It was difficult to believe how poor Salthill were last Sunday. They looked extremely disjointed and never really got into their stride.
If the truth be known, Corofin could have scored two or three more goals rather than the two which were well finished by team captain Kieran Comer and Michael Comer, who was having his first championship game since recovering from a cruciate operation.
Alan O’Donovan will have to be much more ruthless in front of goal in the county final. He missed a penalty and should have notched a few points from play too. He has a sweet strike off a dead ball, but he needs to raise a few flags from play too.
Corofin were competent more than anything more impressive.
Defensively they were well served by Alan Burke, Cathal Silke, Damien Burke, and Tony Goggins.
At midfield Greg Higgins caught a few great kick-outs and hit one wonderful point, but neither Conor Healy nor Delcan Burke will be pleased with their contributions.
Up front Jimmy Heverin’s men were overly dependent on Sean Armstrong for inspiration and as he was being man-marked by his county colleague Damien Burke, it was asking too much off him to be a one-man band. He did notch 0-4, but they were all from frees.
Seamus Crowe hit a few points too, but he did not look as sharp as he had done earlier in the season, and when a goal chance did present itself, it was well kept out by David Morris.
Corofin will need to improve their forward play if they are to make inroads against a resolute Mountbellew rearguard, but they have a mobile and hard working half-forward line of Gary Sice, Michael Comer, and Kieran McGrath. All three would be considered as more natural half-backs and may be happier playing in that line, but needs must, and Gerry Keane and his management team have no real option at present only to push the cavalry forward.
Young Michael Farragher worked hard at midfield, but the experience and craft of Aidan Donnellan was noticeable upon his introduction. Corofin did enough to get into another final as they search for their 10th Frank Fox since 1991.
However they are experienced enough to know the challenge on October 4 will be more difficult to counter than the one provided by Bothan Na Tra last weekend.
