Centenary to remember for the Super Hoops

Without a peer or an equal in 2024, the centenary year of Castlebar Celtic could not have gone any better.

Since late 2022, this team have been the equivalent of a runaway train in county and province. Going unbeaten last year to win a first Mayo Super League title 2019, the Hoops were the unquestioned favourites to retain their title.

Stevie Gavin and Declan Flynn’s side had early distractions due to a combination of the Mayo League’s run to the Oscar Traynor Cup Final and their run in the Connacht Cup but it did not stop them winning their opening three games convincingly with scorelines of 3-1, 8-0 and 9-0 to Manulla, Crossmolina and Conn Rangers respectively.

Westport United got a big point at Celtic Park in the following round and it appeared that the Coveys were set to be Celtic’s biggest challengers. But a poor run of form saw them fall away and from there, Celtic began their rise to the top of the table and opened a lead that quickly became unassailable.

But a bigger story was developing. Celtic had beaten Galway’s big two, Athenry and Salthill Devon, on their way to a second consecutive Connacht Cup final, looking to avenge defeat to Athenry 12 months previously. A long shadow, however, was cast in the aftermath of the semi-final with Salthill, who launched an objection due to the semi-final being officiated by Mayo referees, which was in breach of the Connacht FA’s rules and regulations.

Connacht ruled in Salthill’s favour and ordered a replay but Celtic appealed to the FAI and were successful after it emerged that the Connacht FA agreed to the semi-final with Mayo referees due to no other officials being available.

So the stage was set for the Connacht final against another Galway side, Maree/Oranmore, and first-half goals from Luke Kelly and Jordan Loftus cemented a historic tenth Connacht Cup success.

The mess in the lead up to the final did leave a bitter taste in the mouth, and captain Ioseph O’Reilly very much spoke his mind about the hurt the players, management (Declan Flynn missed the rescheduled final entirely) and club had felt as they had not broken any ruling.

Castlebar Celtic played that day like their lives depended on it and felt not only had they beaten Maree/Oranmore (who were also affected by the delayed final) but beat the ‘system’ also, on their way to La Decima.

There would be no stopping them from this point when Super League matters resumed. They may have saw their unbeaten run come to an end at the hands of Ballyheane on August 8 (their first defeat in 2024) but were officially crowned league champions a few days later, before their final game against Kiltimagh/Knock United.

The only other side that may have come close in stopping Celtic from a clean sweep was Ballina Town, who Celtic met in the Westaro Cup and Super Cup Finals. But Celtic defeated Ballina on each occasion 2-1 to complete the set and a stunning 2024.

Castlebar Celtic will be the team to beat again in 2025. Ballina Town and Westport United are under new management, with Mick Duffy returning to Ballina as well as the high-profile appointment of Anthony O’Neill as United head coach, and both will want to be much closer to the Hoops.

Ballyheane, as evidenced by their win over Celtic, proved they can beat the best in the province on their day and will be a serious threat should they improve their consistency while Conn Rangers will be another team looking to continue their upward trajectory.

But it all remains about Celtic. They have achieved every goal in Mayo and Connacht and will want to try and do it again. But there is one more mountain to climb: the FAI Junior Cup.

The weekend of January 19 sees one of Celtic’s biggest games at Celtic Park when they face Westport United in the last 32, a team synonymous with the competition as the only Mayo winners.

In the build up to the 2023 Connacht Cup Final, Jordan Loftus told this reporter that the FAI Junior Cup was a dream. Beat United and that dream may start to look a bit more of a reality.