COROFIN REIGN
Galway’s champs conquer Connacht
IT MAY have been achieved under the cover of darkness in Tuam yesterday, but Corofin still clambered on to Connacht football’s summit.
This was their eighth title, edging ahead of Roscommon’s Clann na nGael as the province’s most successful club but it was also undoubtedly their hardest won.
For the second time inside a fortnight, they needed extra-time to get the business done but in the end they left little room for doubt.
In truth, Corofin’s regret was sauced with a little injustice at the end of normal time.
Just as in the semi-final against St Brigid’s a fortnight earlier, they had ceded a match-winning position in the final quarter.
When Jason Leonard and Martin Farragher swept over two points inside a minute, they led by five (2-7 to 1-5) with 13 minutes left on the clock.
On a heavy pitch and in the context of a fiercely-contested game that should have been more than enough, but with the wind at their backs there was much to admire about Castlebar’s refusal to bow.
They reeled off five points without reply — a sublime effort from centre-back Eoghan O’Reilly providing the spark for the Mayo champions — but yet their nerve appeared to desert them when they needed it most.
With the margin down to a single point, sub Niall McCarney and Donie Newcombe both butchered chances to equalise, but just as time ran out referee Marty Duffy awarded a free when Niall Douglas went to ground, which David Stenson converted to force extra-time.
With fortune and momentum against them, it would have been easy for Corofin to pack up mentally, but instead they finished this as a contest inside the opening four of those extra minutes, when Gary Sice, Barry O’Donovan and Martin Farragher knocked over points that left the Mayo men on the floor.
From there, they could even afford a spurned chance from the penalty spot — Castlebar goalkeeper Rory Byrne denying Justin Burke quite brilliantly — to claim their third title in five years.
‘We got out of jail and we ended up driving on,’ admitted veteran forward Sice afterwards.
‘We were a little bit deflated but we were here two weeks ago and we had been here before against Castlebar when it also went to extra-time.
‘They pushed us hard again but I thought we were fantastic in extra-time.’
And that is the sign of champions, the harder you push against them the harder they push back.
That was evident from the very start, when Castlebar midfielder Aidan Walsh flicked the ball to the net in the opening minute.
But apart from their nerve, Corofin’s other great strength is an ability to change their style of play. Wary of their kicking game, Castlebar set up a defensive cordon but Corofin just ran their way through them.
In the ninth minute, Ian Burke — the only Corofin forward not to score but who had a huge impact in a play-making role — and the outstanding Liam Silke combined to release Colin Brady for their first.
But they managed to pick locks with their kicking boots too; Dylan Wall’s pass to Burke three minutes before half-time forced Paddy Durcan to bring the latter to ground.
But Burke sprang to his feet and slipped in Micheál Lundy — who had undergone surgery on his appendix 10 days previously — to round Byrne and slip the ball to the net.
That left the winners leading by 2-4 to 1-3 at half-time, but while Castlebar fought back they never possessed the same quality.
In fairness, Douglas and Stenson — who scored 0-11 between them — excelled but they lacked the kind of support which Corofin possess in abundance.
With the departure of big guns St Vincent’s and Dr Crokes, the route back to a second All-Ireland in three years looks less than daunting.
Of course, they have some distance quite literally to cover — they head to London on Saturday week to take on Fulham Gaels in the quarter-final — but they have the quality and, more importantly, desire to get it done.
They were hurt by suggestions after last year’s semi-final defeat to Crokes that they were a waning force, an accusation that was also levelled against them in Galway this season.
‘We have critics but everyone does,’ admitted Sice. ‘People have to write things but what’s in this group is what it’s all about.
‘We listen to what is said within and we get our motivation from that.’