Champions Corofin and former kingpins Salthill set for first round clash

GALWAY GAA certainly won’t need any promotional gimmick when it comes to marketing the 2015 county senior football championship after the two local super-powers – champions Corofin and Salthill / Knocknacarra – were pitted against one another in the first round.

No doubt, the draws for the Galway senior and intermediate football championships, which were broadcast live on RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta on Monday evening, have certainly thrown up some fascinating pairings, none less than the meeting of Corofin and Salthill/Knocknacarra.

Although the sides did not clash in last year’s championship, they did spar in the 2013 county decider, with Corofin underlining their status as Galway’s most successful team of the last two decades with a resounding 2-13 to 0-7 victory.

What was disappointing from the city side’s perspective was that they were reigning county champions at the time – having accounted for Tuam Stars in the 2012 final – yet they never got to grips with the power and pace of their opponents.

That said, Corofin have been the form team since getting back on the glory trail in 1991. Up to this point, they had just three titles to their name. As of today, they have 16, with only Salthill/Knocknacarra and a now declining Killererin posing any real threat to their dominance in recent years.

At any rate, the clash of Galway’s two big guns will whet the local appetite, particularly if Corofin enter that first round fixture as newly crowned All-Ireland club champions. Should they do so, they would be meeting the last Galway team to have lifted the Andy Merrigan Cup, which was, of course, Salthill/Knocknacarra in the Spring of 2006.

The draw also threw up some other interesting pairings. Last year’s beaten finalists St. Michael’s will begin their campaign with a tricky championship opener against Cortoon Shamrocks while 2010 county champions Killererin, having escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth, will face Leitir Mór.

Two other sides with title ambitions, Mountbellew/Moylough and St. James’, will be another tie to watch while a fixture that is sure to tingle the senses will be the all-Connemara clash between Micheal Breathnach and An Cheathrú Rua.

Another of the Connemara representatives, Carna Caiseal face Annaghdown, a side with some potential, while 2014 intermediate champions Killanin will travel in from the West to take on last year’s county semi-finalists Barna in the first round.

The remaining SFC ties see Tuam Stars facing Kilconly; Caltra taking on Kilkerrin-Clonberne; and Caherlistrane meeting Milltown, a team, one suspects, will be anxious to make a winning start to their championship after getting wiped out by Corofin in the semi-finals last year.

In the intermediate championship, the stand-out first round fixture is the derby between last year’s beaten finalists Moycullen and Oughterard. Having conceded ground to neighbours Killanin in the 2014 decider, Moycullen will not want to bend the knee to another of their local rivals.

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