COROFIN HOPING FARRAGHER APPEAL CAN GET HEARD
COROFIN are hopeful that their appeal against the red card picked up by Martin Farragher after just 80 seconds of their semi-final win over Moorefield will be heard this week and that the fullforward will be cleared to play in the All-Ireland club final, WRITES JOHN FALLON.
A combination of the weather and GAA committees changing under new president John Horan have meant that there has been little action on the appeal.
Farragher is expected to be cleared to play in the final against Cork’s Nemo Rangers at Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day (Saturday week), but Corofin are taking nothing for granted.
“We will follow the process and hope that it will be successful and that Martin will be available to play in the final,” said club chairman Michael Ryder.
“We expect to hear from Croke Park this week and we will go from there.” Corofin, the five-in-a-row Galway champions, are like every other team around the country trying to get training after the bad weather.
But they returned to training yesterday at their Belclare pitch in the parish and had a full session.
“The grass on the pitch was actually cut on Tuesday. It was covered in snow all week after that but it was perfect for training this morning,” Ryder explained.
Corofin, who report no injury worries, are bidding for their third All-Ireland club title having lifted the Andy Merrigan Cup in 1998 and 2015 but will have nothing easy against the most prolific winners of the competition Nemo Rangers, who won the last of their seven titles in 2003.
Meanwhile, in faraway Australia, Cora Staunton was on form again as Greater Western Sydney (GWS) Giants kept their AFL Women’s Grand Final hopes alive.
The Mayo sharpshooter grabbed a goal in her team’s 39-21 win over Fremantle in Perth and also set up Courtney Gum for another.
The win sees Staunton and the GWS Giants leapfrog their opponents into fourth place on the table.
They are two points adrift the top three teams and have still to play the top two Western Bulldogs and Brisbane in the final rounds.
They host the league-leading Western Bulldogs next.