Filan's fliers edge out determined Davitts

COUNTY U21A SEMI-FINAL

CASTLEBAR MITCHELS 2-14

DAVITTS 2-10

Michael Gallagher in Ballindine

An excellent game of football staved off the cold in Ballindine on Sunday as the home side pushed Castlebar all the way before the guests secured a spot in next weekend's county final.

Indeed, Davits will rue a period in the opening half when they squandered a number of gilt-edged chances in front of goal, but when all is said and done, the better team won at the end of a highly-entertaining meeting between two talented outfits.

Mitchels were far more efficient in front of the posts and were 2-5 to 0-6 clear at the interval. The opening goal of the game arrived after seven minutes when James Cunningham smartly flicked the ball to the net at the end of a one-two with his brother, Mark.

The provider, turned goalscorer five minutes before half time when Mark Cunningham got on the end of a superb pass from Conchobar Mulroy to slide the ball past Dylan O'Brien.

At the other end, Davitts were wasteful. They cut through the Castlebar backline on three occasions only to take the wrong option when goals seemed certain. That hindered the home side somewhat, but fine play from wing-back Brian Birmingham, full-back Charlie Phillips and attackers Niall Treacy and Dylan Gallagher made sure they were well in the running at the break.

Things got even better for the hosts in the opening minute of the second half when Jack Melvin stroked home a penalty to close the gap to two but with Cian Walsh impressing for the guests in attack and corner back Tomas Waldron coming forward to kick points Castlebar were comfortably clear again going into the last ten minutes.

However, Davitts refused to fade away and a stream of scores courtesy of Dylan Gallagher and Fionnán Gallagher had the deficit down to a goal again, 2-10 to 1-10, and the momentum was with the home side going into the last three minutes of normal time.

Mitchels needed one last push to book their place in the final and set about doing that. Walsh got on the end of a great team move to palm over a point before Mulroy and Mark Cunningham stretched the lead to six in injury time.

Yet again, Davitts set off in chase of the leaders and when Fenton Kelly crashed home a goal from a free there was only a kick of a ball between them but Ryan Gibbons guided over a late point for Mitchels and when the final whistle sounded the young men in red and yellow were four points clear of their talented and dogged hosts.

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