Corofin U-21s sweep to another county title

COROFIN  3-11

SALTHILL-KNOCKNACARRA  1-11

COROFIN added another Under-21 A football title to their substantial honours list as they prevailed in the latest instalment of their battles with city side Salthill-Knocknacarra at Pearse Stadium on Saturday.

Despite perfect conditions, a poor crowd witnessed the last major football final of the year as Sean Silke, Ian Burke, Conor Keady and Martin Farragher proved the difference for Brian Silke’s charges who kept a battling Salthill-Knocknacarra outfit at arm’s length for the bulk of the game.

Sean Silke struck 2-2 from play for the North Board winners and despite his brother Liam having to go off with a broken collarbone at the end of the opening quarter, the blow failed to deter the green and gold.

Burke was pulling the strings in the Corofin attack as the Salthill-Knocknacarra defence struggled to deal with his pace, movement and sharp delivery.

The game began in edgy fashion as both sides struggled to find some fluency. With six minutes gone, Sean Silke played a neat through ball for Farragher but Salthill keeper Ronan Burke cleared his lines after Farragher failed to grasp the pass. At the other end, Sean Hughes missed an easy free.

But Corofin drew first blood in the form of a well-taken goal when Liam Silke fed his brother Sean and he showed great composure to blast into the net with Salthill-Knocknacarra’s defence split open.

Liam Silke followed this up with a fine point from play as Gearoid Armstrong’s free on 12 minutes finally got Kevin Johnson’s men off the mark, just before Liam’s game was ended by a heavy clatter which broke his collarbone. Brian Raftery was thrown into the fray.

Ian Burke worked well to retain possession and played Sean Silke in for their second point to which the men in blue promptly replied with a score from corner-forward Evan Duffy. Full report in this week’s Connacht Tribune