The 2023 highlights of the Mayo soccer scene
Winning eleven consecutive matches helped Castlebar Celtic end Ballyheane's two-year reign as Super League champions. Picture: Aaron Gallagher
There is nowhere else to start. The words momentous and historic can at times be thrown around but it felt apt following the official launch of Mayo FC on Monday, June 26, in Breaffy House Hotel.
A day that appeared unlikely – if not impossible – for many years, the newly-established club will enter U14, U15 and U17 boys teams into the League of Ireland in 2024 as well as U17 and U19 girls team, with hopes for a U19 boys team as soon as possible.
Some top-class coaches have already been announced with Joe Kelly overseeing the U14 boys and Raff Cretaro over the U15 boys alongside Joe Murray and Dan Gorman.
The club recently unveiled its new crest and we will expect more information from Mayo FC in 2024 including the kit, sponsors and how to get Milebush up to League of Ireland standard. A taste of what may be to come will happen next month when the Oscar Traynor team take on recent newcomers to the LOI, Kerry FC, in a friendly in Solar 21 Park.
Despite Ballyheane coming into the Super League season as back-to-back Super League champions, the overwhelming consensus was that it would take something special to stop Castlebar Celtic from regaining the title after a storming end to 2022 which saw them win the Calor Gas Super Cup.
With the returns of Johnnie Cocozza to the club midway in 2022 and the new signing of Dylan Edwards, the squad that Stevie Gavin and Declan Flynn had their disposal was the envy of all in mayo as they battled on domestic and provincial fronts.
Not even a loss on penalties to Athenry in the Connacht Cup final derailed them as they won eleven straight league games in-a-row, the best coming in Week 3 as they came from behind with ten men to beat rivals Ballina Town 2-1 in Belleek.
It was the Town themselves who ended their winning run after holding them to a draw in the reverse fixture in June but they would drop only two more points for the remainder of the season (a draw away to Kiltimagh/Knock United) as they secured a first Super League title since 2019 with a 3-0 win away to Conn Rangers and going unbeaten in the process.
Daire Duffy and Ronan McTigue also enjoyed an unbeaten league title win in League One as their Celtic ‘B’ team made it back-to-back league titles following their League Two success in 2022.
McTigue used his Snugboro connections to sign Jason Ormsby and Dylan Felle in pre-season and with young stars like Fionn Mahon, James Basquille, Conor Joyce, Dylan Howley Declan Ruane, Celtic’s ‘B’ team was filled with players capable of playing at the highest level in Mayo and they stormed to the league title.
Given the strengths of both squads going into 2024, it will come as no surprise to see both competing for league success once more in what will be the club’s centenary year.
One of the big stories at the beginning of the season was the return to the Mayo Football League of Iorras Aontaithe. A strong squad consisting of starlets like Kian Gallagher, Cillian Reilly, Owen McHale and Seamus Howard and the experienced Jason Boylan and Ivan Barrett meant the Barony men were the heaviest of favourites for the League Two title, with some pundits believing they could win all fourteen of their league games without dropping a point.
That favourites tag was heightened when in the opening round of the Premier Cup, they beat last year’s winners Ballinrobe Town. Those predictions were proved accurate when they stormed to the title, scoring eighty goals and conceding only six.
They made it a league and cup double when they thumped Ballyvary Blue Bombers 7-2 to win the McDonnell Cup but dreams of a treble were ended by Premier Division side Ballyglass at Solar 21 Park in October as two first-half goals left Iorras with too much of a mountain to climb.
That loss should not detract on what has been a brilliant year back for the club and given the strength of Michael McHale’s side, they are also going into the League One season in 2024 as favourites also.
Teams in League Two will be glad to see them promoted but the return of Bangor Hibs to the Mayo Football League could see another North Mayo club in League Two title contention.
Castlebar Celtic were imperious on their way to the league title but likely challengers will come in the shape of Westport United, Ballina Town and Ballyheane once again.
Ballina Town beat United in the Super Cup final while United themselves struck late to win the Westaro Cup in the summer. But it’s the rise of a group of young players in Westport that has got many in United Park excited and rightly so.
Having won countless underage titles with the club as well as a national title with Rice College back in April, in men like Alex Halpin, Jack Dawson, Cillian McGing, Conor Cannon and Dan O’Malley, United have a group that haven’t got United this excited since the 2000s.
Many of these players featured in a league and cup double at under-18 level as United won a first Quigley Cup in 23 years after beating Ballyheane in the final.
Other young stars such as Adam Nugent, Kevin Kitterick and Fionn O’Hora helped the club win the Under 21 Cup Final over Conn Rangers, a win made all the sweeter after beating Castlebar Celtic in the semi-final, a side who stopped Westport from winning the league in a penalty shootout earlier in the season.
Kevin McNamara, who took over before the season began, will have been pleased as to how the season unfolded as the year went on. They will hope to build on that next year as well as continue the run in the FAI Junior Cup.
Returning to the fold after a five-year absence in 2021, Ballinrobe Town’s ascension to the Super League has been nothing short of meteoric.
Under the tutelage of Pat O’Sullivan, Town ended their first year back with promotion to League One and silverware after defeating Castlebar Celtic ‘B’ in the McDonnell Cup Final.
The following year was nothing short of extraordinary as Ballinrobe Town completed an unbeaten treble as they won the League One title, the Tonra Cup and the Calor Gas Premier Cup on penalties against Manulla ‘B’.
Given the ultra-competitive nature of the Castlecourt Hotel Premier League, chances of Ballinrobe Town making it three consecutive promotions were not high with the likes of Claremorris, Ballyglass and Westport United B proving to be extremely tough competition, and two losses in their opening six games to United and Ballyglass as well as a draw at home to Moy Villa made it seem that Ballinrobe had finally hit a wall.
Remarkably, they didn’t lost another league game for the remainder of the year as their trademark defence held firm against Ballyglass, United B, Kilmore, Moy Villa, Swinford and Ballyhaunis Town.
A 5-5 draw on the final day against Kiltimagh/Knock United B meant Claremorris pipped them to the title but they still secured Super League football for 2024.
While Pat O’Sullivan has since stepped down as manager, they sent a statement with the appointment of Spain native Xavi Vasquez, who led the Galway United U14 team to a National League title in 2021. It would come as no surprise should the Robesiders do what Kiltimagh/Knock United did two years ago after their own promotion and make a huge splash in the Mayo Football League’s top tier.
If a sign of strength was needed of the level of underage soccer in Mayo, it was shown through the fact that Mayo this year had five teams at various underage levels competing at the SFAI Inter-League National Finals in Kilkenny on Saturday, May 20.
While the Girls U12, U13 and U15 sides were beaten in their respective finals, the U16 Girls defeated Kerry 2-1 to win the SFAI U16 title.
The victory was all the more remarkable considering that many of the Mayo team were playing for the county’s Gaelic football team less than 24 hours before. Maeve Courtney levelled for Kerry after Kayla Doherty’s opener but Isobel Phillips struck the winner late on for Mayo.
In the other final, the Mayo U13 boys capped off a memorable year when they beat Cork 1-0. The scoreline meant Mayo had not conceded a single goal over their run to the title, Matt Leonard scoring the decisive goal.
The following month, the Mayo U14s won the Gaynor Trophy after comfortably beating Inishowen 3-0, the goals coming from Ciara Kearney, Emily Coleman and Rachel Gallagher.
