Corofin unlikely to be caught napping by final newcomers
ALL-Ireland champions Corofin make their bid for a 10th Connacht title — and a seventh in 12 years — when they host Padraig Pearses of Roscommon in the provincial decider at Tuam Stadium on Sunday (2pm).
The dominant force inside and outside the county in recent years, Corofin enter Sunday’s clash as 1/6 on favourites, with the Roscommon men priced at 9/2. In other words, Kevin O’Brien’s charges have been nailed on to take the victory.
Certainly, their track record reinforces this view. Their last defeat in the Connacht series was way back in 2015, when they lost to Castlebar Mitchels, after which Corofin bounced back to claim the next three Connacht crowns.
In contrast, Padraig Pearses only won their first county championship — at their eighth attempt —l ast month while the county’s last success in this competition was when St. Brigid’s of Roscommon accounted for Mayo’s Ballaghaderreen, 2-12 to 0-6, in 2012 to complete the three-in-a-row.
Indeed, St. Brigid’s are the only Roscommon team to have appeared in the provincial final since, losing to Castlebar Mitchels in 2013 and to Corofin in 2016. In this time, Corofin’s record has been good against Roscommon teams, no more so than last year when they trounced Clann na nGael 4-22 to 0-7 in the semi-final.
Corofin’s supremacy in this competition has shown no sign of abating in 2019, underlined by their semi-final win over Mayo champions Ballintubber, who they defeated in last year’s decider, with Liam Silke scoring the only goal in their 1-10 to 0-11 victory a fortnight ago.
Interestingly, the Corofin side that lined out against Ballintubber boasted the same 15 that started in their 2-16 to 0-10 defeat of Dr. Crokes of Kerry in the All-Ireland club final back in March, which is a credit to the conditioning done and injury prevention measures taken by the backroom staff.
There was a number of positional switches, with Daithí Burke and Kieran Molloy swapping roles between the half-back line and midfield, and Michael Farragher moving to centre-forward and Jason Leonard reverting to a wing-forward berth.
A measure of the strength of Corofin is their bench, off which Galway U20 players Darragh Silke and Gavin Burke were introduced the last day, along with Colin Brady, Conor Cunningham and Ciaran McGrath. There was no game-time, however, for Galway U20 defender Ross Mahon, as he has been struggling to shake off an injury picked up in the county final.
That said, it just goes to show the strength in depth of the Corofin squad. “The panel is very important to us in these games, particularly this time of the year,” says Corofin boss O’Brien. “Everyone who has come in has contributed, and there are a lot of lads outside who are pushing as well. So, the competition for places is high. It is great.”
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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