Mayo team hopes for Stroke’ of fortune

Kilmeena have booked themselves a shot at glory in the AIB Connacht intermediate club championship by booking a ticket to the final thanks to a 0-22 to 1-9 victory in Saturday’s semi-final at Castlebar’s Hastings Insurance MacHale Park.

Having at one stage led by fourteen points, the Mayo champions totally dominated Coolaney-Mullinabreena, the champions of Sligo, to secure a crack at Strokestown in the provincial final on Sunday, September 23.

Strokestown, senior champions in Roscommon as recently as 2022, got the better of Allen Gaels by six points in Saturday’s other semi-final.

Kilmeena were led superbly by their full-forward line of Liam Moore, Darragh Keaveney and John McGlynn who between them scored thirteen points, including ten from play, but there were massive contributions all over the field, including from the dynamic half-back line of Colin Hastings, Stephen Staunton and Jack Mulchrone, scorer of the game’s only two pointer.

Mulchrone had helped set the tone by providing the final assist for the game’s opening two points and at half-time, the Black and White already had one foot in the final when leading 0-12 to 0-4. It would have been more only for the woodwork denying Ronan O’Donnell a goal while the rebound by Liam Moore drew the first of two first-half saves by Coolaney-Mullinabreena goalkeeper Eoin McDonagh.

Kilmeena were able to run their bench in the second-half, with substitutes Daniel Kelly and Brian Durkan both among their scorers.

The West Mayo outfit will have the familiarity of MacHale Park in their favour for their showdown with Strokestown, which will be Kilmeena’s third match in as many weekends having already overcome Caltra in the Connacht quarter-final.

See Tuesday’s Western People for full coverage.