Galway champions complete the three- in-a-row

MOUNTBELLEW-MOYLOUGH 0-12

COROFIN, by their own high standards might have laboured a little through this year’s county championship, but just when they needed it most the title holders produced a devastating display of footballing power to record a first ever three-in-a-row of wins for the club.

History will provide its own testament to this success on Sunday with Corofin the first club in the county to record three county senior successes in a row since the magical Purcell and Stockwell Tuam Stars era of the 1950s.

Mountbellew were valiant and honest in their efforts and for the first 45 minutes of this county final played through idyllic sunshine before 4,500 spectators at Tuam Stadium they stayed in touch, but eventually the dam burst and then there was to be stopping of the Corofin tidal advance.

If one word summarised this Corofin performance, it was pace. Over recent years, their training stints have taken on a legendary status in terms of speed and intensity — last Sunday they replicated those many evening sessions on the biggest stage of all in Galway football.

The signs were ominous for the losers from the early minutes of the match . . . barely 12 seconds had elapsed when powerful midfielder Ronan Steede sped through the Mountbellew defence before pointing . . . all of Corofin’s first touches were true and their passes invariably hit the midriff of yellow jerseys.

Corofin in full flight, it must be acknowledged, are quite an exceptional force and they called on their entire repertoire of talents to deliver the almost complete performance. Mountbellew-Moylough battled and scraped admirably – their effort and commitment was unquestionable — but in the end they just had to succumb to a far superior force.

To beat Corofin, the opposition have to score heavily and in the case of Mountbellew last Sunday they probably needed to ‘hit the onion bag’ on at least a couple of occasions – in fairness to them, they twice came close in the first half to landing those critical scores.

Midway through the first half when Corofin goalkeeper  Thomas Healy slipped on a kick-out, Michael Daly picked up the ball and set up Eoin Finnerty for a goal chance – however Healy atoned for his earlier mishap by saving brilliantly.

Shortly after, Barry McHugh managed to elude the tight marking defensive blanket and as Healy advanced again he tried a delicate chip from 20 yards that clipped the top of the crossbar for a point. Twice Mountbellew had come within inches of landing major scores but alas the green flag wasn’t raised.

These are the ‘what might have beens’ for Mountbellew but at the other end Corofin were creating goal chances, at times by the minute it seemed. Ronan Steede, given far too much latitude by the Mountbellew midfield, again cut through their defence in the 19th minute before blasting a high velocity bullet past a helpless Brian Donnellan.  Three minutes later, as Corofin moved the ball quicker than the blink of an eye, Gary Sice and Jason Leonard set up Martin Farragher for a tap-in goal — and it could have been worse, much worse, for Mountbellew.

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