Mayo SFC: Enda Hession inspires Garrymore to slick victory over Mitchels

by John Paul Heaney

Nobody said it would be easy for the footballers of Castlebar Mitchels, and that proved to be the case as they fell to a surprising five-point defeat (0-19 to 0-14) to Garrymore on Friday evening under lights in St. Coman’s Park, Hollymount.

Garrymore will now have home advantage in the quarter-final stage in two weeks while Castlebar will be on the road following this final round of group matches.

A beautiful evening with the floodlights on greeted both sides onto the pitch, and it was the opening quarter and final quarter that Garrymore did all the damage.

They led 0-6 to 0-3 with five different scorers getting off the mark, but by half-time, the Mitchels were right back in it, trailing by just one, 0-8 to 0-7, with James Durcan hitting a two-pointer.

Very little remained between the sides heading into the last quarter (0-11 to 0-9) until Mark Gibbons entered for Garrymore, who stole the show late on with two two-pointers from play, along with Aaron Hughes also getting a point that proved too much of a gap for the Mitchels to respond to.

This was Garrymore’s first championship win over Castlebar since the quarter-final contest in 2021, which was played in Claremorris and who knows, both these sides could meet again later in this campaign which is throwing up a lot of surprises to say the least.

Garrymore clearly had the extra edge throughout with Mayo stars Enda Hession and Eoin McGreal leading by example, the side scoring three two-pointers in the second half, two by inspirational substitute Mark Gibbons with the wind at his back.

The county town club came with a late charge, but it was a case of too little, too late.

Speaking afterwards, man-of-the match Hession said the result will create a greater level of respect for Garrymore but they still have a lot to work on.

"We have players who are really honest and work hard and that's a good place to be.

"We are going to be underdogs no matter who we face in the last eight," he told Mayo GAA TV.

Garrymore manager Fintan Forde was delighted to win three games on the trot in the series.

"We took command from early on and pushed on from there against a seasoned Castlebar side," he said.

* Full report in next Tuesday's issue of The Connaught Telegraph.