Corofin have the pace and teamwork to topple champions St. Vincent’s

That victory in the ’98 final against Dublin side Erin’s Isle is, rather surprisingly, Corofin’s only appearance in a club decider – their problem game in the series over recent years has been in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Four times over the past 23 years, Corofin have lost out at the penultimate stage of the competition: to Dr. Crokes in 1992; Laune Rangers in 1996, Kilmacud Crokes in 2009 and St. Gall’s in 2010.

That’s a trend that Corofin will want to put a stop to on Saturday in Tullamore’s O’Connor Park (2.0) but they do face one huge task in attempting to dethrone reigning All-Ireland champions, St. Vincent’s of Dublin, a team that last year blew the final challenge of Castlebar Mitchels out of the water on a 4-12 to 2-11 scoreline.

With Corofin having stormed through Galway and Connacht in 2014, and with St. Vincent’s doing likewise in Leinster, then it surely is the case of the unstoppable force versus the immovable object – it really is difficult to figure out, who or what, will give way first.

Corofin will be hoping that they have added a level of maturity and calmness to their game after being desperately disappointed to lose out to Castlebar Mitchels in last season’s Connacht club championship. Since then though, they seem to be a far leaner and meaner footballing machine.

There are many students of the game who believe that both St. Vincent’s and Corofin could hack it with most inter-county teams across the country, such is the depth of talent coming through from their under-age ranks – for the Galway and Connacht champions, getting the balance right in the starting fifteen could be a key issue.

Corofin manager, Stephen Rochford, reports a clean bill of health for Saturday’s tie and admits that some tough calls will have to be made when he sits down with his selectors to pick the team.

“We have an extended panel of 38 players in training and the effort from everyone has been absolutely fantastic. Team selection will not be an easy task with everyone available but I suppose that’s a good problem to have.

“Training has gone very well for us since we took a short break around the Christmas. The lads have trained well, we’ve played a couple of challenges, but I’m sure that the same message is coming out of Vincent’s. It really is down to who delivers on the day,” said Rochford.

So, what’s the plan for St. Vincent’s and for containing one Diarmuid Connolly, who ran riot in last year’s final against Castlebar, ending up with a 2-5 tally as well as being involved in many other scores.

“I suppose that Diarmuid Connolly is arguably the best footballer in the country at present but if we decide to concentrate too much on one player, then Vincent’s have the variety of options in attack to make you pay.

“It will be very much a man-to-man operation in terms of marking players on Saturday, and while of course we have taken a good look at Vincent’s, we really do want to concentrate on our own game and our own strengths,” insisted Rochford.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.