Corofin weren’t as good as we thought they were

Inside Track with John McIntyre

The conclusion is unavoidable. Corofin’s virtual stroll to the Galway senior football title was significantly over-valued.

Sure, they cut an impressive dash in regaining the Frank Fox Cup and they were heads and shoulders above all opposition along the way, but it proved an uncompetitive championship and Corofin’s mettle hadn’t really been tested.

For all that, there was loose talk about the Galway champions having the potential to capture the All-Ireland Club title itself and they were red-hot favourites to dismiss the challenge of Mayo’s Castlebar Mitchels in the Connacht semi-final at Tuam Stadium last Sunday – a peculiar anomaly given that Mayo football at county level is currently streets ahead of where Galway finds itself.

The danger was that Corofin would suffer from complacency for their meeting with Castlebar, but with injuries ruling out team captain Kieran Fitzgerald, Gary Delaney and Daithi Burke, there were no excuses for the Galway champions getting ahead of themselves. Normally, a slovenly attitude manifests itself in the opening quarter of a match, but there were no signs of it from Corofin as they went about their business in a determined manner.

After 15 minutes, they were 1-3 to 0-1 in front and it could have been more. Alan O’Donovan lost his footing when presented with a goal chance, while Ian Burke, Kieran Comer, Liam Silke and Ronan Steede were all badly off target in what typified a wasteful performance. The Corofin goal had come from the in-form Gary Sice when he did well to shake off the attentions of two defenders from a Steede free before blasting to the top corner in the eighth minute

Even allowing for those misses and some inaccurate distribution, Corofin were five points ahead and, largely, in control. Fifteen minutes later, however, they were in big trouble having fallen 2-4 to 1-5 behind at the break despite having had the assistance of the elements. Obviously, a major shift in the balance of superiority had occurred during the second quarter as a physically strong Castlebar outfit turned the semi-final on its head with goals from county player Richie Feeney, after a string of passes cut open the Corofin defence, and Neil Lydon.

The manner of Castlebar’s second goal was nearly as alarming as it stemmed from wing back Donal Newcombe being allowed to canter unchallenged through the heart of the Corofin rearguard. His probable effort for a point came back off the crossbar and the lurking Lydon pounced. Though Ian Burke and Steede landed quality points before half-time, the damage was done and Corofin now knew they had a fierce battle on their hands to get through.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.