IT WAS A SILKE PURSE OUT OF A SOW’S EAR..
Corofin make best out of bad situation
Corofin 1-6 Moorefield 0-6
COROFIN are gunning for a third All-ireland club football title despite playing with 14 men for most of yesterday’s semi-final.
The Galway refused to be rattled after seeing Martin Farragher (inset) dramatically sent off just a minute in.
The full-forward was harshly dismissed after a tangle with Liam Healy as the Moorefield full-back fielded a high ball.
But Corofin dug deep and Liam Silke’s late goal saw them advance to a final showdown against either Nemo Rangers of Slaughtneil.
“We are just thrilled to have made it to another final. We were disappointed to lose at this stage to Crokes last year,” said defender Kieran Fitzgerald, the former Galway skipper.
“But I think we showed great composure.
“It was hard on Martin Farragher, he is not that sort of player and we hope it won’t stop him playing in an All-ireland final.
“But we are just relieved. We knew Moorefield would be tough and that obviously became so much harder when we had to play most of the game with 14 men.
“We knew we just had to stay focussed, stick to the game-plan and fair play to the lads they really produced it when it mattered. “We’re thrilled, relieved, all those emotions.” The game struggled to come to life after the explosive opening. It took fully 14 minutes for the opening score of the match, Corofin’s Jason Leonard pointing from the left. The sides were deadlocked at 0-2 each with both of them having squandered several chances. But Corofin, who missed a great chance before the break when Michael Lundy shot wide, used all their experience to get on top after the restart and opened up a three point lead.
Gary Sice pointed a free before a superb run by Dylan Wall set up Ian Burke for a quality score.
And the five-in-a-row Galway champions pushed on to lead by 0-5 to 0-2 after 36 minutes when Ronan Steede went forward to score.
Moorefield lost Adam Tyrrell to a black card after 45 minutes but they closed the gap when Eanna O’connor landed a free three minutes later.
Points from Aaron Mullins and James Murray levelled the game going into the final ten minutes, before another Sice free edged Corofin 0-6 to 0-5 in front.
Cian O’connor then tied the match four minutes from time but with extratime looming, Corofin struck for the killer score.
The impressive Wall delivered a perfect pass to Ian Burke and he fed Silke who supplied a neat finish to the net.