Corofin pull out that little bit extra in gaining revenge

COROFIN footballers settled a couple of old scores at MacHale Park last Sunday, but their successful revenge mission wasn’t all plain sailing while their overall display lacked some of the vibrancy and slickness which stamped the club’s triumphant All-Ireland campaign of two years ago.

It took them extra time to finally finish off the battle-weary provincial champions – Castlebar Mitchels were lining out for the sixth consecutive weekend – after living dangerously in the closing minutes of normal time. Yet, Corofin were undoubtedly the better equipped team against wasteful opposition.

In fact, during the opening 20 minutes Galway’s dominant force threatened to blitz their hosts, powering into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead with their high tempo game, accurate passing and support play leaving Castlebar on the ropes. Corofin admittedly had the wind behind them, but the Mayo men looked off the pace and were rattled by some poor early wides, notably from free-taker Neil Douglas. They also managed just one point from play – a quality effort by Patrick Durcan – in the opening half.

Against that background, Castlebar would have drawn heart from only trailing by 0-6 to 0-4 at the break, but that scoreline seemed at odds with the flow of the game even if big Barry Moran was using his frame to good effect around midfield. Corofin were typically pleasing on the eye, notably Ian Burke and Martin Farragher up front, yet didn’t really follow through on their good start.

Having rarely had to roll up their sleeves in sweeping to a fourth consecutive Galway title, Corofin hadn’t that luxury in this Connacht semi-final despite a Gary Sice free putting them three points clear early in the second-half. Perhaps if Sice’s attempted pass to substitute Colin Brady, who would have been clean through, wasn’t intercepted by Ger McDonagh soon afterwards, they mightn’t have endured such a fraught finish to normal time.

After that let off, Castlebar finally began to show what they were capable off. They were still heavily reliant on Douglas for scores, but five points on the trot saw them edge in front for the first time in the 57th minute. The gauntlet had been thrown down to Corofin but they weren’t found wanting – Ian Burke equalised with a terrific point before Ronan Steede, who was in the wars, drove over a great score from out the field in the 63rd minute.

There was still time for Castlebar substitute David Stenson to force extra time with his second point, but given their hectic schedule over the past six weeks that was something of a double-edged sword for the title holders. That’s how it transpired too as Corofin had more left in their energy tanks with Man of the Match Burke, Farragher, Jason Leonard, Micheál Lundy and Sice all hitting the range to set up a final showdown with St Brigid’s of Roscommon.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.