No excuses from Corofin camp as 'hungrier team' win
Date Published: 20-Oct-2010
FRANK FARRAGHER
IT'S been a great few years for Gerry Keane to have been involved with the Corofin senior team, first with Jimmy Sice, and then at the helm himself for the past two seasons.
Two county titles and two Connacht club titles would be the absolute dream of most clubs, but in Corofin there was a hankering there for something more . . . a second All-Ireland Club title.
That dream died last Sunday in Pearse Stadium — well for the time being at least — as Corofin just couldn’t match the freshness and hunger of a Killererin side also heavily laden with cuteness and experience.
“We really don’t have any excuses. I suppose it’s a bit of an under-statement to say that we didn’t play well on the day, but we just couldn’t match the hunger and drive of Killererin.
“Even when we played our best football in the third quarter and scored four points in a row, we just didn’t have it in the tank to push on. When it came to it, Killererin finished way stronger,” said Keane.
It is one of the most difficult task any manager faces . . . namely after four or five hard seasons to maintain the same vigour and enthusiasm that fuelled a side to its first success.
“I suppose to sustain the momentum over a four to five year period, you need two to three young players coming through each year to freshen things up.“We did have one or two, but you need that influx of new blood every year just to keep things lively and competitive.
“But one thing I would say is that this bunch of players owes us nothing. They really did everything we asked of them, they were a joy to work with and they have brought a lot of success to the parish over the past five years,” said Keane.
He was fully aware last week that Killererin would pose a serious challenge Corofin’s bid for a three-in-a-row of county titles. “There’s a lot of experience and cuteness there especially with the likes of Tommie and Padraic Joyce.“Nicky (Joyce) is a real scoring machine and I suppose that we didn’t have those type of forwards who day-in, day-out score heavily,” he said.