Mitchels rise from the ashes to tumble The 'Tubber

Mayo SFC Quarter Final

Castlebar Mitchels 2-10

Ballintubber 0-13

(After extra time - 0-9 apiece at the end of normal time)

Michael Gallagher in Breaffy

The young men of Castlebar have been playing football since 1885, but today’s victory after a pulsating war with Ballintubber stands proudly alongside anything achieved over those 138 seasons.

The football was far from perfect, mistakes littered the play, but when heart, courage and composure was called for the young men in red and yellow answered the call.

Ballintubber will forever wonder how they lost this one. Four points up with the barman pulling down the shutters they somehow succumbed to a late Mitchels surge and things went from bad to worse when Cillian O’Connor was red carded while there was still a point between the teams.

After the two time All-Star was dismissed Castlebar had one last chance to tie the game and amazingly, they found the time and space for Paddy Heneghan to split the sticks and unleash scenes of wild delight among their supporters.

Ballintubber had played excellent football for most of the day with Keelan McDonnell, Brian Murphy, Bryan Walsh, Jason Gibbons, Michael Plunkett, the O’Connor brothers, Diarmuid and Cillian, and Stephen O’Malley to the fore. However they were hit with another hammer-blow in the opening seconds of extra time when Castlebar’s impressive midfielder Bob Tuohy gained possession from the throw-in and his long delivery went all the way to the Ballintubber net.

However, the Abbeysiders refused to fade away and points from Jamsie Finnerty, O’Malley and Ciaran Gavin kept them in it, but Castlebar remained in front thanks to Ultan O’Reilly’s well hit point.

Then, with a minute to play and just a point between them, Tuohy ran straight at the heart of the ‘Tubber backline, drew the cover and flicked the ball across the square for Gavin Durcan to finish to the net.

That was the end of the affair and all Ballintubber could manage in reply was a late O’Malley point before the final whistle underlined one of the great moments in Mitchels’ long history.

A full match report and after-match reaction will be carried in Tuesday’s Mayo News