Corofin reach new neights in blitzing a hapless St. Brigid’s

Inside Track with John McIntyre

YOU’D swear that this great Corofin team had virtually won nothing before such was their high levels of application and hunger in Sunday’s hopelessly one-sided Connacht Club football final in Carrick-on-Shannon. They simply blitzed St Brigid’s of Roscommon in claiming a record-equalling seventh provincial title.

To put it mildly, the Roscommon champions were left chasing shadows as they fell to a heavy 14-points defeat. They had no answer to Corofin’s quality, pace, movement, support play and accurate kick-passing on a day to forget for Frankie Dolan’s charges. St Brigid’s may not be the force of old, but nobody expected their challenge to be blown away like this.

Having survived a tough semi-final challenge from Castlebar Mitchels, Corofin took a huge step forward in terms of their overall performance in the final. It was almost as if they were liberated from having turned the tables on the Mayo men after a couple of previous defeats. Against St Brigid’s, another club which had the Indian sign on them in the past, Corofin were much more ruthless and consistent.

Indeed, Kevin’s O’Brien’s squad were so impressive, they have jumped to the head of the betting to capture a third All-Ireland Club title next March despite heavyweights Dr Crokes, who hammered the hapless The Nire in the Munster final, and St Vincent’s of Dublin being still in title contention. Yes, Corofin were that good against St Brigid’s and are deserving of their high ranking.

We all know that the Galway champions are blessed with an incredible array of talent, but they back it up with an admirable work ethic. All over the field in Carrick-on-Shannon, their players tore into the exchanges, repeatedly won the dirty ball and were performing the basic arts with a speed that St Brigid’s never encountered before. Things were happening just too fast for them and they were never in this contest.

It was full forward Michael Farragher who set the tone for Corofin’s latest championship triumph. His constant movement into space helped to create huge gaps in the St Brigid’s defence and he also scored a goal and two points in a terrific opening half show from Galway’s dominant force. Farragher’s green flag came in the 12th minute when he blasted home from close range after the spadework had been done by Ian Burke and the raiding Liam Silke.

St Brigid’s had no answers. Their confidence levels quickly dropped as evident from so many unforced errors in possession and some hurried shooting. Only wing forward EoinSheehy, who landed two points, made any real headway as they were wiped out by the Corofin juggernaut. Ronan Steede and Daithi Burke controlled midfield, with central defensive pair, Ciaran McGrath and Kieran Fitzgerald, who had just a couple of problems with Senan Kilbride in the second quarter, marshalling a Corofin rearguard which only conceded five points over the hour. There is no arguing with that statistic.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.