Genius Connolly wins All-Ireland for Vincent's

AIB GAA FOOTBALL ALL IRELAND SENIOR CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL:

ST VINCENT'S 4-12 CASTLEBAR MITCHELS 2-11

An astonishing individual display of utter virtuosity from Diarmuid Connolly saw St. Vincent's defeat Castlebar Mitchels in the All-Ireland Club final at Croke Park on St.Patrick's Day.

Earlier, Portumna claimed the hurling title

Connolly gave what can surely be considered one of the finest individual performances ever given at an All-Ireland final. He scored 2-5 from play out of his side's tally of 4-12, but that was just one element of a performance for the ages that displayed mastery of practically every skill worth having in Gaelic football.

He created their other two goals and most of their scores, combining technical mastery, vision, unselfishness and serious physical strength with his own brilliant finishing gifts. Scarcely a Castlebar hand touched him all afternoon as he was simply unplayable. He won ball for Vincent's throughout the field, sprayed passes, won tackles; it is hard to see how Vincent's could possibly have won this game without him, despite their fine overall performance in the second half.

The sides were level at the break, with the two St. Vincent's goals keeping them in touch after Castlebar Mitchels had shown by far the greater propensity to create and take point chances from open play in the first 30 minutes.

The sides shared the first four points of the game, but Castlebar were dealt a big blow when out of the blue, they lost key man Richie Feeney to a black card on 6 minutes. Feeney inexplicably went in late with his shoulder after the ball had been released, and he was replaced by Fergal Durcan.

Vincent's took a grip of the game on nine minutes when they scored their first goal. Wing-back Michael Concarr had made marauding up the left wing since the throw-in, and after a lovely one-two with Connolly, Concarr got in behind the Castlebar cover and finished beautifully past Ciarán Naughton.

That made it 1-2 to 0-2 but then Castlebar enjoyed a very dominant spell of over 15 minutes, kicking 0-6 without reply. They kicked some superb scores in that period, with Aidan Walsh, Neil Lydon, Neil Douglas, Fergal Durcan and Patrick Durcan all registering points.

It left the Mayo champions three ahead, but the worry for them was that Vincent's were creating a raft of goal chances. They spurned many in the first half, with Castlebar keeper Naughton making a string of excellent saves from Connolly, Ciarán Dorney and Ruairi Trainor among others.

Vincent's finally put their second in the net on 26 minutes, and again, Connolly and Concarr were at the heart of it, the pair combining before Connolly set up Dorney, who simply had to palm the ball into the empty net from a yard out after Connolly had slipped it past Naughton.

That levelled them up, and they remained level at the break after Trainor and Barry Moran exchanged points before the whistle. Tom King scored a free to give Castlebar the lead at the start of the second half, but points from Shane Carthy, Tomás Quinn and a wonderful point from Connolly left Vincent's three ahead at 2-7 to 0-10.

However, Castlebar were given a lifeline on 42 minutes. Neil Douglas' shot for a point bounced off the post and straight into the arms of Danny Kirby, who finished past Ciarán Naughton.

Connolly then completely took over the game. Two minutes after the Castlebar goal, he scored his first goal, fisting the ball into the net after a high sideline ball from the left had hopped over everyone before he got his hand to it.

He then took his tally to 1-4 with two sensational points, and saved the most glorious moment of all for the 54th minute with a brilliant individual goal. He danced past a few Castlebar defenders but the ball was then knocked from his grasp. No matter; he flicked it up in one movement and ripped a brilliant left-footed drive into the roof of the net past Naughton.

That was effectively game over although there was time for a consolation goal from Kirby, his second, and of course, one more incredible point from Connolly.

This is the third time St. Vincent's have won the All-Ireland, following on from the triumphs of 1976 and 2008. It's the first time they have won since the death of their most famous son Kevin Heffernan, who died in January 2013.

---

Scorers for St. Vincent's: D Connolly 2-5, S Carthy 0-3, M Concarr 1-0, C Dorney 1-0, T Quinn 0-2 (1f), R Trainor 0-1, K Golden 0-1 (1f)

Scorers for Castlebar Mitchels: D Kirby 2-0, N Lydon 0-3, P Durcan 0-2, T King 0-2 (1f), A Walsh 0-1, N Douglas 0-1, F Durcan 0-1, B Moran 0-1

CASTLEBAR MITCHELS: C Naughton; A Feeney, E O'Reilly, R O'Malley; D Newcombe, T Cunniffe, P Durcan; G McDonagh, B Moran; N Lydon, A Walsh, R Feeney; D Kirby, N Douglas, T King. Subs: F Durcan for R Feeney (6 - black , J Durcan for N Douglas (50), D Joyce for E O'Malley (56), S Hopkins for G McDonagh (59), K Filan for F Durcan (62).

ST. VINCENT'S: M Savage; K Bonnie, J Curley, H Gill; G Brennan, B Egan, M Concarr; D Murphy, E Fennell; G Burke, D Connolly, S Carthy; R Trainor, C Dorney, T Quinn. Subs: T Diamond for G Burke (36), C Diamond for E Fennell (43), K Golden for R Trainor (51), A Baxter for C Dorney (58), N Mullins for S Carthy (61).

Referee: Eddie Kinsella (Laois)

Attendance: 31,472

---

Report: Arthur Sullivan