End of the dream for a gallant Barna side
Date Published: {J}
FRANK FARRAGHER
Far from vintage Corofin – they had more than their usual quota of stumbles and falls – but a residue of old wisdom was sufficient to see them through this tricky county semi-final assignment against Barna at Tuam Stadium on Sunday.
This was never going to the cakewalk that the pre-match odds from the bookies suggested – there isn’t more than a couple of kicks of the ball between the top six teams in the county – and at times last Sunday, the Barna supporters dared to dream of a first ever county final appearance.
Towards the end of the first quarter Barna led by 0-4 to 0-1, and with 20 minutes left in the match, Pat Fallon’s charges still had their noses in front, but Corofin have that invaluable knack of managing to squeeze a win out of a mediocre performance. It’s honed out of history and the confidence of having done it all before.
Barna didn’t make it easy for Corofin, holding a clear physical edge in a few key down-the-middle positions, while they played a ‘Tyrone style’ game in terms of funnelling players back behind the ball.During one first half Corofin attack, Barna had 13 players inside their own 45 metre line, relying on quick long balls to a two man full forward line of Kieran Hanley and John Clifford for scores.
The tactic worked well in the first 20 minutes as Hanley gave a lot of grief to the winners’ defence with marker Gary Delaney withdrawn after18 minutes, although the Corofin player seemed to be seriously hampered by a leg injury.
Eventually Corofin settled on Kieran McGrath to do an effective marking job on Hanley, but by then the corner forward had found the target twice to complement scores from Ray Conneely and a DD Flaherty free.
For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.