Mayo champions Mitchels reach provincial final
Castlebar Mitchels will contest the 2026 AIB Connacht Club Senior Football Championship final after they defeated Fulham Irish by 1-22 to 1-9 in Ruislip early on Saturday afternoon, writes Brian Gillespie.
The Mayo champions produced two incredible scoring bursts – one at the start of the game, and one again at the end – to win a shade cosily, though at times Fulham Irish took the game to them.
Had they brought their scoring boots with them, Fulham Irish might have been much closer to the Mitchels on the scoreboard at the full-time whistle.
Mitchels threatened to run away with it in the first quarter. Their first wide came on 10 minutes and before that they had dissected the posts on five occasions, Calum Filan, Anthony O'Boyle, Cian Walsh and Joe Forry (two, one free) all on target.
The Mayo champions were lording possession and Fulham Irish made little entry to the Mitchels' defensive zone.
Further points from Filan and Eoghan Hughes (with the game's first two-pointer) had Mitchels in an 0-8 to 0-0 lead with just 12 minutes played.
Then something changed. Fulham Irish began to get to grips with the occasion. Probably was, their radar was off-target and five wides in succession undermined some good build-up play.
After a 12-minute scoreless period, Mitchels extended their lead through Ultan O'Reilly after he was picked out superbly by Forry, but the London champions ended the half well, finally getting off the mark through Conal Gallagher on 27 minutes and leaving the field at half-time with three points to their name when the short whistle sounded after two minutes of injury time.
The six-point margin suggested Fulham Irish could make a game of it in the second half, and the early indications were good. While Bob Tuohy illuminated the start of the second half with a two-pointer, Fulham Irish had the gap back to six again thanks a 45 by goalie Andy Walsh and a Conal Gallagher free.
Then, amazingly, there were just three points between the teams when the impressive Niall O'Leary found the net – and this after Gallagher had disappointingly kicked a 13m free into the hands of Mitchels 'keeper Rory Byrne. However, the London champions forced a turnover as Mitchels attempted to clear the ball and Ben O'Connell fed O'Leary, who finished well.
That left it 0-11 to 1-5 in favour of the Mayo men, but there was no panic from Mitchels. Tuohy and Filan scored singles, and the latter was denied a goal as Fulham Irish scrambled men back to block his shot.
Paddy Durcan, an increasingly influential figure, scored a fine point on 44 minutes, and the gap was six again.
Crucially, Byrne stopped a Sean Hawkshaw attempt from finding the net at the other end, and that really scuppered Fulham Irish's chances as Mitchels produced another scoring burst in the final quarter, kick-started by a two-pointer from sub Ben Joyce.
They scored 1-8 in total the closing stages for the concession of just 0-4, substitute Neil Douglas with the goal after clever play by Durcan, while Tuohy scored another fine two-pointer, Joyce and Douglas (three, two frees) also on target as the Fulham Irish fight waned, though Ben O'Connell scored the final two points (one free) to put a seal on an impressive individual performance.
Mitchels' opponents in the final will be known tomorrow evening after defending champions St. Brigid's of Roscommon play Galway's Salthill/Knocknacarra in the other semi-final.
*See Tuesday's print edition for a full report