Youthful Salthill unable to cope with champions in county A final

Date Published: {J}

Noel Carney

REIGNING champions Corofin went into this county under-21 A football championship final at Tuam Stadium last Saturday as raging hot favourites, but they were pushed all the way by a brave and resilient young Salthill-Knocknacarra side that never gave up trying.

Corofin had destroyed a disappointing Claregalway team that seemed to freeze in their semi-final clash recently and were immediately classed as unbeatable, but a Salthill-Knocknacarra side, featuring no less than seven minors in their starting 15, refused to believe the hype.

Consequently, they were in no way overawed by the opposition and gave a great account of themselves from start to finish. The city club’s minors had a convincing victory over Corofin when the teams clashed in the county decider some weeks back, so the rivalry that has developed between them at senior level in recent years seems set to continue in the near future.

That could pose difficulties for smaller clubs who are struggling to maintain a significant presence in the adult grades, but that problem is for another day. Both Corofin and Salthill-Knocknacarra are to be admired for setting such high standards and are to be congratulated on serving up a splendid game on Saturday.

It was a fine match played from the first whistle in a sporting manner with flowing end to end football that gave great entertainment to the fair-sized crowd. Both teams produced passing movements at great speed, but over-eagerness sometimes led to some deliveries going astray. However, once the finalists settled down they played with admirable abandon.

Corofin, like their seniors, are managed by Brian Silke but with a different panel of selectors in Sean Kelly, Jimmy Sice, Justin Burke, Brian O’Donovan and Fintan Forde. They started this game impressively with early points from Ronan Steede and Dáithi Burke giving them an ideal platform to drive on, but Salthill-Knocknacarra had other ideas.

St. Jarlath’s College star Gearóid Armstrong notched a fine score from play and when Sean Hughes converted a free that had been brought into a more favourable position because of dissent, the teams were level, 0-2 each, after the opening quarter and Corofin knew they were going to be in a tough encounter.

For more, read this week's Connacht Sentinel.