Rampant Corofin maul Mayo rivals

Date Published: 01-Dec-2009

COROFIN might have had their stumbles on the way to winning this year’s county championship but they fairly turned on the style in the heart of Mayo football country in the Connacht club final on Sunday.

Gerry Keane’s side travelled into the backyard of Mayo champions, Charlestown Sarsfields, and dished out a 13 point mauling to a home side that never got out of the starting blocks.

It was Corofin’s fifth Connacht title and they desperately want to add a second All-Ireland title to their only previous national success in 1998 – going on the evidence of last Sunday, they will give it quite a go.

Winning captain Kieran Comer, who lifted the Shane McGettigan Cup, had just returned from a week’s holiday in the sun but the heat certainly seems to have ‘done him good’ – his 1-7 personal total was exactly one half of Corofin’s final tally.

Comer only arrived back in the country on Saturday night after a golfing holiday in Portugal, which he had booked well in advance of the game being postponed last weekend.

After the match, Comer paid special tribute to the Corofin ‘sideline team’ that had done so much to ‘bring on’ the side through the season.

“We also have a wonderful panel of 35 to 36 players and that makes a great difference too. It’s good to win a Connacht title once, but great to win it twice,” said Comer.

Knowing the Corofin mentality though, they won’t just be settling for that over the coming weeks as they plan their strategy for a February joust with Ulster champions, St. Gall’s of Belfast, who were also highly impressive in their 0-16 to 0-5 victory over Loup of Derry at Newry on Sunday.

Corofin though looked very sharp at Fr. O’Hara Park on Sunday with their defence particularly tenacious while Joe Canney gave great support to Comer in attack.

All-Star defender Kieran Fitzgerald, who has missed recent matches due to hamstring problems, should be back to fitness for the February date with St. Gall’s, while sharpshooter Alan O’Donovan – injured in the drawn county final against Mountbellew – came on as a sub last Sunday and scored into the bargain.

Corofin have regrouped spectacularly since losing last February’s All-Ireland semifinal to Kilmacud Crokes, despite a poor start to the Galway championship, and now look to have a serious chance of adding to their 1998 title.