Last Sunday in Ruislip (London ), Corofin, the Connacht club champions, had little to gain.
They were expected to beat Tir Chonaill Gaels easily. And if they did not, there would have been a colossal chorus of guffaws from their detractors within the province.
To their credit they prevailed easily and advanced to take on Kilmacud Crokes in four weeks’ time in Mullingar on Saturday February 21.
Jimmy Sice's men won pulling up, but they will also have learnt much about themselves and what needs to be done to improve substantially for the stiffer examinations ahead.
The province of Connacht has a magnificent mini-run going in the All-Ireland club football championships with recent successes by Ballina, Caltra, Crossmolina, and Salthill, and the onus is now on the 1998 champions to keep that run going.
The baton of advancement has been passed on and it must not be dropped.
In order to reach the final, the men from out the N17 need to do three things.
1 – PUT A TARGET MAN IN ON THE EDGE OF THE SQUARE:
Alan O'Donovan hit five sweet frees last weekend and is the side’s top scorer, while Joe Canney has been a revelation all season. However they need a powerful big ball winning man beside them.
Neither looked like scoring from play last weekend and the question the Corofin management team has to ask is whether they should re-position Kieran Comer in at full-forward or put former county player Jason Killeen – who had the flu last Sunday - into the number 14 jersey?
At least they have options, but they will need more punch in the red zone if they are to get back to Croke Park.
2 – CREATE MORE SCORING OPPORTUNITIES UP FRONT
Currently the side is overly dependent on scored frees to get them into the winners’ enclosure. There needs to be more creativity, movement, and penetration from the forwards. No forward apart from Kieran Comer scored from play last weekend. If they meet a very disciplined defence which avoids fouling like investors buying bank shares, they could find themselves starved of scores.
It is fine and dandy having a mean defence, but to win the All-Ireland they will need their forwards kicking a few more scores from play.
3 – STOP BRIAN KAVANAGH (LONGFORD & KILMACUD )
Brian Kavanagh is a class act. He is a top quality county forward and it will be interesting to see who Corofin detail to pick him up. Michael Comer would normally be considered their top man-marking defender and he may be given that role. However he has been out of the country for a few weeks and it could take him a while to readjust to top level club football.
Kilmacud have quite a few lively forwards. Mark Vaughan, Mark Davoran, Ray Cosgrove, Pat Burke, and Fermanagh's Liam McBarron can all be awkward customers. However for me, Kavanagh is the catalyst and the man that must be stopped. If they do that, Corofin will be a long way down the path to booking the buses for Croker.
