Mitchels win on the cards if main Charlestown threat Towey is kept quiet
Ethan Gibbons has stepped up and become a key player for Castlebar Mitchels in recent years
Castlebar Mitchels once went two decades without winning the Senior Championship so you can hardly call seven years without a Moclair Cup a drought. Even still, there are those within the county town who feel they have been due the title over the last two or three years.
They are, without doubt, still one of the best teams in the county and are always there or thereabouts. Last year saw them crash out to Breaffy, inspired by a generational Aidan O’Shea performance, in the semi-finals. That this came after the high of beating Ballintubber in a thrilling quarter-final made it a bigger blow.
Castlebar should not be far off the top prize this year and they should be safely through a favourable group. The uber-consistent Neil Douglas is still going strong in the forward lines and he’ll be bolstered by the likes of Ethan Gibbons. Gibbons has been a star turn for Mitchels in recent years and he will be looked to again for points. County stars Paddy Durcan and Bob Tuohy will also be crucial in Mitchels’ efforts to capture Moclair number 32.
A quarter-final was a good outcome for Charlestown last year but it was hard to see progress beyond that for the east Mayo outfit. They seem to be in similar shape coming into this campaign and a place in the last eight will likely come down to whoever comes out the better between themselves and Garrymore.
Paul Towey will be the main man for Charlestown again. He knows exactly where the posts are to be found and is not shy of hitting the net either, as a recent haul of 3-7 (2-2 from play) against Knockmore in the league proved. The likes of Jack Mahon, Paddy Goldrick Patrick Lenehan and Gareth O’Donnell will be vital to their chances of making it out of the groups this year.
Mitchels should have enough about themselves to pick up the win at home here.
Verdict: Castlebar Mitchels
