ALL-IRELAND CHAMPOINS COROFIN RETAIN CONNACHT CROWN
COROFIN 2-10 BALLINTUBBER 1-9
IN a year when everything he touches turns to scores, Ian Burke reminded us once more of his All-Star quality.
He was on the pitch for less than 30 seconds yesterday when his first touch of the ball flipped this Connacht final on its head.
At half-time, the All-Ireland champions were in all kinds of bother, out of sorts and potentially heading out of the Championship, as they trailed by three points (1-5 to 1-2).
Within seven minutes of the restart, and with a simple roll of his boot from Burke — in truth he could hardly miss after Gary Sice’s pass left him with an open goal — this race was all but run.
Corofin had turned a threepoint deficit into a three-point lead (2-5 to 1-5) and at that moment, Ballintubber — and the contest — was suffocated by a sense of inevitability.
It was quite the performance by Burke, who was honoured with both an All-Star at club and intercounty level this year, considering he had not been deemed fit enough to start as a result of the rib injury he sustained in the Galway county final.
‘To be honest he is not fully fit but we had to introduce him at half-time and he did the business,’ said Corofin’s veteran fullback Ciarán Fitzgerald.
‘He has quick hands and he gets everyone into the game and that is our game.’
That ability to bewilder the opposition with movement and fluency is, indeed, Corofin’s stamp of quality. However, being easy on the eye is not the secret of their success.
This year, not least against Mountbellew-Moylough in the county final, they have been tested by teams who have operated with massed defensive set-ups.
Ballintubber have a lot more going for them than a stingy rearguard, but they protected their posts with such purpose, that they limited the most potent attack in club football to few shots at the posts in the first half. That said, Corofin’s economy was such that they managed a fivepoint return.
On top of that, the Mayo champions went after Bernard Power’s restarts with purpose — he was turned over on five occasions in the opening half and Corofin were made to pay for it, too.
While Diarmuid O’Connor was the star name in Ballintubber’s midfield, he was outshone by his partner Jason Gibbons who made an impressive contribution, which included an assist for a Cillian O’Connor point and a well-taken effort of his own, to put the Mayo side into a 0-4 to 0-1 lead after 11 minutes.
Corofin did get back into the contest against the run of play with a goal of stunning quality from their captain Micheal Lundy who was forced to turn back in order to collect Liam Silke’s misplaced pass. Nevertheless, the Galway side’s midfield fragility continued to hurt them.
It was from another turned-over restart — in total they leaked 1-2 from Power’s lost kick-outs — that the hard-working Brian Walsh released Jamsie Finnerty to finish impressively just before half-time.
But as much as Burke’s goal turned the contest, it was Corofin’s ability to repair that weakness around the middle which turned the tide and ensured they became the first club to win three Connacht titles in a row since Clann na nGael managed six on the bounce (1984-89).
Michael Farragher, in a direct swap with Daithí Burke, moved from centre-back to his more natural position in midfield and it was a move that had a profound impact.
The mood of the contest changed as a result and it was fitting that Farragher fired over a monster point to tie up the scores — 1-5 apiece — within five minutes of the start of the second half. It left Ballintubber reeling and all that was needed then was Burke’s introduction to deliver the sucker punch.
It wasn’t just his goal, he also came up with a punched point at the end of the third quarter which ended a threatened Ballintubber revival.
That had taken shape in the form of back-to-back Cillian O’Connor frees before Corofin hit five points on the bounce, allowing the champions to coast home.
In the process, it has taken them to a fourth provincial title in five years and within two games of back-to-back All-Ireland wins.
That is quite the achievement given that it has put them on a winter/spring football treadmill for almost half a decade without a break.
‘It probably is tough but it’s a choice that we take, we do enjoy it. We won’t be complaining even though it is tough when you are coming up against teams like Ballintubber who are hungry,’ admitted Fitzgerald, who won his sixth Connacht medal yesterday.
‘You’re a scalp there to be taken and you see there in the first half, if we don’t match their intensity and we start doing stupid things, we’re there to be taken as much as any other team.
‘There is nothing mysterious about Corofin, it’s just hard work. When we’re not at that level we can be beaten by anyone.’
Perhaps, but when they find their level, no other team comes near.