The Corofin senior footballers made no mistake in Tuam Stadium on Sunday when they were far too strong for a gallant Mountbellew-Moylough outfit, winning by 3-13 to 1-11.
The Black and Amber men, under the guidance of James Foran and Martin Boyle, battled hard and had some very good displays from impressive full-forward Barry McHugh, midfielder Matthew Barrett, and Cathal Kenny who hit two lovely points in the first half.
Young Michael Daly did some good things too over the hour, including a stupendous point in the first half, but he needs to add improved consistency and greater work-rate to his game if he is going to fulfill his undoubted potential. Colm Colleran, Eoin Finnerty and team captain Paul Donnellan also tried hard.
However, despite Mountbellew doing their damnedest, Corofin just had too much footballing guile, pace and firepower.
They led by 0-9 to 0-5 at the small whistle, with eight of their nine points coming from play.
The pick of those scores were two massive left-footed efforts by Gary Sice and a gorgeous left-footed score from the hugely influential Michael Farragher.
Defenders Cathal Silke and Kieran Molloy also lofted over two terrific efforts from distance.
The champions put on the after-burners in the third quarter with goals from Sice, Ian Burke, and a rocket from Jason Leonard to put plenty of distance between the sides.
To their credit Mountbellew kept trying and were rewarded with a sublime strike for a goal by Stephen Boyle that narrowed the gap.
Corofin will be very hard to stop in the final on Sunday week in Pearse Stadium. They do have major injury concerns over Martin Farragher and Liam Silke, who are both suffering with hamstring problems. Silke had to go off last weekend and Farragher was not able to play any role in the win.
On the plus side, the returned Michéal Lundy came off the bench for a short cameo role and notched a point.
