Castlebar hurlers Pearce the hearts of Saints
Barry Lane scored six points for Castlebar, including four from frees, in their win against St Ciaran's on Saturday.
Castlebar Mitchels retained the Mayo senior hurling ‘B’ title in dramatic circumstances last Saturday afternoon in Castlebar.
A game that was neck and neck for long periods, it appeared that St Ciaran’s had found the extra gear necessary to keep Mitchels at bay but a goal in injury-time, as well as two frees by the outstanding Barry Lane, denied St Ciaran’s in cruel fashion.
Colm Enright opened the scoring inside 20 seconds for Mitchels with a point as part of an electric start, followed by efforts from Ronan Treacy and Eoin Enright.
Ronan Fallon and Aidan Morrisroe responded for St Ciaran’s before Mitchels, who were unable to field county star Corey Scahill until late on, reeled off the next three points through Ronan Treacy, James Lyons and Eoin Enright to open a four-point gap on ten minutes.
The next 15 minutes saw St Ciaran’s outscore Mitchels 0-6 to 0-1 to go in front for the first time. Four points from Ronan Fallon (three frees) and one each from Brian O’Donovan and Dylan Fitzgerald saw St Ciaran’s lead by the minimum and that would remain the case at half-time, as two huge Oisin Duffy efforts for St Ciaran’s were matched by Mitchels duo, Colm Enright, a free, and Ronan Treacy, to leave it 0-10 to 0-9 in favour of St Ciaran’s.
Barry Lane briefly restored parity early in the second-half before James Gallagher and Oisin Duffy opened up a two-point gap for St Ciaran’s for the first time in this contest.
Mitchels would retake the lead through four unanswered points, including a trio of Colm Enright points (two frees) and another Barry Lane single, but a pair of pointed frees from Ronan Fallon left it all square going into the final quarter.
Two wonderful Dylan Fitzgerald scores put St Ciaran’s back in front and each time Mitchels would bring the gap back to one, though two Barry Lane points and one by Kevin Keena, St Ciaran’s would respond through Fallon, a free, O’Donovan and Gallagher, as the game approached the end of normal time.
Another Lane free left a point between them once more but when it appeared that extra-time was potentially looming, substitute Pearce Murray was quickest to react to a John Cotter point attempt that came back off the post and he rifled home to wild scenes on the Mitchels bench, before Lane sealed a third ‘B’ title in-a-row with his sixth point late on.
Scorers – Castlebar Mitchels: Barry Lane 0-6 (4f), Colm Enright 0-5 (4f), Pearce Murray 1-0, Ronan Treacy 0-3, Eoin Enright 0-2, Ciaran Treacy, James Lyons and Kevin Keena 0-1 each.
St Ciaran’s: Ronan Fallon 0-8 (7f), Dylan Fitzgerald and Oisin Duffy 0-3 each, Brian O’Donovan and James Gallagher 0-2 each, Aidan Morrisroe 0-1.
Castlebar Mitchels: Martin Parsons; Anthony Rowland, James Lowe, Kevin Rowland; James Lyons, Conor Murray, Kevin Keena; Lucas Kenny, Paul Mongey; Eoin Enright, Colm Enright, Barry Lane; Conor Donaldson, Ciaran Treacy, Ronan Treacy. Subs: Pearce Murray (for Kenny ht), John Kennedy (for Mongey 37), P Mongey (for Donaldson 41, inj), John Cotter (for C Treacy 56), Corey Scahill (for R Treacy 60).
St Ciaran’s: Liam Heneghan; Cathal Guilfoyle, James Carroll, Paul Vesey; Aidan Morrisroe, Michael Gallagher, Evan Heraty; Jack Doocey, Oisin Duffy; Brian O’Donovan, Killian Gallagher, Dylan Fitzgerald; James Gallagher, Niall Peoples, Ronan Fallon. Subs: Colin Duffy (for K Gallagher ht), Ruairi Gilvarry (for Doocey 48).
REF: John Walker (Cill Chomáin)
