Stars shine at the dawn of a new era for Tuam football

TUAM STARS 2-6COROFIN 0-9

FRANK FARRAGHER  IN TUAM STADIUM

PROBABLY the end of one era and possibly the start of another as the pendulum of history between two of the great citadels in North Galway football oscillated back the way of Tuam Stars after an intriguing, if not a classic, county senior football semi-final at Tuam Stadium on Sunday.

Tuam Stars had that little more by way of pace, dash and sheer enthusiasm to eventually get over the line, against a Corofin side whose lack of finishing guile in the opening half proved too much of a burden to overcome.

It still took two moments of individual brilliance from the Doherty brothers, Conor and Paul, to eventually dethrone the county champions – killer goals that Corofin never looked like recovering from, although they did rally bravely in the closing minutes.

Corofin did secure an adequate level of primary midfield possession through the efforts of Kieran Fitzgerald and Greg Higgins, but a full 28 minutes of the match had elapsed before they raised a white flag – by then, the Stars were 1-3 to 0-0 ahead and could have been more in front.

Tuam Stars’ 17th minute goal was a microcosm of the entire first half. It started with a decent point chance for Corofin but when Alan O’Donovan’s 47 metre dropped short, Tuam rapidly worked possession upfield before Conor Doherty took the ball at full pace and ripped a sizzling drive into the corner of David Morris’s net from 18 yards.

Three minutes later, Conor Doherty set up Jamie Murphy for a point that put the Stars 1-3 to 0-0 ahead and Corofin were in serious trouble. When Tuam ‘keeper Jonathan Trayers saved superbly after Daithi Burke broke through in the 20th minute, Corofin must have thought that this wasn’t going to be their day.

Tuam could have added a few more scores too through the course of the half. Conor Doherty had a wide, that looked like a point from the stand, while on a couple of other occasions the winners’ attack came within inches of making that final scoring pass.

A horror scenario for Corofin of not scoring in the first half was avoided in the 28th minute when Tomás Costello showed admirable persistence when pointing from play. Shortly after, Alan O’Donovan also found the range from a placed ball before Costello again hit the target from play to leave Corofin just 1-3 to 0-3 behind at half-time.

After a pretty disastrous first period for Corofin, that interval deficit was certainly in the recoverable category, but with just 50 seconds gone on the clock at the start of the second half, their task had again slipped into the ‘mountain to climb’ category when Tuam struck for their second major score.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.