Corofin storm to second All-Ireland club title

The senior footballers of Corofin will be given a hero’s welcome tomorrow in the North Galway village following their emphatic victory over Slaughtneil from Derry in the All-Ireland club final.

Corofin 1-14
Slaughtneil 0-7

It is Corofin’s second victory in the club finals with their last win coming back in 1998 when the side was captained by Ray Silke who was also the All-Ireland winning Galway captain the same year.

Today, Corofin were head and shoulders above the opposition despite a dodgy start when they went behind early on and were not playing particularly well.

However, they adopted the direct ball tactic instead of the pedestrian passing game and it resulted in them taking absolute control of the match. It was effectively over as a contest by half time.

Corofin went behind early on but it could have been worse only for an intervention from Greg Higgins which prevented Slaughtneil from getting a goal.

But the Galway club champions turned the corner with points from Gary Sice and three from full forward and man of the match Michael Lundy.

And when Martin Farragher found the net from a Gary Sice pass, it was all Corofin after that. The side went in 1-8 to 0-4 at half time following further scores from Michael Farragher, Sice, Gary Delaney and Liam Silke.

In the second half Corofin simply consolidated their lead despite the best efforts of Slaughtneil. There were further scores from Sice (3), Ronan Steede, Ian Burke and Joe Canney to seal the victory. The team will be returning home tomorrow and will be visiting schools with the cup.

For extensive coverage and analysis of today’s match, as well as team interviews, see this Thursday’s Connacht Tribune