Mitchels march on to Connacht Final after pleasing victory in London

Pictured before throw-in were team captains John MacMonagle and Conal Gallagher along with referee Ian Monaghan.

placeholder image — Pictured before throw-in were team captains John MacMonagle and Conal Gallagher along with referee Ian Monaghan.

The Mayo champions had ten different scorers on the day as they overcame Fulham Irish

Connacht Senior Football Championship Semi-Final

Castlebar Mitchels 1-22

Fulham Irish 1-9

In Ruislip

On a cold but sunny afternoon in West London, Kevin Filan’s Castlebar Mitchels side advanced to the Connacht final after overcoming London champions Fulham Irish.

The Mayo kingpins started in superb fashion as the men from the county town kicked the opening nine points while Fulham Irish registered their first score after 27 minutes. In that space of time, Castlebar were dominant with Calum Filan, Cian Walsh and Eoghan Hughes impressing early on while the brilliant Bob Tuohy dominated proceedings around the middle.

The London champions got up and running with 27 minutes in when Conal Gallagher opened their account. Fulham Irish then found a brief purple patch as Andrew Gilmartin and Sean Caffrey added points.

However, Castlebar went in leading by six. During the first half, the London side kicked eight wides and would have been left disappointed with their return. As the half time whistle sounded in McGovern Park, Mitchels led 0-9 to 0-3.

Within a minute of the restart, county man Bob Tuohy who was excellent on the day opened the scoring in the second half with a fine two pointer. Then the opening goal of the contest arrived and it went the way of Hurl Dockry’s side. Centre forward Niall O’Leary blasted the ball past Rory Byrne eight minutes into the fresh half while Tuohy and Filan responded before Paddy Durcan started to impress.

As time went on, Castlebar stepped on the gas and saw a fine return from their bench. Teenager Ben Joyce booted over a superb two pointer while Neil Douglas kicked 1-3 towards the final quarter.

In the end, the Mayo champions had ten different scorers and are now through to the Connacht Final which sees Castlebar face the winners of St Brigid’s and Salthill Knocknacarra with that game taking place on Sunday afternoon.

With the Connacht decider set for Hastings Insurance MacHale Park, Castlebar can be quietly confident while a big test awaits on November 29.

A full match report plus reaction will be carried in Tuesday’s edition of The Mayo News.