Cooper closing in on Crokes dream as Corofin exit Vincent’s sent packing
COLM COOPER is on the cusp of completing his medal haul after Dr Crokes booked their place in the final against Derry’s Slaughtneil.
The Gooch was only an eight-year-old when Crokes won their only All-Ireland crown in 1992 but now they are just 60 minutes away from the title.
They led from the outset to send Corofin, champions two years ago, packing at the Gaelic Grounds.
Kieran O’Leary led the way for the Kerry champions with a superb display of shooting in the opening half.
Dropped from Éamonn Fitzmaurice’s Kerry squad last summer, O’Leary showed what he can do when he turned the Corofin defence inside out to shoot five points from play in the opening half.
He also set up Gavin O’Shea for the opening goal as the Kerry champions were ahead by double scores at the interval.
Earlier Corofin did well to recover from a poor start after the Kerry side raced into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after just three minutes.
Crokes were hauled back thanks to efforts from Ian Burke, Michael Farragher, Jason Leonard and Gary Sice.
O’Leary continued to torment the Corofin defence and he stretched his side’s lby sending over a point immediately after being involved in the opening goal.
When Sice pulled back another free for the Galway champions, it was O’Leary who struck for the Killarney side with his fifth point leaving them ahead by double scores, 1-7 to 0-5 at the interval.
Corofin rallied on the restart but couldn’t catch the Killarney side and sub Jordan Kiely sealed the deal 10 minutes from the end with their second goal.
The opening goal came when O’Leary set up O’Shea – son of manager Pat – and his shot was driven into the roof of the net four minutes from the interval.
Cooper and Daithí Casey tacked on pointed frees in the opening two minutes of the second half as the Munster outfit threatened to win in a canter.
But Corofin refused to throw in the towel and a Jason Leonard point was followed by a brace from Dylan Wall which cut the gap to four going into the final quarter as the excitement levels rose.
But then Casey soloed from deep inside his own half to set up Kiely for the decisive score as he fired low to the net to set up a final date with the Derry champions.
Even goalkeeper Shane Murphy got in on the scoring act with a late converted free as Dr Crokes took the spoils with six points to spare. Dr Crokes: S Murphy; J Payne, M Moloney, F Fitzgerald; D O’Leary, G White, L Quinn; A O’Donovan, A O’Sullivan; J Buckley, G O’Shea (J Kiely), B Looney (M Burns 42); C Cooper (M Milner 63), D Casey (T Brosnan), K O’Leary (S Doolan). sCorers: K O’Leary 0-5, J Kiely, G O’Shea 1-0, S Casey (2f) 0-2, B Looney, C Cooper (1f), S Murphy (1f) 0-1. Corofin: B Power; C Silke (G Higgins 36), K Fitzgerald, L Silke; K Molloy (A Burke 38), C McGrath, C Cunningham (B O’Donovan 49); D Burke, R Steede; G Sice, D Wall (C Brady 51), J Leonard; I Burke, Michael Farragher (0-1), M Lundy. sCorers: G Sice (2f), J Leonard (1f), D Wall 0-2, M Farragher, I Burke 0-1. referee: C Branagan (Down).
CHRISSY McKAIGUE was the star performer as Slaughtneil reached their second All-Ireland club football final in three years after seeing off the challenge of Dublin and Leinster champions St Vincent’s.
The Slaughtneil defence were superb and McKaigue put in a man of the match performance at centre-back as he kept Diarmuid Connolly quiet and even outscored the two time All-Star forward.
Vincent’s couldn’t cope with the intensity of the Derry side who hit seven points to their opponents four in the second half after the Dublin side had turned round 0-6 to 0-5 ahead in Newry.
As they battled to stay in the game in the final quarter, Vincent’s lost Brendan Egan and Cormac Diamond to black cards.