Corofin report a clean bill of health

IT’S hard to credit that 11 years have passed since Corofin last won a Connacht club title and on Sunday in Hyde Park (2.30) the Galway champions will be hoping to take a critical first step in bridging that gap when they take on Castlerea-St. Kevin’s in the provincial semi-final.Back in 1997 after taking that honour, Corofin went on to make history by becoming the first Galway club to win the All-Ireland title, a victory which ushered in a real era of prosperity for Galway football.Two years ago at the Hyde Park venue, Corofin were desperately unlucky to lose out to St. Brigids by a one point margin after conceding a late goal – manager Jimmy Sice will only be too well aware that nothing soft is ever extracted from the Roscommon venue.By next Sunday, it will be five weeks since Corofin defeated Cortoon in a dour Galway county final but Sice believes that the break may have been a good thing for them. “I suppose it gave us a chance to enjoy the county final for a couple days before putting in a few weeks of hard training for this Connacht semi-final.“Home advantage is a big help in the club championship and Castlerea are a battle hardened team who give very little away defensively. We know that we’re in for a tough battle to get a result out of this match,” said Sice.The Corofin manager though ...