Favourites Corofin have plenty of respect for Slaughtneil but won’t fear them

It’s Corofin’s Gold Cup to win, but like Cheltenham, there’s never an easy breath to be drawn until the final fence is cleared and the winning post is in sight.

Seventeen years have elapsed since Corofin won their one and only All-Ireland club title in the heady year of ’98 but since then there’s been a serious passion in the footballing heartlands of Cummer and Belclare to repeat that piece of history.

Corofin are 10/3 on favourites to lift the Andy Merrigan Cup around 5.30pm next Tuesday (4pm throw-in) in Croke Park with Derry’s Slaughtneil quoted at 7/2, but the Galway champions have been round the block too often, to read anything into the pre-match favouritism tag.

Finals in any code can be strange animals and Corofin will be wary of the Derry and Ulster champions, a side that through the course of their county, provincial and All-Ireland campaigns, have specialised in winning tight games.

Their biggest margin of victory in their last five championship matches was five points (1-9 to 0-7) against Monaghan’s Clontibret but under the guidance of much-travelled manager, Mickey Moran, they are a well tuned-in team.

Moran, like his Corofin counterpart Stephen Rochford, will have left nothing to chance in terms of ‘doing the homework’ in the run-up to this final, with his main worry the injury suffered by centre-forward Christopher Bradley in the 1-14 to 2-10 All-Ireland semi-final win over Kerry’s Austin Stacks.

Bradley suffered a broken collarbone in one of the most fiercesome but fair shoulders delivered by Kieran Donaghy, and since then he has been receiving the type of specialist medical treatment that often brings the likes of Tony McCoy back on the saddle ahead of schedule.

It would seem to be something of a miracle if Bradley manages to trot out onto Croke Park on St Patrick’s Day in the starting fifteen, but stranger things have happened, although Mickey Moran will ponder long and hard about risking another bone break for his main playmaker.

Like nearly all Ulster teams, Slaughtneil are no slouches in defence, getting plenty of bodies behind the ball when they don’t have possession, and then relying on the quick counter-attacks to deliver the hits at the other end.

Barry McGuigan at wing back loves to attack and scored the crucial goal against Austin Stacks; while inter-county midfielder Patsy Bradley is the general around the midfield sector but all through the campaign so far, the attacking threat seems to have been centred on Christopher Bradley.

Corofin will give due respect to Slaughtneil but they won’t fear them. Over the past 12 months they have cut through all opposition in Galway and Connacht putting up big scores in the county final against St Michael’s (5-12); Leitrim’s Aughawillan in the Connacht semi-final (7-20); Mayo’s Ballintubber in the Connacht final (2-13) and All-Ireland champions St. Vincent’s in the semi-final (1-14).

Blinding pace, quick movement of the ball, accurate kicked passing and a ruthless streak in front of goal have characterised Corofin’s past 12 months, and since their unexpected Connacht semi-final defeat to Castlebar in late 2013, they have added a fair measure of maturity and seasoning to their game.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.