Blues rout Mitchels to book final showdown with rivals
Shane Boland scored 1-12 for Tooreen in their Mayo SHC semi-final win against Castlebar Mitchels.
A goal inside 45 seconds of throw-in set the tone for the most lopsided of county hurling semi-finals on Saturday, as Tooreen recorded a 34 points victory over Castlebar Mitchels. It was a statement of intent from the defending Mayo and Connacht champions for whom that opening goal-scorer, Shane Boland, ended with a personal haul of 1-12.
His brother Fergal scored five points from play and while that only made him Tooreen’s fourth highest scorer on the evening, even that was as much as the entire Castlebar team scored. In fact, Colm Enright was the sole supplier of Mitchels’ five points on the evening, with only one of those from play.
Tooreen’s scored a second first-half goal through Liam Lavin, who also contributed four points, and by half-time the Blue Devils were out of sight, leading 2-17 to 0-3, with the visitors simply unable to live with the skills, pace and intensity of Ray Larkin’s team.
The one-way nature of the contest continued into the second-half although it should be said that Castlebar Mitchels did battle until the bitter end.
It goes without saying that Tooreen will be asked far more difficult questions by their next door neighbours Ballyhaunis when the teams lock horns in the county final, with Tooreen on the hunt for a 34th senior title – and a fourth in-a-row.
Scorers – Tooreen: Shane Boland 1-12 (0-9f), Kenny Feeney 1-5, Liam Lavin 1-4, Fergal Boland 0-5, Daniel Huane 0-2, Joe Boyle and F Burke 0-1 each.
Castlebar Mitchels: Colm Enright 0-5 (4f).
Tooreen: B Douglas; J Trench, M Morley, O Greally; D Kenny, S Coyne, J Boyle; D Huane, S Regan; L Lavin, K Feeney, F Burke, S Boland, F Boland, J Byrne. Subs used: S. Crinnigan, C. Finn, J. Glavey.
Castlebar Mitchels: M Parsons; R Treacy, J Lowe, C Treacy; L Mullins, R Butler, J Lyons; T Sweeney, L Kenny; C Enright, C Murray, A Rowland; P Murray, B Kennedy, B Lane.
REF: E. MacSuibhne
