By Cian O’Connell

For two decades Castlebar Mitchels simply worked and wondered would the graft every be reflected with another Mayo SFC triumph.

Between 1993 and 2013 Castlebar thought long and hard about being reunited with the Moclair Cup and the fact that three titles have been registered in four years confirms how far they’ve travelled.

It hasn’t been all about glory, though, because there has been pain too with St Vincent’s and Ballyboden St Enda’s beating Mitchels in two All Ireland Finals.

Mitchels left Croke Park nursing plenty of regrets, but unsurprisingly their reaction in Mayo was to retain the 2016 Championship.

Last Saturday Tourlestrane were defeated in a Connacht Quarter Final as Castlebar won for the fifth weekend in a row.

Chairman Finian Joyce, who has served the club in several different roles, is adamant that this is a particularly exciting time for Mitchels. "I'm Chairman this year and I've been involved for many years, but I feel there is a togetherness, a real good team of people working behind the scenes, really working hard getting things done, doing things right, setting standards.

“We have also engaged well with the community, our support is massive, we have great support among the people of the town and area. It has increased greatly. It has been a great journey that we have been on for the past while, everyone has come onboard, they are working hard and we want to ensure the success continues.”

It has been a successful stint on and off the pitch for Mitchels. “We have been communicating our message much better, that is why our support has increased and our engagement with the community.

“People know better what is happening, that has been a huge factor, the way we have communicated with our members and the community. That has been one of the keys to our success in the last while.

“Our membership is over 700, we have increased it from 400 in the last few years, it has nearly doubled since we have been on this run.”

Joyce was a selector on a team that won an All Ireland Under 14 Feile in 1999 – it was from then on that Castlebar really invested time and effort in the underage ranks with further trophies following at minor and under 21 level.

"The nucleus of the team that won in 2013 was all due to the hard work that was carried out at underage level from 1996, 97 onwards.

“We went back to basics, a lot of hard work continues to be put in at that level all of the time. We have a very active Bord na nOg with lots of people involved, we are trying to raise the standards getting proper coaching systems in place.

“The current team are all homegrown having come through the underage structures, that has generated its own momentum and good feeling. All of the people that have been involved with them over the years are delighted to see them now with the success they have."

Paddy Durcan and Barry Moran are established inter-county footballers and Joyce feels that others from Mitchels will wear the green and red in 2017. "Hopefully a few more of our team will feature on the county team because they deserve to do so. I've no doubt that they will do so next summer and from the League onwards, they deserve to do so.”

Red and yellow flags are sprinkled throughout the town ahead of Corofin’s visit to Elverys MacHale Park on Sunday.

Castlebar have defeated the Galway standard bearers in their two most recent meetings and another highly anticipated match looms.

Behind the scenes Castlebar continue to plan for the future. “We are hoping to launch a new strategic plan for the club early in the New Year to build on our current success,” popular Castlebar stalwart Joyce says.

Meanwhile, every other club in Mayo is striving to reach Castlebar’s level again.