Galway men justify all the hype with champion show in Croke Park

COROFIN marched to victory on St Patrick’s Day, the green and yellow comfortably overcoming the challenge of Slaughtneil to claim the club’s second All-Ireland senior football title. The Derry men had threatened to rain on Corofin’s parade early on but they flattered to deceive.

Once the Galway and Connacht champions got a foothold, they steamrolled their opponents – midfield dominance, a mean defence, and lightning pace in attack helped Corofin to a 10-points victory, 1-14 to 0-7.

It wasn’t the complete performance. It didn’t need to be. Corofin were good enough without hitting the heady heights they’re capable of. Slaughtneil didn’t perform either – they weren’t let play.

After 10 minutes, Mickey Moran’s men looked capable of causing an upset. Corofin looked out of sorts, nervy and a little bit rattled.

The unthinkable appeared possible as the red-hot favourites made uncharacteristic mistakes: Up front Michael Lundy and Ian Burke dropped shots short into the keeper’s hands; Ronan Steede gave possession away cheaply with a wayward free; Greg Higgins was, perhaps, fortunate not to concede a penalty with a last-ditch tackle.

But for all the jitters, Slaughtneil failed to capitalised, hit three wides in that opening ten minutes and led by just two points to one.

Gary Sice got Corofin’s first score of the day, and boy was it needed. It was vital, not least because he had no right to get it. The Galway men had squandered possession in the build up to it, and the chance looked gone but Sice pilfered corner-back, Francis McEldowney, and popped it over. A huge sigh of relief.

Then came the Michael Lundy show. The 25-years-old speed merchant hit three points, one after another, in just two minutes.

The first came after patient, neat inter-play; the second can be traced to a fine catch from Steede from the kick-out; and the third white came when Lundy was first to react after Daithi Burke’s goal-bound effort was stopped by Anton McMullan.

Lundy’s treble was critical – like the alcoholic having a first drink the morning after the night before, it steadied Corofin.  Now it was 4-2 in Corofin’s favour, a different ball-game. They pushed on.

Midway through the half, veteran Kieran Fitzgerald, solid throughout, cut out a Slaughtneil move and turned defence into attack. He fed Gary Delaney, whose Garryowen-type effort was plucked from the sky by Sice; he linked up with Martin Farragher who buried it.

It wasn’t so much a turning point but a point of no return for Slaughtneil. Corofin pushed on, and landed four of the five points scored before the break, leaving it 1-8 to 0-3. To lose an eight-point advantage wouldn’t just be careless, it would be criminal. Corofin are around the block too long to let that happen.

They won the second half by six points to four, always looked superior to Slaughtneil and capable of hitting a higher gear and cutting loose if necessary.

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