COR BLIMEY
Galway cracks too strong for Donegal men as they secure another final spot
KINGPINS Corofin are back in another All-ireland club football final after they defeated Gaoth Dobhair in an exciting semi-final in Carrick on Shannon.
Gary Sice was the star man for the reigning champions at Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada. The former Galway forward scored 1-7 to lead his side into a third final in five years.
Corofin have won six-in-a-row in Galway and three Connacht titles on the bounce and they were always likely to be too strong for Gaoth Dobhair.
It was a first ever All-ireland semi-final for the Donegal outfit and they relied heavily of the heroics of ex-donegal defender Kevin Cassidy.
He scored the Gaoth Dobhair goal in the first half but that was cancelled out by strikes from Sice and Martin Farragher.
Corofin joint-captain Micheal Lundy picked up a black card on the resumption but with Sice on form from frees they had enough to secure a spot in the decider.
“We didn’t panic. We spilled a lot of ball and put ourselves under pressure but our experience was crucial,” said boss Kevin O’brien (above).
“We were three up, we didn’t need to be pushing on and turning over ball. But our experience counted in the end. “We got the goal before halftime and that was a crucial score.” There were 5,109 in attendance and it was intriguing opening quarter before Corofin began to wrestle control. The vital first goal came from Sice after Ronan Steede played him through, and his pass found Kieran Molloy whose shot was stopped by Christopher Sweeney only for Sice to finish it off. Corofin were lethal with their chances but Eamonn Collum’s poor missed free in the 11th minute summed up his side’s efforts.
Still Gaoth Dobhair stuck in the game and Cassidy rattled the net after Christopher Mcfadden’s shot was saved by Bernard Power in the 18th minute.
But Corofin finished out the half like champions, Sice found Ian Burke who fed Martin Farragher for their second goal on the half-hour mark. And Sice’s third free gave Corofin a 2-7 to 1-5 half-time lead.
Gaoth Dobhair’s chances received a major boost when Lundy was dismissed in the 36th minute after he dragged down Odhran Mcfadden-ferry but they didn’t capitalise.
Cassidy (two) and Collum did find their range only for Corofin substitute Gavin Burke to score an important point.
Gaoth Dobhair came with their final drive and Cassidy was causing havoc at full-forward but they couldn’t find a second goal. Instead Sice pointed Corofin to victory.
He left the field to a rousing ovation in added time as Corofin marched on.
“Maybe it is down to Corofin’s game plan but I just don’t think we performed to where we could have,” said Gaoth Dobhair boss Mervyn O’donnell. COROFIN: B Power; C Silke, K Fitzgerald, L Silke (0-1); D Wall (G Burke 36, (0-1)), D Mchugh ( C Cunningham 55), K Molloy; D Burke (0-1), R Steede; J Leonard (0-2, 1f), M Lundy (C Brady 37 bc), Mike Farragher; G Sice (1-7, 7f) (D Canney 61), Martin Farragher (1-0) (C Mcgrath 58), I Burke (0-1). GAOTH DOBHAIR: C Sweeney; G Mcfadden, N Mcgee, C Mcfadden (J Boyle 58); N Friel (0-1), O Mcfadden-ferry, D Ó Baoill (0-1); E Mcgee, O Mac Niallais (0-2, 1f); D Mcbride, M Carroll, N Ó Baoill (J Carroll 56, (0-2)); C Mulligan (0-2), K Cassidy (1-2), E Collum (0-2, 1f).