Rampant Regan cuts loose to end Mitchels’ unbeaten run
Joe Forry turns past Ballina Stephenites corner-back Liam Golden to send Castlebar Mitchels on the attack during his side's defeat in last Saturday's Mayo SFL Division 1A encounter. Pictures: Conor McKeown
The 100 percent record of Castlebar Mitchels in Division 1A was ended emphatically as Ballina Stephenites enjoyed an eighteen points victory last Saturday evening.
The county town side were missing an array of big guns, including county quartet Paddy Durcan, Donnacha McHugh, Sean Morahan and USA-bound Bob Tuohy, while Ultan O’Reilly and Mark Cunningham also missed the game for Mitchels. But they were also without all of those, with the exceptional of Cunningham, when handing a heavy beating to Knockmore in an away game just seven days earlier, while Ballina entered this fixture having been beaten by Davitts in their previous game, in what was a second home defeat of the season for Niall Heffernan’s side.
One would expect this game to be much closer should these two meet in the club championship later this year but Ballina, who themselves were missing some key personnel, Dylan Thornton included, had more than enough in their own arsenal, in particular through Evan Regan, who finished with a remarkable tally of 2-13, and midfield duo Mikey Murray and Frank Irwin.
Trailing 2-9 to 0-9 at half-time, Castlebar Mitchels hit 1-2 in the first three minutes of the restart and it looked as though a ding-dong second-half was in store, but they would not score again for the remainder of the game as Evan Regan repeatedly punished infringements by the hosts with a trio of two-point frees to open up a ten-point gap going into the final quarter, a margin that would only grow from there.
Regan’s goals came at either end of the first-half, with the former Mayo panellist scoring his first when collecting the ball from Mikey Murray who had won possession, with Regan racing through to fire home the finish. The corner-forward would follow it with his first free of the evening before Mitchels got on the scoreboard thanks to a two-pointer from James Durcan.
Ballina Stephenites extended their lead thanks to two points apiece from Regan and Frank Irwin, but Mitchels remained within three by the end of the first quarter thanks to points from the Forry brothers, Gavin and Joe, as well as a score from Neil Douglas.
Castlebar Mitchels got back to within two thanks to another strike from outside the arc, this time by Paddy Heneghan, and the home side could have gone in front when Douglas got through on goal, but he was denied by corner-back Liam Golden’s timely interception.
Regan and Douglas traded points before Frank Irwin converted a two-point free, and the gap was back out to six points by the interval after Regan got his second goal thanks to a great run by Frank Irwin to set up the opportunity.
That lead was almost wiped out by Mitchels inside three minutes thanks to points by Douglas and Steve Keane and a goal by Joe Forry, but Kevin Filan’s side would be the architects of their own downfall from thereon.
After points by Ben Thornton and Mikey Murray, Evan Regan punished a breach by Mitchels that saw the ball moved up from the middle of the field to the arc to extend Ballina’s lead. Another two-point free followed, and a failure of Castlebar to keep three in the Ballina half was punished by another Regan free from outside the arc.
The on-fire former Mayo attacker added two more points and there were singles from Brendan Collins, Frank Irwin and Sam Callinan while the third goal for Ballina was palmed into the net by Mikey Murray before Regan fittingly rounded off the evening with a point late on.
The result was not without consequence for Castlebar Mitchels as it saw them replaced at the top of the table by Breaffy, who overcame Knockmore by 2-16 to 2-10 on the same evening. They do, however, have what looks the easier of the final round games to come on the weekend after next, as they visit Ballinrobe whereas Breaffy must travel to Belmullet. Ready to pounce on any slip by either, in pursuit of a place in the league semi-finals, will be Ballina Stephenites whose final round game is at home to local rivals Knockmore. Breaffy, Castlebar and Ballina currently occupy the top three places in the table on 14, 13 and 12 points respectively.
