Corofin in little trouble as Lundy’s strike puts them on victory road

Corofin 1-10

Nemo Rangers 0-7

IT was not Corofin’s best ever performance but the reigning champions’ showing in this All-Ireland senior club football semi-final in Ennis on Saturday was so far superior to what any other club team is producing at present that Munster title holders Nemo Rangers had little chance of causing an upset.

Within 33 seconds, this contest was all but done. Kieran Molloy laid off the ball inside to Gary Sice and he delivered a long kick-pass into the corner to Martin Farragher. The easiest thing would have been for Farragher to turn inside and swing the ball over the Nemo crossbar but, instead, he explored another option.

Seeing captain Micheál Lundy coming at pace from an angle, Farragher dinked the ball inside. Lundy took it and he, too, could have tapped it over. However, he forced the opportunity and got his reward with a goal of the highest quality.

From there on in, the outcome was never really in doubt. By the 18th minute, Corofin had built up a seven-point advantage, 1-4 to no score, and it was just a matter of controlling the play and sticking to the process from there on in. This they did to emerge as six-point winners, although there was some disappointment in the Corofin camp afterwards that they hadn’t pushed on to win by a bigger margin.

While there are certain aspects of play Corofin will look to improve on for the final, this was a hugely positive display from Kevin O’Brien’s charges.

To break it down, there were a number of areas where they excelled in, such as the quality of kick-passing (when it found the intended target), the pressure they put on Nemo Rangers kickouts and transitions, and the manner in which Corofin could create and use space in attack and crowd the same in defence.

At one point early on, Corofin had just one player left at the top of the opposition ‘D’, with the other 14 behind the ball. Corofin remained patient, stalking the Nemo Rangers offensive players, and when the opportunity came Cathal Silke executed a superb turnover. In the ensuing passage of play, Jason Leonard, Martin Farragher and Lundy combined to set up Ronan Steede for an excellent point.

It exemplified this Corofin team and their appetite for hard work when they don’t have the ball and their movement and pace when they do. Whatever about work-rate, Nemo Rangers were unable to bring the same guile to the contest. When they did endeavour to move the ball at pace, the execution of a skill or Nemo’s decision-making invariably let them down.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Get the Connacht Tribune Live app

The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.