Breaffy upset the odds again to beat Mitchels

Mayo Senior Club Football Championship

Semi-Final
Breaffy 1-9
Castlebar Mitchels 0-10

THE surprise packets of this year’s Mayo senior club football championship show no sign of stopping any time soon.
Breaffy are into their fifth county final in 11 seasons after Saturday’s afternoon’s semi-final victory over hot favourites Castlebar Mitchels at Fr O’Hara Park in Charlestown.
Konrad Coghill’s charges were full value for their fourth win in a row too, sticking to their game-plan, and being led from the front by the outstanding Aidan O’Shea.
A late point from the excellent Daire Morrin made the game safe, but Mitchels will look back on eight first half wides and a few missed chances late on as they reflect on a disappointing end to their season.
Breaffy played with a strong wind at their backs in the opening half and they led at half-time by 0-6 to 0-3 with Aidan O’Shea winning and converting a couple of frees, as well as swinging over a lovely score from play.
They did go 17 minutes without a score at one stage, but Mitchels were unable to take advantage as they missed a plethora of chances.
So when Breaffy’s Davitt Neary palmed the ball past Rory Byrne five minutes into the second half, the favourites had fallen 0-4 to 1-6 behind.
Mitchels looked to be in a tight corner, but they went on to play their best football of the game in the next seven minutes.
Five unanswered points flew over from long-range with the dynamic Paddy Durcan, substitute Ethan Gibbons, Bob Tuohy (2) and the impressive Donie Newcombe all on target to level the game.
That scenario didn’t last long though as the relentless Aidan O’Shea won two scoreable frees, kicking one himself and watching Colm Flynn convert the other to nudge Breaffy back in front again after 51 minutes.
Mitchels did hit back with a magnificent long-range point from Conor Stenson but they failed to score in the final quarter of an hour.
Breaffy’s defensive tightness had a lot to do with it but so did Mitchels’ malfunctioning attack while Paddy Heneghan also saw his effort to hit an equaliser from distance come back off the post.
A black card for sub’ Aidan Walsh didn’t help either so when Daire Morrin finished a flowing move with a neat point deep in added time, there was no way back for Castlebar.
A first Mayo SFC Final appearance since 2020 on the weekend of October 28/29 now awaits for Breaffy against either Ballina Stephenites or Knockmore.
They meet in the second semi-final on Sunday afternoon in Crossmolina at 1pm.