Corofin gave everything they had last Saturday in Mullingar to try to join Portumna on the feature bill for the All-Ireland finals on St Patrick’s Day in two weeks’ time, but they fell short of their target.
This All-Ireland semi-final was in the melting pot at 0-10 to 1-07 with 10 minutes to play, and perhaps if Corofin had mustered another point or two at that stage, they might have broken Kilmacud’s resolve.
They had fought back bravely and put the Crokes on the back foot with some fine scores from Joe Canney, David Hanley, and Shane Monaghan in the third quarter, and when the sides levelled, the feeling was that the next score would be crucial. Unfortunately from a Corofin perspective it was Mark Vaughan, who had an immense game for the Dublin side, who broke through for a decisive goal and the Crokes galloped home in style and comfort.
It must be said that the better team won, and while the Corofin supporters can go down the Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda road, it is a cul-de-sac on this occasion. They would be better employed looking to the future.
Kilmacud Crokes were much more potent up front and as everyone knows, forwards win games. They looked dangerous every time they attacked, and in guys like Mark Vaughan (1-06 ), Pat Burke (1-02 ), Mark Davoren (0-2 ), and Longford’s Brian Kavanagh they held the scoring aces.
Corofin needed to start with all guns blazing and build up a head of steam that would have put Kilmacud on the back foot, but when they were dominant in the opening 10 minutes they had a few goal chances that were not taken. Had they rattled in a goal at that juncture, it might have given their forwards some added self-belief and perhaps they could have hit a purple patch. Kieran Comer in particular can feel aggrieved that he was not given a penalty when he was brought down in the square rather then a 21 yard free that Alan O’Donovan converted.
However for all that, the Galway champions struggled to get into the groove up front all through and hit six costly wides in the first half compared to Kilmacud’s one. Corofin struggled around the middle too, and both Greg Higgins and Aidan Donnellan have had better and more productive days in the club jersey. Both men battled hard, but they probably needed to burst through and rattle a few scores to augment the tally of their forwards. Instead they found the workrate of Darren Magee and Niall Corkery hard to nullify.
The unavailability of Jason Killeen and Mickey Comer through injury was significant and it meant that Jimmy Sice was down one of his best man-markers. Then when team captain Kieran Fitzgerald had to retire though injury early in the second half, the side was down two experienced county defenders. That bad luck did not help an already tough situation
. The sideline should also perhaps have made a few switches coming into the final 15 minutes, and players like Trevor Burke and David Morris might feel they should have been thrown into the fray. Tomas Costello and Padraig Hanley might also feel with some justification that they deserved some more game time.
However, the bottom line is that Corofin can have no real complaints. They did their damndest but found themselves well beaten in the gallop for home. They will have to regroup now and try to get a few senior league wins under their belts in April and May and see if the desire is still there to try to put county titles back to back in the coming months. That has not been achieved by the club since 1997 and 1998 and would be a realistic target. Such thoughts are probably the furthest thing from their minds this week, but after a few weeks off and with an influx of young players from the county minor winning panel from last year, they can renew their enthusiasm and set themselves some new targets for the 2009 season.
