14-man Corofin too slick in exciting Co. semi-final

Corofin 1-12 Milltown 1-9

IN the end it was a bit like a race between a reliable Ford Focus, and a Ferrari with a slight spark plug problem, but when Corofin’s far smoother engine cranked into full power, there was only going to be one winner from this entertaining county senior football semi-final last Sunday evening.

Milltown fought the good fight – and led for most of the first half – but when Corofin settled into a pattern of play characterised by very slick and quick ball movements, they looked to be in a different class.

Corofin weren’t without their moments of crisis, including their poor enough start and the loss of influential forward Alan O’Donovan to a ‘straight red’ late in the first half, but their response to those setbacks said an awful lot about their composure under pressure.

This was never going to a demolition job similar to Corofin’s match against Leitir Mór with Milltown having a strong vein of players who had tasted senior inter-county fare like Darren Mullahy, Diarmuid Blake, James Kavanagh, Mark Hehir and Michael Martin – the key difference though in Tuam Stadium was strength in depth.

While Milltown were strong in the lead parts, they were just no match for Corofin in most of the other cameo roles. From one to fifteen, Corofin had players of equal pose and composure while the substitutes they introduced also slipped into the system quite seamlessly.

One of the great conundrums of this match was how Corofin seemed to always have an extra man available to take the ball in the second half when the mathematics of the situation clearly indicated that it was Milltown who were ‘one up’ in terms of manpower resources.

Rather strangely, Milltown often only had three players inside the Corofin 45 metre line during that second half, as the losers struggled badly to create anything by way of meaningful scoring chances.

Corofin, playing into the town goal in the first half, led at the interval by 0-6 to 0-5 thanks to points from Alan O’Donovan (2 frees), Kieran Comer, Ian Burke and Gary Sice (two frees), but they had trailed for large chunks of that first period.

The start from Milltown was encouraging with early points from James Kavanagh and Michael Martin (2) putting them 3-1 ahead while later in the half a Martin effort just skimmed the top of the bar.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.