Mayo SFC: Castlebar Mitchels and Garrymore advance
Seán Morahan, Castlebar Mitchels, and Conor Coghill, Breaffy, in Mayo SFC action. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach / Sportsfile
By Colm Gannon
Castlebar Mitchels and Garrymore will meet for the second time in the 2026 Mayo GAA Senior Football Championship in three weeks time, but this time it will be for the ultimate prize after they saw off Breaffy and Belmullet respectively in their semi-finals.
On Saturday afternoon the county town men booked their first appearance in the final in nine years with a 1-16 to 0-14 win over their near neighbours. Mitchels did the heavy lifting in the first half, going in leading by 1-11 to 0-7 at the break.
Joe Forry’s goal 11 minutes in was the key score in the game, coming when his side were temporarily down to 14 players following Joe Tuohy’s black card. Kevin Filan’s outfit were in command right from the start led by the impressive Forry and veteran Neil Douglas in attack, with Bob Tuohy, Donnacha McHugh, John McMonagle and Paddy Durcan all playing key roles.
The second half saw Breaffy get back into contention as Mitchels tired near the home stretch - Mayo goalkeeper Jack Livingstone cut the gap back to four points with two minutes of normal time left.
He had another attempt at two pointer from well beyond the 45 not long after, but Rory Byrne stretched over the crossbar to pull the ball down to safety and points from Tuohy and Anthony O’Boyle saw Mitchels deservedly home and into the final.
The second semi-final went right to the wire in Ballina on Sunday afternoon, where Garrymore just about held off the challenge of Belmullet on a scoreline of 2-16 to 2-15 after extra-time in challenging conditions.
The north Mayo men led by a single point at the break on a score of 0-9 to 0-8, with the first 30 minutes seeing a number of two pointers fly over the bar at either end of the field.
Ryan O’Donoghue kicked two inside the opening 11 minutes with Eoin O’Donoghue also getting in on the act for Belmullet, with Darren Quinn and Andy Glennon landed one each for Garrymore. Belmullet also saw a goal ruled out early on, which could have seen them further in front.
Mark Gibbons’ goal after a storming Enda Hession run seven minutes into the second half edged the south Mayo men in front, but seven minutes later Fionn O’Donoghue grabbed his sides first goal of the day to put his side back into a one point lead with 15 minutes to go a lead the stretched out to three points with four minutes of normal time left.
Gary Golden was the right man in the right place to palm the ball home after a long dropping effort wasn’t cleared to level it up with time almost up. A breach by Garrymore looked like it was going to cost them the game in the 29th minute when Ryan O’Donoghue tapped the ball over the bar from the resulting free to put his side into the lead once more, but there was still time for the veteran Trevor Nally to level it up at 2-11 to 1-14 and send the game into extra time.
Eoin McGreal and Jamie Hession got early points for Garrymore after the restart and their side in leading 2-13 to 1-15 at the break point. A two pointer from Trevor Nally stretched that lead out to three from the play right off the throw in and Mark Gibbons made the gap four points. Belmullet’s never say die attitude saw them keep coming and Fionn McDonagh got his second goal of the day three minutes from the end to leave just one between the sides.
With injury time almost up, there was one last chance for Belmullet when Shane Nallen had a two point effort from a free, that dropped short and Garrymore cleared their lines to reach their first county final since 1982.
