Corofin brush aside Killannin with ease in round three of Galway SFC
Corofin continued their flawless start to the Galway Senior Football Championship with a commanding 3-20 to 1-5 victory over a rudderless Killannin in their Group One encounter at Pearse Stadium on Saturday evening.
Ross Coen’s 16th-minute goal set Corofin firmly on their way, while Kieran Molloy chipped in with a brace of two-pointers and Killian Joyce landed another from a free as the winners opened up an imposing 1-13 to 0-2 advantage by half-time.
Killannin found no way back after the turnaround, with Darragh Silke grabbing Corofin’s second goal on 38 minutes before Liam Silke added a third in injury-time to round off an emphatic display.
Cian Folan finally raised a green flag for Killannin with two minutes of normal time remaining, but it proved no more than a consolation score on a difficult evening for a side whose focus must now turn to the relegation play-offs.
Killannin only scored once in the first half – that a Dara Walsh two-pointer from a 15th minute free – although Johnny Heaney was unlucky to see his penalty, following a foul on Cian Folan, come back off the crossbar on 24 minutes.
By this stage, Corofin were already well on their way to a 1-13 to 0-2 interval lead and that could – and should have been more – had a Darragh Silke effort at an unmanned goal from distance unluckily hit the woodwork.
As it was, Colin Brady, Jason Leonard (free and play), Darragh Silke (2), Killian Joyce and Ross Coen tallied points to establish a seven-point to no score advantage by the time Walsh registered Killannin’s first score on 18 minutes.
That was the first two-pointer of the contest and, as if taking offence to this, within 30 seconds Ross Coen broke through at the other end to strike for Corofin’s first goal before Kieran Molloy (2) and Killian Joyce (free) kicked a string of two-pointers to close out the half.
After the interval, Killannin did enjoy more possession, but this did not translate on to the scoreboard as the victors outscored them 2-7 to 1-3. And again, it could have been worse had a 43rd minute Martin Farragher goal not been disallowed for a square ball.
Yet, it mattered not. Within 90 seconds of the restart Darragh Silke had tallied a point, before Micheal Lundy kicked another 30 seconds later. Darragh Silke then worked a good one-two with man of the match Molloy to net Corofin’s second goal on 38 minutes; Gary Delaney’s side were now 2-15 to 0-2 to the good.
Killannin did stop the rot momentarily with points from Dara Walsh (free) and Johnny Heaney (45), but Corofin, despite Farragher’s disallowed goal, upped the ante again in the final quarter as Coen (3), Molloy and Darragh Silke gave an exhibition of point-taking.
While Ryan Roche, with a point, and Cian Folan, with a deserved goal off a long kick pass from Heaney, accounted for Killannin’s only two scores in the final quarter, Corofin pretty much finished as they started as Farragher and Lundy combined to set up Liam Silke for a screamer of a goal in the second minute of injury-time.
Certainly, Killannin will need to show a lot more fight in the relegation play-offs, where they will face Naomh Anna Leitir Móir in the semi-finals. For Corofin, they by-pass the preliminary quarter-finals and advance to the last eight of the competition.
Corofin: D. Canney; V. Gill, L. Silke (1-0), B. Coen; C. Brady (0-1), C. Cunningham, K. Molloy (0-5, 2tp); S. Canavan, P. Egan; R. Coen (1-4), D. Silke (1-4), J. Leonard (0-2, 1f); M. Lundy (0-1), K. Joyce (0-3, 1tp), D. Wall.
Sub: M. Farragher for Egan (HT).
Killannin: J. Walsh; M. Maloney, D. Henderson, R. Joyce; C. Marks, J. Heaney (0-1, 45), B. Mitchell; Dara Walsh (0-3, 1f), R. Roche (0-1); R. Melia, L. Carr, J. O’Toole; G. Bohan, C. Folan (1-0), P. Bohan.
Subs: D. O’Connor for J. Walsh (HT); E. Kinnevey for B. Mitchell (35 mins.); Darren Walsh for R. Melia (37 mins.); K. O’Connor for L. Carr (37 mins.); M. Geoghegan for P. Bohan (50 mins.).
Referee: Colm Conway.