Castlebar take leaf from Mayo's book of perfect timing

There was something strangely familiar about the way Castlebar Mitchels went about winning this year's senior club championship. A slow burn through the early rounds, a gradual gathering of momentum and, finally, a performance of such authority that you wondered what all the fuss had been about in the first place.

Different jerseys. A smaller stage. But the same quiet conviction that championships aren’t won by those who make the most noise in the opening rounds, but by those who have something left to say when the silverware comes into view.

And on Sunday, the Castlebar men had plenty to say.

Kevin Filan’s side raced into a seven point lead after only 20 minutes as a county final that had flirted with a fairytale conclusion quickly became an exercise in cold, clinical authority. Much like Mayo before them, Castlebar had saved their finest football for the afternoon when it mattered most.

Mayo teams often have been the victims of poor timing. The county has produced teams capable of carrying an entire county through a summer on a tide of hope and hysteria, only to discover that the finest football and the greatest occasion don't always arrive together. For 75 years, Mayo knew almost everything about the journey to glory. It was the destination that kept causing trouble.

But this year's All-Ireland triumph followed a different rhythm. Mayo didn't spend the early summer months trying to convince the world of their greatness. They grew into the championship, gathering confidence and conviction as the stakes increased, until their finest performance arrived on a glorious afternoon when anything less might have left them with another lifetime of regret.

The Mayo men on Castlebar’s squad certainly seemed to absorb that lesson, and brought it back to their club.

There was enough experience in Castlebar's dressing room to know that an indifferent performance in the early rounds wasn't a reason to start pulling the furniture apart. These were footballers who understood the peculiar rhythms of championship football, who knew that form can be fleeting but belief must endure.

And with five of Mayo's newly crowned All-Ireland winners among their ranks, this wasn't some fashionable theory borrowed from a coaching manual. It was a lesson learned in the most demanding classroom of all.

Some teams spend a championship trying to prove how good they are. The clever ones know when to show it. And that experience was evident in the finer details of Sunday's performance. Bob Tuohy kicked six points and ruled midfield with the assuredness of a man who had mislaid neither his appetite nor his ambition following the last few months of celebration. Paddy Durcan, meanwhile, managed the difficult business of keeping Enda Hession quiet while still finding time to torment Garrymore at the other end.

And when the challengers eventually found a pulse, Joe Forry landed a magnificent two-point free from a distance that ordinarily requires an airmail stamp.

John MacMonagle's last-ditch block on Caolan Crowe told its own story. With Garrymore threatening to turn the afternoon into something considerably more uncomfortable, he threw himself into the path of a shot that might have changed everything.

There was quality everywhere you looked, but no shortage of old-fashioned stubbornness either. Castlebar had the artists and the artisans, the men capable of producing something extraordinary and those willing to do the thoroughly unglamorous work that makes such brilliance possible.

It's a combination that should serve them well beyond the county boundary.

But the provincial landscape has not been a comforting place for Mayo clubs. Indeed, Connacht remains an awkward piece of unfinished business for both club and county – despite Sam Maguire coming West this year. No Mayo club has conquered the province since Castlebar Mitchels did so a decade ago.

There is something faintly absurd about winning the biggest prize in the country while neighbouring counties continue to enjoy the run of the place. An All-Ireland title, for all its glory, doesn't settle every old account. Provincial football has its own memory, and lately it hasn't been especially flattering to the green and red.

Now Castlebar has an opportunity to change that particular conversation. The club that last carried Mayo's flag to the summit of Connacht is back in possession of the Moclair Cup, with a chance to restore some of the county's provincial standing.

And there is serious substance to this Castlebar side.

The road to provincial redemption begins with a trip across the Irish Sea. Fulham Irish await in London, and while Castlebar will travel as favourites, championship football has a habit of making fools of those who mistake a favourable draw for a guarantee.

Beyond that, the scenery becomes considerably more intimidating. Either St Brigid's of Roscommon or Salthill-Knocknacarra of Galway look most likely to be the side waiting in the Connacht final and both come armed with serious talent. Moreover, neither club has to look too far into their history to remember All-Ireland winning days in Croke Park.

But there is more to this Mitchels side than reputation. They have power around the middle, attacking variety and a defensive stubbornness that makes life profoundly unpleasant for opponents. More importantly, they have footballers accustomed to the peculiar demands of the biggest occasions, when the legs grow heavy and the mind becomes the most important muscle of all.

They will need every ounce of that experience in the weeks ahead. Winning Mayo was one thing. Conquering Connacht will require another level of grey matter entirely.

The difficulty with peaking at precisely the right time, of course, is that the calendar has a habit of demanding another peak. The Moclair Cup can be polished and passed around, the celebrations can continue, but another championship is already asking new questions.

And perhaps that’s the most intriguing thing about this Castlebar side. Sunday felt less like the exhaustion of their ambition and more like the awakening of it.

Mayo found their finest football when there was no tomorrow. The difference now for Mitchels is that tomorrow has arrived.