GAA County Mayo Under 21 Final May 1996
Burke and Kelly deliver killer blows for Castlebar
Castlebar Mitchels 5-7....................... Claremorris 0-12
Report: By John Melvin
The Dr Billy Kenny Memorial Cup (under 21) found it's rightful home, but not before a county final, with as many twists and turns as an Agatha Christy novel, ended with Castlebar Mitchels deservedly taking the title the club last won in 1989 and bring their quota in this grade to four.
The Mitchels were clear favourites to take the honours but they hardly envisaged the script that had been laid of out in this game which was at times rivetting, but also had a frustratingly high proportion of negative football which produced one sending-off. The Mitchels prevailed for a number of reasons not least of which was their ability to pull goals out of the top drawer and slam the door shut every time Claremorris stuck their head in.
In this respect Keith Burke and Jimmy Kelly were the partnership which tore the heart from Claremorris and terrorised their defence. That goal scoring ability ability was borne out of the confidence in a team that has been built up through the ranks under the tutelage of Finian Joyce and Donal Fitzmaurice who must take a lot of the credit for their contribution form the sideline on Sunday.
Castlebar had a very effective half backline which contained the Claremorris half forward line, while Shane Fitzmaurice and Aiden McNally worked extremely hard at midfield, particularly in the second half when the Claremorris challenge was finally headed-off.
When Claremorris analyse while they failed to win this title they can, of course, look towards the goals that they conceded, five in all, and each at critical stages. I always believed any goal is a good goal. But the two than that came from Keith Burke, and another other from Jimmy Kelly were of a top class variety. That should not take too much from the other two, but these three in particular were stamped with authority, precision and class.
And class ultimately decided the destination of this title. Claremorris did have a lot of ball, and at times they did work a lot harder than their opponents, particularly when it came to picking up that broken ball, which there was a lot of in some scrappy passages of play.
But each time a flicker of light appeared it was quenched by a Castlebar attack where Burke, Kelly and Kevin Malone were central figures.
Kelly in particular profited from his switch to full forward having started on the wing, while Malone, who had the most difficult of choices to make between an under 18 Soccer Youths All Ireland semi-final and this match, also found more room to use his strength on the half forward line.
But in a game of many twists and turns it will be the first half goals of Keith Burke which were the map Mitchels path to victory. After Mickey McGahon knocked over an early free for Claremorris, Burke ran onto a broken ball and dispatched it ball to the top left corner with that lethal left foot of his.
Jimmy Horan replied with an excellent point for Claremorris but Claremorris were to be severely penalised for the first in a game of numerous errors when Keith Burke's stab at a loose ball was not held by the keeper and in to finish the job was the alert John Tiernan.
With eight minutes gone and two goals conceded would upset any team. But Claremorris refused to buckle. Keith Burke did push the gap to five But Claremorris, in their best spell of the game, pulled back points from McGahon, with two frees, Keith McMahon and a superb free from Karl Boyle from over fifty yards to bring the gap back to a mere point after 24 minutes.
Castlebar had lost their way. Perhaps that two goal cushion had given them a false sense of security, but in the remaining six minutes of the game they probably played their best football on a warm afternoon.
Having tried unsuccessfully to get through a number of routes Castlebar eventually prized open the Claremorris defence for Kieran Lavelle to score a fisted point, but the score-or goal-of the match- came from the gifted left foot of Keith Burke.
Eamon Kennedy, an influential figure in the heart of a very solid half backine where Paddy Reddington had an outstanding game along with the influential Des Beirne, began the motion and John Tiernan was the delivery man for the unmarked Burke who had space to work with.
He did have a look up, despite what some observers might say, and spotted the keeper off his line before delivering the inch perfect finish to the top right corner. Jimmy Kelly finished the half with a glorious point and Claremorris must have gone in wondering where they had wrong losing 3-5 to 0-7, despite having their fair share of chances.
They soon set about tackling their task and when they delivered three points inside four minute of a the start, through McGahon (free), Jimmy Horan from a super free Castlebar knew they had rested on their laurels a bit prematurely.
Had Brendan French, a useful substitute not been denied a goal by the post we might possibly have had more interesting finish. But once again the clinical finishing of the Castlebar attack came into focus as Keith Burke's point attempt was blocked own and first to react was Jimmy Kelly, who made sufficient ground before releasing a thunderous shot to the roof of the net. In one instant it wiped out all that hard graft by Claremorris in the opening period of the second half and confirmed how lethal Castlebar can be when they put it together. Claremorris did not concede yet, but the writing was slowly appearing on the wall and perhaps a sign of their growing frustration came to a head when hard working midfielder Brian Gallagher was sent off for a rash challenge on Kevin Malone.
With still fifteen minutes remaining Claremorris had a a tall order with a man down and facing a deficit of 4-5 to 0-12. What ever avenue might have been left open was cut off when Maurice Connaughton, an influential figure al through the championship but having a quite day by his standards, got a flick to Keith Burke's free and Mark Keane was let plucking the ball from the net for the fifth time.
All the problems did not lay at his doorstep. The Claremorris defence did as tight a job as they could but their was too much pace in the lethal feet of Keith Burke and took much guile in the head of Jimmy Kelly. Had this been a semi-final Castlebar might well have worried about their point scoring record but whoever said take your points and the goals will come, must surely have to rewrite the script for games like this.
It must now read take your goals and you can manage without the points, but had Castlebar been caught, the goal scorers and a few others might well have been burnt at the stake having frustrated their big following with some very poor passing and an unwillingness to get stuck in as deep and as hard as their opponents.
However, when Castlebar did get into it they had the better football in them as a team. The half back line dominated and there were good spells from Stephen Burke, Russell Gibbons and Noel Kearney who were kept busy in the full backline while Mark Malone did well to keep a clean sheet. Kelly, Bourke and Malone were the tormentors up front where Kieran Lavelle and John Tiernan and Maurice Connaughton had their moments.
There is some consolation for Claremorris in the fact that they have a team young enough to contest the title again next, and perhaps the year after but this year they were not up to the mark Cathal Casey, Kevin Walshe, David Whittle, Brian Gallagher, Declan Mahon, Mickey McGahon, Karl Boyle, B. McLoughlin, Keith McMahon and Ger Brady tried their best.
Castlebar: Mark Malone, Stephen Burke, Russell Gibbons, Noel Kearney, Des
Beirne (0-1); Eamon Kennedy, Paddy Reddington, Shane Fitzmaurice, Aidan
McNally, Jimmy Kelly (1-1); Maurice Connaughton (1-0); John Tiernan (1-0);
Keith Bourke (2-2); Kevin Malone, Kieran Lavelle (0-1).
Subs: B. McLoughlin for s. Burke.
Claremorris: Mark Keane, Pat Grogan, Eddie Walsh, Kevin Walshe,
Andy Joyce, Cathal Casey, David Whittle, Brian Gallagher, Declan Mahon,
Ronan Hunt, James Quinn, Jimmie Horan (0-2); Mickey McGahon (0-7); Karl
Boyle (0-1); Keith McMahon (0-2).
Subs: B French for R. Hunt, G. Brady for E. Walsh.
Ref: Mick Herr (Crossmolina).
Connaught Telegraph - News - May 1996
Connaught Telegraph - Sports - May 1996
