Galway senior county champions Corofin will be favourites to see off Castlerea in the Connacht club championship semi-final in Hyde Park on Sunday at 2.30pm.
Ger Keane, who is a selector with the current team and a man who has been involved with Corofin football at all levels for the past few decades, is cautious about the challenge but he feels their experience might see them over the end line.
“We will be very relieved to get over Sunday. Castlerea have some very good players like Nigel Dineen, Ger Heneghan, Enda Kenny, and Shay Heneghan, and we will have to be on our guard and not take anything for granted.
“We have always found it difficult to beat Roscommon teams in the club championship and St Brigid’s beat us in Hyde Park two years ago, so we know what to expect. We will need to produce a top performance on Sunday to win, but we believe we can do that. Training is going well and we are taking it one step at a time and not looking past this game on Sunday.”
Corofin have a few injury concerns and regulars Tony Goggins (hamstring ) and Kieran Comer (quad ) are doubtful. If they are unavailable, it leaves opportunities for other players like Jason Killeen, Padraig Hanley, and David Morris who are all pushing hard for inclusion in the starting 15.
Former Galway All-Star goalkeeper Martin McNamara has been taking a few sessions recently and the response from the entire panel has been very positive. A fresh voice is always welcome after a long season and it was a wise and proactive move by manager Jimmy Sice to bring someone as talented at coaching as McNamara to give things a lift for the Connacht campaign.
Former Galway player John Donnellan has been managing in Roscommon this season and he had some success with Western Gaels who were defeated by Castlerea after a few replays in the semi-final. His considered view is that Corofin will just have enough to win this Sunday.
“It will be a very tight game. However Corofin should have the defenders and the experience to keep Castlerea to a low score-line. Castlerea are overly dependent on Ger Heneghan and Nigel Dineen for scores up front, and while both men are playing superbly, the combined excellence of the likes of Kieran Fitzgerald, Mickey Comer, Damien Burke, Kieran McGrath, and Gary Delaney should be able to stop them. I’d expect Corofin to win by three or four points, but they’ll have to earn it and they’ll need a bigger return from their forwards than they have been getting.”
