Corofin throw it away in Tuam

CASTLEBAR MITCHELS 2-8

COROFIN 1-10

THE Corofin dream of All-Ireland club glory perished on the rock of scoring inconsistency in an entertaining if error ridden Connacht senior football semi-final at Tuam Stadium on Sunday.

Corofin’s wastefulness in front of goal and an uncharacteristic edginess in defence opened the door of opportunity for a Castlebar side, whose sheer grit and will to win attitude was just about enough to see them over the line.

There were times during the opening quarter when Corofin threatened to completely over-run the Mayo champions, but far too often, razor sharp moves were dulled by sloppy finishing and some quite shocking wides. Their followers in the 2,000 plus crowd sighed far too often for comfort.

Corofin might feel this week that if this was a test series against Castlebar they would come out on top pretty decisively, but in the cut and thrust of the once-off battle setting, the Galway champions just didn’t deliver on the day.

Most of the early signs were good for Corofin with one notable exception. Ronan Steede was on top in midfield while up front Gary Sice, Joe Canney and Ian Burke matched industry with pace, but gilt edged chances were spurned. It was a pattern that was to repeat itself throughout the match.

Liam Silke and Kieran Comer kicked bad wides while Alan O’Donovan didn’t get the required lift on a 35 yard free as Castlebar Mitchels battled – quite desperately at times – to withstand the Corofin blitz.

After the sides shared two early points, the breakthrough seemed to have occurred for Corofin eight minutes into the half, when a long ball from Ronan Steede found Gary Sice, who left his marker for dead before powering a fierce shot off the back stanchion of Ciaran Naughton’s goal.

Ronan Steede then drove wide from a good position before the Mitchel’s defence was cut open once again, ending with Alan O’Donovan in a one to one with the Castlebar keeper, but Naughton brought off a great save to deflect the shot for a ‘45’. Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune.