electric for the hosts, who only trailed for a single minute in the first half after Ethan Gibbons cancelled our Hugh Geraghty's opening free.

From here on, Mitchels ruled the skies and the land and strung together some beautiful attacking moves.

Ballintubber struggled with the pace of Mark Cunningham while Bob Touhy and Conor Stenson stood out around the middle.

Touhy forced 'Tubber goalkeeper Frank Walsh into a save for what amounted Mitchels' best goal chance early on.

Thanks to their superior firepower, Barry Moran and Neil Lydon's men led 0-8 0-5 at half-time.

Their unrelenting work ethic and eye for the goalposts saw Mitchels continue to dominate throughout the second half.

A high number of Ballintubber errors and a dogged home defence ensured that the visitors only got three extra points in the second half.

All the while Ethan Gibbons was flawless on the dead ball while Mark Cunningham continued to hassle Ballintubber with his pace.

Only once did Ballintubber put back-to-back scores together when Alan Plunkett and Jason Gibbons pointed mid-way through the half.

Mitchels saw out the game with four unanswered scores which put them comfortably in second place in Division 1B behind Westport.

Read the full report plus reaction from Castlebar Mitchels manager Barry Moran in Tuesday's Mayo News.

Castlebar Mitchels: R Byrne; E Murphy, M Dolan, D Newcombe; M Fahy, J Cunningham, R Burke; C Stenson, P Heneghan; U O'Reilly, B Touhy (0-1) A O'Boyle (0-1); N Douglas (0-1), E Gibbons (0-9, 5f), M Cunningham (0-3)

Subs: C Mulroy for Touhy (42 mins), S Keane (0-1) for Douglas (44 mins), A Walsh for O'Reilly (55 mins, inj.), D Conlon for Murphy (57 mins), J O'Reilly for Gibbons (59 mins)

Ballintubber: F Walsh; J Walsh, G Loftus, M Kelly; S Burke, B Walsh (0-1), J Kerrigan; K McDonnell, J Gibbons (0-1); M Fox, S O'Malley (0-1, 1f), H Geraghty (0-1); C Gavin, A Plunkett (0-1), J Finnerty (0-1, 1f)

Subs: D Loftus for Fox (41 mins), R Finnerty for Gavin (41 mins), S Larkin for McDonnell (44 mins), J Prendergast for Kelly (44 mins), S Duffy for Burke (49 mins, inj)

Ref: S Tolan