Clinical champs overcome early rustiness to advance

Corofin 1-14

An Cheathrú Rua 0-10

An Cheathrú Rua might well be disappointed that they didn’t pull off a shock win in Pearse Stadium last Saturday evening, or at least put it up to Corofin for a bit longer in the Round 4 contest. The Connemara men had the better of Corofin for large swathes of the game only for the defending county champions to finally put their foot on the gas during the final third of the match.

The sides were level at half-time, 0-6 each, but An Cheathrú Rua should really have been at least a point or two up. Corofin were having their first championship outing since the end of May and the rust was all too apparent on Kevin O’Brien’s charges. Their passing was sloppy, their intensity was lacking but An Cheathrú Rua couldn’t take full advantage.

Corofin have been the dominant force in Galway football in the last number of years for a reason, however, and they upped their game considerably in the second period to leave their opponents in their wake. They outscored An Cheathrú Rua 1-8 to 0-4 during that final 30 minutes and probably had a couple of extra gears had they really been needed.

The momentum of the game, which had been strongly in An Cheathrú Rua’s favour, began to swing early in the second half. Oisín Ó Gríofa had put Micheál Ó Loideáin’s side ahead, 0-7 to 0-6, but three wides in the next ten minutes, including an inexplicably missed 14m free from Cillín de Paor, slowed An Cheathrú Rua’s progress. Corofin, on the other hand, were clinical.

A minute after Ó Gríofa had put An Cheathrú Rua ahead, Michael Farragher played a long ball into Joe Canney, the lively corner-forward popped a pass of to Jason Leonard and he made no mistake in levelling the scores. Ninety seconds later, Farragher again found Canney, who again laid it off to a supporting teammate, Kieran Molloy this time, and Molloy put Corofin into a lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

Just after de Paor missed his close-range free, Barry O’Donovan nailed a ‘45 for Corofin to confirm the shift in momentum. Corofin were soon five points to the good, 0-12 to 0-7, as the game entered the final quarter, Joe Canney, Gary Sice and Jason Leonard all adding to their total.

An Cheathrú Rua continued to look for a way back into the match and they had the gap back to a goal with a little over ten minutes remaining thanks to a Cillín de Paor point from play and a ‘45 from Oisín Ó Gríofa. Corofin, however, always looked to have the measure of their opponents at that stage.

They came within inches of an opening goal in the 50th minute only for Pádraig Ó Loideáin to deny Gary Sice with a superb last-ditch block. The respite did not last long, however, as Bernard Power converted the resulting ‘45.

Full coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune