Lundy The Leveller keeps Corofin’s six in a row dreams alive
COROFIN had Micheál Lundy to thank as they forced a county final replay and manager Kevin O’Brien was delighted his side’s drive for six-a-row remained alive after a late, late equaliser at Pearse Stadium yesterday. Barry McHugh landed a 62ndminute free that looked to have handed Mountbellew-Moylough their first Galway senior county title since 1986. The reigning All-Ireland champions were down and out as their north Galway rivals flooded their defence, but Lundy somehow found a gap. ‘It was a super finish. The game was probably over,’ said O’Brien. ‘In fairness to Micheál he stood up and got the score and we live to fight another day. Barry’s frees were very important. He nailed a few of them. Scores were hard got.’ McHugh kicked Mountbellew in front with a sixth-minute free after Corofin’s Michael Farragher missed a brilliant goal-scoring opportunity inside 11 seconds. Kieran Molloy opened Corofin’s account with a fisted effort in the 12th minute but they wouldn’t score again until additional time. Eoin Finnerty and McHugh added points while John Daly almost scored a crucial goal only for the intervention of captain Lundy. But two late points from Martin Farragher and Gary Sice meant the teams were level 0-3 each at half time. Corofin beat Mountbellew in the 2015 decider and again last year and hadn’t lost a Galway SFC game since October 2012. But that looked in threat when Martin Farragher got a black card in the 36th minute. Corofin fought back to go 0-6 to 0-4 in front when Sice scored with 11 minutes
remaining but wouldn’t score again until the death. McHugh scored either side of a Colin Ryan effort and it was left until the final play of the game for Lundy to break Mountbellew-Moylough hearts and send the game to a replay. ‘Corofin are incredible champions. They showed it at the end where they came back and got that equalising point,’ said Mountbellew-Moylough manager Michael Donnellan. ‘But we are happy enough. I’m really proud of these young lads.
‘There are a fantastic group of young lads. They have a great comradery and team spirit.’