Diarmuid Connolly produced a masterclass to help St Vincent's to a 4-12 to 2-11 win over Castlebar Mitchels at Croke Park in the All Ireland Club Football Final. The Dublin forward looked lively all afternoon but he stepped it up a notch by scoring an unanswered 2-3 between the 43rd and 54th minutes to move Vins into an eight-point lead. The sides were level at the break after first-half St Vincent's goals from Michel Concarr and Ciaran Dorney undid a lot of the good work done by Castlebar Mitchels - 2-3 to 0-9.
Vincent's took the lead early in the second half when Mossy Quinn's close-range left foot effort was deflected over after strong running from Connolly created the opening. A Quinn free and Connolly's shot on 38 minutes moved the Dublin champions into a three-point lead but the Mayo men found the back of the net in the 42nd minute to go ahead. However that's when Connolly took over when he was a alert to a bouncing sideline ball and he flicked the ball into the net to retore their lead.
With the game very much in the balance, the magnificent Connolly stepped up with a brace of superb points to move Vincent's into a four-point lead with ten minutes left to play, 3-9 to 1-11. There was no stopping Connolly and, on 53 minutes, he drilled a stunning left-footed shot into the top right corner of the Castlebar net. He kicked another left-footed point to bring his personal tally to 2-5 - and 2-3 without reply! Substitute Kevin Golden dropped over the last score of the match with a free from the ground off his left foot as the Marino men added to their successes of 1972 and 2008.
St Vincent's - M Savage; K Bonnie, J Curley, H Gill; B Egan, G Brennan, M Concarr (1-0); D Murphy, E Fennell; G Burke, D Connolly (2-5), S Carthy (0-3); R Trainor (0-1), C Dorney (1-0), T Quinn (0-2, 1f). Subs: T Diamond for G Burke, C Diamond for E Fennell, K Golden (0-1f) for R Trainor, A Baxter for C Dorney, N Mullins for S Carthy.
Castlebar Mitchels - C Naughton; T Cunniffe, A Feeney, R O'Malley; D Newcombe, E O'Reilly, P Durcan (0-2); G McDonagh, D Kirby (2-0); N Lydon (0-3), A Walsh (0-1), R Feeney; N Douglas (0-1), B Moran (0-1), T King (0-2f). Subs: F Durcan (0-1) for R Feeney (BC), J Durcan for N Douglas, D Joyce for R O'Malley, K Filan for F Durcan.
