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Strength in depth

Marking Time

It’s unlikely that you’ll ever see this combination of Mayo players ever line out together again for a competitive fixture, but it gave a number of players a taste of what it’s like in the big leagues they’ll not forget and some others who have serious designs on being around there for a long time plenty to work on.

This is the one that neutrals and supporters alike have been looking forward to since each side won its respective county title. The sides have met twice in the last three years, with Castlebar Mitchels gaining the upper hand on both of those occasions and going all the way to the All Ireland final. In the year they did not meet, Corofin saw off the best Mayo could offer, made it as far as St Patrick's Day, and brought the Andy Merrigan Cup home for the second time in their history.

A rainbow split the sky before throw in Sligo on Saturday afternoon and Castlebar Mitchels followed it to the end to find their way into a home Connacht semi-final against Corofin next Sunday in MacHale Park.

A storming second half display from Castlebar saw them claim their 30th Mayo senior title in MacHale Park on Saturday night, thanks to an inspirational display by Paddy Durcan and Neil Douglas. The county town men led by two points at the interval but ran out 12 point winners at the end where they outscored Knockmore by 3-7 to 0-6.

Over the next two days, MacHale Park in Castlebar will host four big games as the quarter-finals of the Mayo GAA Senior Football Championship are down for decision. Our Sports Editor, Colm Gannon previews the action.

The Mayo football championship kicked into life in sweltering Mediterranean like conditions last weekend. Defending champions Castlebar Mitchels showed no ill effects from their All-Ireland final nightmare two months ago when they easily accounted for Crossmolina Deel Rovers despite fielding just over half of the team that started in that All Ireland final.

The sun shone across the county all weekend and while the thoughts of many would have been about 99’s and lounging on the beaches from Keem to Old Head, but for the club footballers around Mayo this wasn’t a weekend for soaking up the sun.

For the second time in three years, Castlebar Mitchels dream of bringing the Andy Merrigan Cup home with them was stopped at the final stage by opposition from Dublin. Unlike this time two years ago when the Mitchels adventure came on the back of their first county title in 20 years, this was a Mitchels side who had came back again this year and saw off last year’s champions Corofin, before seeing off Crossmaglen in an epic semi-final. However, they met a Ballyboden St Enda’s side who had a game plan that worked to a tee, with runners from deep causing Castlebar all sorts of problems and the static nature of the Mitchels attack playing straight into their hands. Castlebar will be disappointed with how they performed on the day and will know they could have done much better than they did.