AIB All-Ireland Club Senior Football Championship Semi-Final – Castlebar Mitchels (Mayo) 3-13 Dr. Crokes (Kerry) 1-11

Castlebar Mitchels (Mayo) defeated Dr. Crokes (Kerry) by 3-13 to 1-11 in the AIB All-Ireland Club Senior Football Championship Semi-Final on Saturday February 15th at O’Moore Park Portlaoise.

Castlebar Mitchels cruise into All-Ireland final

Report from GAA.ie 

AIB GAA Football All-Ireland Club Championship Semi-Final: Castlebar Mitchels 3-13 Dr Crokes 1-11

The loss of Colm Cooper through injury after just 20 minutes proved too much of a handicap for Dr Crokes to carry, as they lost an AIB GAA All-Ireland club SFC semi-final for the third consecutive time at O’Moore Park this afternoon.

Cooper suffered an injury to his right knee when scoring his second point and while Alan O’Sullivan was outstanding for Dr Crokes in attack, with four points from play, the Kerrymen lacked the cutting edge needed to translate their greater share of the possession into a match-winning scoring tally.

Within seconds of Cooper hobbling from the fray, player of the match Patrick Durcan was kicking the first of his two goals, converting at the second attempt after Donal Moloney had saved the rampaging wing-back’s initial attempt.

That pushed Castlebar into a 1-4 to 0-6 lead but to give Dr Crokes credit, they showed considerable mettle to respond immediately with a goal of their own. It was a stunning score. Teenager Michael Burns, who replaced Cooper, fed Kieran O’Leary with a magnificent kick-pass and the corner-forward finished clinically on the turn.

Significantly though, the Mitchels kicked the next three points via Richie Feeney, Tom King and captain Donie Newcombe. King and Feeney had the margin to three soon after the resumption, but a brilliant point from Daithi Casey, and another score from O’Sullivan soon had it back to one.

A 42nd minute goal by King was vital but Crokes showed their determination again to peg it back to one. They weren’t to score again however and the Mitchels produced their customary strong finish to claim the coveted All-Ireland final berth.

King, Ger McDonagh, Aidan Walsh and Neil Lydon all kicked points before Durcan provided the final flourish in injury time, taking a pass from Barry Moran to bag his second goal.

***

Scorers for Castlebar Mitchels: T King 1-3 (3fs); P Durcan 2-0; B Moran, A Walsh, R Feeney 0-2 each, D Kirby, D Newcombe, G McDonagh, N Lydon 0-1 each

Scorers for Dr Crokes: A O’Sullivan 0-4; K O’Leary 1-1; C Cooper 0-2; F Fitzgerald, D Casey, A O’Donovan, J Buckley 0-1 each

Castlebar Mitchels: C Naughton; R O’Malley, T Cunniffe, A Feeney, D Newcombe, E O’Reilly, P Durcan, R Feeney, B Moran, N Lydon, A Walsh, G McDonagh, D Kirby, N Douglas, T King. Subs: J Durcan for R Feeney (51); D Joyce for A Feeney (52)

Dr Crokes: D Moloney; F Fitzgerald, E Brosnan, L Quinn, D O’Leary, M Moloney, K Ward, A Donovan, J Buckley, A O’Sullivan, D Casey, B Looney, K O’Leary, C Cooper, S Doolan. Subs: L Quinn for Payne (5); M Burns for Cooper inj (22), S Meyers for Ward (ht); G O’Shea for O’Donovan (50)

Referee: C Reilly (Meath)