Castlebar Town lift Henry Downes Cup in Mayo seven goal thriller
Castlebar Town edged a seven goal thriller against Iorras Aontaithe at Milebush Park to claim the Henry Downes Mayo Under-17 Cup.
This enthralling encounter seemed destined for extra-time, however, player of the match Olivier Krawcyzk’s late winner secured a dramatic 4-3 victory for his Castlebar team-mates.
Iorras Aontaithe were encamped in their own half during the opening 12 minutes of the first half, but the red and black gradually became more adventurous and the Belmullet side ended the stalemate on 17 minutes.
A fine free-flowing move involving Keelan Barrett, Jack Gaughan, and Kyle Healy, ended with the later sweeping home a delightful finish.
Castlebar Town thought they had levelled matters on 27 minutes, but Owen McDonagh’s effort was ruled out for offside.
Trailing 1-0 at the break, the Town’s half-time pep-talk appeared to have worked wonders as the black and white levelled matters on 47 minutes, when Oliver Krawcyzk finished from close-range.
If Iorras were rocked then they didn’t show it and the red and black regained the lead on 53 minutes courtesy of Cathal O’Malley, whose dinked finish diverted Kyle Healy’s free-kick to the back of the net.
Iorras then added what appeared to be a match winning third goal 63 minutes, when Healy’s free-kick from almost 40 yards bizarrely ended up in the back of Jack Hose’s net.
However, Iorras’ celebrations were cut short as one minute later Castlebar reduced the arrears to just a single goal once again, courtesy of Ronan Barrett’s sublime finish from just inside the 18 yard box.
A doughty Castlebar upped the tempo and on 87 minutes the black and white levelled matters.
A perfectly weighted corner-kick from Adam Jennings found the hovering Barrett and the latter’s header rustled the top corner of Cormac Reilly’s net.
A grandstand finish was in store and extra-time seemed a real possibility, but seven minutes into second half injury-time, Olivier Krawcyzk netted what proved to be the winning goal for Castlebar Town.