Burke and Farragher hit the goal trail in big Corofin win

Corofin 4-13

Moycullen 2-8

PLAYING with a strong wind for the opening 30 minutes, Moycullen could have reasonably expected to have been five or six points ahead at half-time had they been playing any other team. Unfortunately for them, it was Corofin they were facing and, with Moycullen already trailing at half-time, things were only likely to go one way from their.

While the final 11 point margin separating the teams was somewhat harsh, Corofin scored three goals in the last 15 minutes, there was little doubt from fairly early on that it was going to be extremely difficult for Moycullen to get anything out of last Sunday’s game.

With the wind at their backs and Peter Cooke stationed in at the edge of the square, it looked as if Paul Clancy’s side were going to take the game to Corofin, but it didn’t last long. The first ball into Cooke was overhit and from the resulting kickout, Corofin cut through Moycullen’s defence with Jason Leonard sending Ian Burke in on goal, but he was denied by a good save from Brian Faherty.

Leonard made an excellent start to the game, finding space in the half-forward line time and again before making an incisive run or an accurate pass. He kicked the first two scores of the game, one from play and one from a free, before setting up Martin Farragher to put Corofin 0-3 to 0-0 ahead in the 10th minute.

Peter Cooke got Moycullen off the mark soon after with a trademark long-range score before he and Gary Sice traded scores from frees to leave the gap at two points midway through the first half.

Having been exposed at the back in the opening exchanges, Moycullen filtered players back and, while it did shore things up in defence, it meant that Dessie Conneely or Pat Lydon were often left all alone inside the opposition 45m line, effectively negating any advantage they got from playing with the wind.

Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.