Long serving Fitzgerald ready for ‘The Gooch’ and company
THERE is a calmness around the villages of Corofin and Belclare and their surrounds. The odd flag can be spotted here and there surely, but those could be construed as the remnants of Corofin’s successful 2016 county and provincial campaigns – not as the precursor to another All-Ireland series.
Then again, after 18 county titles, seven Connacht crowns and two All-Ireland senior club championship victories in 1998 and 2015, you can’t blame Corofin people for not losing the run of themselves ahead of their All-Ireland semi-final showdown against Dr. Crokes of Kerry.
The only thing the supporters want to know is ‘when?’ and ‘where?’ “Inside and outside the club, the support we have got has been huge and, in fairness, the supporters will support us on the day – particularly from the schools – but they leave us alone before the game because they know we have massive work to be doing,” says one of the team’s great spiritual leaders, Kieran Fitzgerald.
“Come Saturday, though, they will be there in full colour and after the game, win or lose, they will be there by your side as well. But, yeah, look it, they don’ get too excited around here beforehand and that is good. It allows us to get our work done and they leave us to that but, again, that huge support will be there when it is needed. We always get it.”
As much as Corofin’s triumphs have enabled them to take a measured approach to days other clubs would go ballistic over, there is also a realisation that this All-Ireland series is another level entirely given the quality of the four teams left in the championship. It’s not lost on the former Galway captain.
“Of the four teams left, you have the winners of Galway, Dublin and Kerry – the top three counties on the All-Ireland (inter-county) ladder. Then you have Derry, who have a great tradition of club teams from Bellaghy to Dungiven to Lavey to The Loop to Ballinderry and now Slaughtneil – all those great teams. So, they have a great tradition of contesting All Ireland club championships as well.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.