Title holders Corofin turn the screw in power show

Corofin 2-20

Carna-Caiseal 0-8

THE reigning champions gave an ominous performance in Pearse Stadium last Saturday as they ran out 18 point victors over Carna-Caiseal in the first round of this year’s football championship. Though Corofin’s final tally of 2-20 was striking enough, the most remarkable aspect of the win was that Kevin O’Brien’s team seemed to have so much more left in the tank.

Their opponents, Carna-Caiseal, will pose stiffer challenges to other sides this summer but they seemed to accept fairly early on that it wouldn’t be their day with the second half, in particular, lacking the fight usually displayed by the Connemara outfit. That being said, they won’t be the only side to become dispirited at the ease with which Corofin rack up their scores.

Three times in the match Corofin went on scoring runs, hitting six points without reply late in the first half, an unanswered 1-3 midway through the second half and then closing out the victory with another five points on the trot, showing that when they want to stretch their legs, their are few teams in the county, if not the country, that can stay with them.

Having said that, the first ten minutes of the match lacked the urgency that you might expect on the opening weekend of the championship as both sides made silly mistakes. One such error, a misplaced free from Carna-Caiseal goalkeeper Cathal Ó Loideáin, allowed Justin Leonard to open the scoring in the 3rd minute.

Carna-Caiseal were level a minute later when Seán Ó Cuirrín’s long ball was allowed to drop in the goalmouth and bounce over the bar. Micheál Ó Cathasaigh put the westerners ahead briefly before a Gary Sice free levelled the match.

Points from Michael Farragher and Ian Burke put Corofin two ahead before they came within inches of opening the scoring, Burke’s left-footed shot bouncing back off the crossbar. The gap was reduced to a point, 0-5 to 0-4, by the 19th minute but Corofin soon hit their stride, notching the game’s next six points to put them in control heading into half-time.

Martin Farragher (2), Ian Burke, Gary Sice, Dylan Wall and Michael Farragher all raised white flags during that spell. Though Micheál Ó Cathasaigh hit two points late in the half for Carna-Caiseal, his strikes were split by a Sice free to leave six points between the sides at half-time, 0-12 to 0-6.

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