Corofin’s All-Ireland hopes come unstuck in semi-final

Dr. Crokes 2-11

Corofin 0-8

THE concession of goals to a lively Dr. Crokes outfit at two pivotal moments in this All-Ireland senior club football semi-final put paid to Corofin’s ambitions of a second national title in three years at the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick on Saturday evening.

That may be an over simplification of where it went wrong for Corofin, but the impact of those majors from Gavin O’Shea and substitute Jordan Kiely cannot be understated as they all but ripped shards off Corofin’s soul at times when it looked as if the Galway champions might just be getting a handle on the contest.

Undoubtedly, Dr. Crokes were the better team throughout but, by the same token, Corofin never truly got into their stride and, overall, the 2015 All-Ireland champions lacked a certain amount of zest, enthusiasm and energy.

In this respect, they were not unlike St. Thomas’ in their hurling semi-final the week previous. They, too, could not get to the pitch of the game quickly enough and, by the time they did, it was all but gone from them.

In both cases, it was an inability to secure possession from their own restarts in the early stages which put them on the back-foot – Corofin experiencing the very same problem in the opening quarter on Saturday.

Playing against the wind, goalkeeper Bernard Power strained to get any purchase on his kick-outs and in the strong gale blowing down Corofin’s throats, the ball hung in the air much to the delight of Dr. Crokes pillars Johnny Buckley and Alan O’Sullivan.

In all, Corofin lost eight of their 12 kick-outs to Dr. Crokes in the opening period, ensuring the Munster holders had a generous supply of possession to feed into an inside line which was simply buzzing. Suffice to say, it put Corofin’s defence under enormous pressure.

As it was, the Corofin backs had already their hands full. Colm ‘The Gooch’ Cooper thought he was in the playground, pinging ball around for fun, while the impish Kieran O’Leary, who would score five points in the opening 30 minutes, was having the game of his life.

And yet, having gone two points down after 59 seconds and finding themselves three points in arrears after four minutes, Corofin somehow managed to reduce this gap to just a point, 0-5 to 0-4, six minutes before the break.

Ian Burke had kicked their opener on 10 minutes before Michael Farragher, Jason Leonard (free) and Gary Sice (free) added further scores to narrow the gap to the minimum. It appeared, Corofin had survived the Crokes tempest.

Whatever momentum Kevin O’Brien’s charges had generated though was broken on 26 minutes. Again, Corofin failed to secure their own kick-out, resulting in Cooper and O’Leary combining to set O’Shea up for an opportunity to point.

Full coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune.