Garry’ and Mitchels get right results

IT was an uneven contest and the result was not unexpected. Mighty Garrymore were anxious to have the weight of their defeat to Belmullet lifted. The Neale were seeking the experience that senior football has to offer . . . and are still a long way from becoming equals.
This one-sided encounter accurately reflected their separate standards. 
But nature’s backdrop was spectacular. The tranquil evening surrendered to twilight. A cloudless sky. A harvest moon rising over the hallowed Garrymore turf like an orange orb.  And the ‘acrid scents of autumn’ everywhere.
The contest did not match the serenity of September’s entrance. Garrymore were at home and comfortable. No keening wind to wrestle with, no rain, no spume from the churning Atlantic to dampen their hopes.
No obstacle other than Neale’s spirited challenge which was never enough to defuse the superior weaponry of the hosts.
The Neale will use their ten-points defeat to build for the future. They might have added to their six points total if Killian McHugh, one of their hardest workers, was not sent to the line for two yellow card offences fifteen minutes from the end.
But victory was never in sight once Jamie Oates crashed home Garrymore’s goal as early as the fourth minute which helped them to a lead of 1-3 after ten minutes without a reply from the visitors.
And yet it says something too for Garry’ that in the fifty minutes that followed they could not open the gap any wider than a further ten points.
They will point to a brilliant save by Cian Hughes from a bullet by the same Jamie Oates near the end of the first half which would have decorated the dominance they enjoyed everywhere but on the scoreboard.
That may be something they need to look at before their clash with Ballintubber in the next vital round.
All over the field they enjoyed control. But aside from that second attempt by Oates they showed no sign of breaking through the Neale’s energetic rearguard for a second goal. Not even after Killian McHugh was red carded.
That in a way is a tribute to the gritty defending of the Neale’s Micheal Varley, Ronan Hughes, Cian Hughes and David McGrath.
Garrymore led by 1-6 to 0-2 at the interval. In no one position were they overshadowed. Performances in general were more than adequate with a sprinkling of brilliance here and there.
No one did more to eradicate the Belmullet ordeal than Liam Óg Horkan at left-half back. The young man put in a towering performance, cutting down the left wing in inspirational raids.
Colin Commons was another young man to impress. Listed at corner-back but cropping up everywhere and especially close to goal.
Of course the regular guards were as prominent as ever. Caolan Crowe at full-back, Ciaran McGrath, and Oates all feverishly involved.
The experienced Shane Nally and Gary Golden dominated midfield while Darren Quinn, Aaron Hughes, Enda Hession and Mark Gibbons, revelled in the space they created for one another.
But wild shooting did cause some concern after the break, especially when Dylan Keane and Tommy Conroy cut the deficit to six points.
Not until the 48th minute and after Killian McHugh was sent off, did Mark Gibbons grab Garry’s first point of the second half. From that moment on it was a landslide.
As with all county players Tommy Conroy was a marked man from the start. And there was no one able to siphon off some of the traffic building around the Mayo star. If he had sufficient support the Garry defence might not have looked so efficient.
McHugh, until sent off, was among the liveliest of his assistants. Darragh Moran, Dylan Keane and Adam Flynn worked hard too.

Castlebar come
good in the end
THEY struggled, they heaved, they gasped. But Castlebar Mitchels somehow clawed their way back from the jaws of defeat to sculpt a narrow win over Aghamore at Josie Munnelly Park.
Normally it is for the hands of goalkeeper Rory Byrne that the Mitchels have reason to be grateful. This time there was gratitude too for his left boot. 
Way out on the right side of the pitch, near the sideline, fifty metres from goal, the Mayo star lined up the ball for the free that would decide the outcome of a frenetic match. 
Only seconds remained of the battle for vital group progress.
Without a nerve in the world, Byrne sidled up to the placed ball and before his left foot was back on the ground he had shaped their victory, the ball sent sailing between the posts to a background of noise from exulting supporters.
That result seemed unlikely at times. Aghamore had come with unrelenting resolve to elbow the Mitchels out of the reckoning.
In physicality they had a distinct advantage. And it seemed only a matter of time before the Castlebar defence was ripped open by the power and speed of their running game.
But in weathering the Aghamore storm, in refusing to submit after conceding a goal in the dying minutes, and eyed by the omens of defeat, the hosts unleashed a side of their character that conveyed a new truth about this Mitchels side . . . and a higher opinion. 
In those last few minutes after Neil Douglas had stolen behind the defence for a pass by Conor Stenson to snatch the levelling goal, you became aware that physicality alone is not always the answer. 
In a bid to confuse the opposition both sides made innocuous changes to the teams listed on the programme. Three on each side which ruled out what advantage might have been gained in attempted markups.
From the outset the intensity of the exchanges could be felt on the sidelines. Speeding bodies were hurtled to the ground by ferocious tackles . . . fair but savage.
Conor Kilkenny, listed at corner-back but roving unchecked, Conor Hunt, Brendan Harrison, David Kenny, Fergal Boland and Tom O’Flaherty stormed the Mitchels’ defences in wave after wave of attacks.
And it took all the guile and tenacity that Paddy Durcan, Donal Newcombe, Joe Tuohy, Rory Byrne and Bob Tuohy could muster to stave off the pressure.
At half-time they were on level terms at four points apiece, a fair indication of parity and how defensive both sides were. But Aghanmore were without midfielder David Kenny, sidelined for a black card offence in that period.
It was nip and tuck after the break, each point cancelling out another right up to the final minutes when Conor Kilkenny somehow worked the ball into the Castlebar net.
Suddenly the game lurched towards the visitors. But before they got to congratulate one another the ball was worked down field. Conor Stenson adroitly swung a footpass toward Douglas running in from the right behind the defence. 
Level again, and gloom replaced by hope until the Mitchels were awarded the final free of the game . . . and for Castlebar the most important.
Rory Byrne stepped from his goal. And the ball sailing over the bar was music to the ears of their followers.