Corofin prove their greatness with a clinical victory
COROFIN served notice, with the their demolition job of 2017 All-Ireland champions Dr Crokes yesterday at Croke Park, that they may well be one the greatest club sides of all time. They captured their third Andy Merrigan Cup in the last five years and fourth in total, looking like a side who simply don’t have a weakness as they put a free-scoring Crokes side to the sword. And while Crossmaglen Rangers might argue on who is the greatest, Corofin are definitely the best of this decade. If 2-19 against Nemo last year was impressive, then 2-16 this year against Dr Crokes appeared to be football from another stratosphere as they struck for two goals inside 20 minutes before Crokes were dealt a mortal blow in the 25th minute when their captain, John Payne, was shown a straight red after reacting to a foul by appearing to kick out. Dr Crokes retired seven adrift at the interval and required a miracle to turn in around but the Almighty was busy with St Patrick’s Day duties. Corofin were in cruise control as Sice and Leonard fired over points, while Daithí Burke saw his shot brilliantly saved by Shane Murphy. Kerry icon Colm Cooper and talented youngster Jordan Kiely were on the field by the 40th minute and the Dr Crokes attack immediately improved. David Shaw forced a good save from Bernard Power and then Michael Potts had a shot stopped near the line from Kieran Fitzgerald. But four frees – two from Daithí Casey and one apiece from Brosnan and Cooper — was all Dr Crokes could score in the second half, in a game where only Gavin White, Cooper and Tony Brosnan played up to scratch for Crokes. COROFIN: B Power; D McHugh (C Cunningham 48), K Fitzgerald,
Silke; L Silke (Colin Brady h-t), D Wall (C McGrath 55), K Molloy; D Burke (Ciaran Brady 58), R Steede; M Lundy (G Burke 53), J Leonard, Mike Farragher; G Sice (D Canney 57), Martin Farragher, I Burke.
Scorers: G Sice 1-5 (3f); J Leonard 1-3; Martin Farragher 0-4; D Burke 0-2; Mike Farragher, K Molloy 0-1 each.
DR CROKES: S Murphy; J Payne, M Moloney, F Fitzgerald; D O’Leary (A O’Sullivan 46), G White, S Doolan (M Potts h-t); J Buckley, D Casey (E Brosnan 53); M Burns, G O’Shea (C Cooper 37), B Looney (J Lyne 57); T Brosnan, K O’Leary (J Kiely 40), D Shaw. Red card: Payne 25.
Scorers: T Brosnan 0-5 (4f); D Casey 0-3 (2f); C Cooper (1f), M Burns 0-1 each.
Referee: B Cassidy (Derry).