Castlebar Mitchels 1-17 Garrymore 0-12

There was to be no fairytale ending for Garrymore in the Mayo senior football championship final as Castlebar Mitchels stormed to victory in impressive fashion to claim the Moclair Cup for the first time since 2017.

The rural South Mayo club were appearing in their first final for 44 years, but they were unable to match Mitchels on the day and could have no complaints at the end of a game dominated by the winners in front of 9,752 spectators.

Castlebar started as they meant to go on, racing into a seven point lead after 20 minutes, and they kept Garrymore at arm's length from there to the finish line.

The underdogs’ slow start cost them dearly in the end, although they did threaten to make a game of it midway through the second half after a couple of two-pointers from Eoin McGreal and Darren Quinn seemed set to kickstart an unlikely comeback.

But three points was as close as they came to Mitchels during that second period, and a late penalty from Cian Walsh put the gloss on Castlebar’s 32nd county senior title as they returned to the summit of Mayo football in style.

The newly-crowned champions lined out with five of Mayo’s All-Ireland winning squad and while all of them played key roles, nobody did more to influence the result than Bob Tuohy.

The marauding midfielder was outstanding, lording the skies, running the game from the opening seconds to the closing stages, and kicking six superb points from play into the bargain.

Tuohy’s man of the match display around the middle helped Mitchels to build their platform for their victory while his Mayo team-mates John MacMonagle and Paddy Durcan were also in brilliant form.

MacMonagle played a captain’s part from centre-half back while Durcan, who was winning his fifth senior championship medal, managed to curb the influence of his county team-mate, Enda Hession, while also chipping in with an inspirational two-pointer.

Mitchels started the match as they meant to go on with the aforementioned Tuohy clipping a lovely two-pointer after 70 seconds to get the ball rolling.

He also knocked over a brace of nonchalantly-taken scores during the first quarter while Cian Walsh and Joe Forry (2) also hit the target to put Mitchels firmly in the driving seat.

Garrymore were struggling to get their second wind so the sense of relief was palpable when Aaron Hughes thumped over a two-pointer after 22 minutes to open their account.

Castlebar quickly re-established their dominance though as Seán Morahan and Anthony O’Boyle both clipped points after slick moves to restore their team’s seven point cushion.

Garrymore were finding it much harder to get their hands on the ball and create scoring opportunities, but an orange flag from Trevor Nally on the stroke of half-time gave them something to work with when the short whistle sounded.

An early point from Mayo’s Eoin McGreal just after the restart cut the gap to four points and hinted at the possibility of a mini-revival from Garrymore.

However, these thoughts were quickly dispelled when the in-form Bob Tuohy burst through to score before Paddy Durcan swung over a two-pointer to restore Castlebar’s seven point advantage again after 38 minutes.

It was at this stage that Garrymore threw caution to the wind and played their best football.

Over the next quarter of an hour the South Mayo men kicked seven points from a variety of distances and angles to come roaring back into contention.

Orange flags from McGreal and Quinn were the pick of the bunch while Quinn also raised white flags twice as he finally escaped the clutches of Mayo’s Donnacha McHugh.

Crucially though, Mitchels managed to nick a few score themselves during this Garrymore purple patch to keep the scoreboard ticking as Tuohy and Ultan O’Reilly both picked off points to respond.

The most important intervention though came from Joe Forry, who landed an outrageous two-point free from the right sideline after 50 minutes that got the Mitchels crowd out of their seats.

There were four points between the teams swinging into the closing stages, and Garrymore were chasing hard, but Mitchels ability to play on the counter-attack was about to come pay off again.

A fast break by the magnificent John MacMonagle saw him fouled outside the large parallelogram but referee Liam Devenney awarded a penalty, given the nature of the foul as he also showed Garrymore defender, Justin Commins, a black card.

Cian Walsh stepped up to convert the penalty and the argument was settled, once and for all.

Mitchels’ substitute Eoghan Hughes applied the signature score and there were emotional scenes at the final whistle as Castlebar celebrated just like old times.

Castlebar Mitchels: R Byrne; J Tuohy, D McHugh, S Cunningham; C Mulroy, J MacMonagle, P Durcan (0-02, 1tp); B Tuohy (0-06, 1tp), U O’Reilly (0-01); A O’Boyle (0-01), N Douglas, S Morahan (0-01); C Walsh (1-01, 1-00 pen), J Forry (0-04, 1tpf, 1f), J Durcan.

Subs: E Hughes (0-01) for Douglas (45); C Filan for J Durcan (49); B Joyce for O’Reilly (55); E Gibbons for Forry (57); C Stenson for Mulroy (60+1).

Garrymore: B Lynskey; C Commins, J Oates, J Commins; D Dolan, L Óg Horkan, E McGreal (0-03, 1tp); G Golden, A Hughes (0-02, 1tp); E Hession, A Glennon, S Nally; D Quinn (0-04, 1tp), C Slattery, T Nally (0-03, 1tp).

Subs: J Hession for Dolan (25); C Crowe for S Nally (28); P Hession for T Nally (45); M Connolly for Glennon (60+3).

Referee: L Devenney (Ballina Stephenites)