Corofin bounce back!
By BILLY COSS Corofin .............................1-7 Micheál Breathnachs .......0-9 DAVID MORRIS was the hero for Corofin in Saturday's Clayton Hotel Senior â€ËœA' League final as his [private]dramatic, injury-time point eked out a narrow yet deserved win over Micheál Breathnachs. It was not pretty by any means but the result will have been infinitely more important than the performance for a Corofin side that may have fallen short in their quest for a Championship three-in-a-row but finish off a long year with league silverware. A dour match that failed to rise above mediocrity for the most part and played out in a low-key atmosphere at Pearse Stadium, finally ignited late on when Micheál Breathnachs hit two late points to draw level. The Inverin side had grabbed the momentum only for Morris, who minutes earlier had switched to the Corofin full-forward line from his goalkeeping position, to strike the winner in added time. It was rough justice on a Micheál Breathnachs side seeking a first top level title in Senior football. Their rise from Junior level through Galway's football rankings over the past decade has been a steady one with a couple of West Board U21 A titles along with Senior B League honours in 2007 picked up on the way. Their graph would taken another upward curve with a victory on Saturday and they weren't without their chances of achieving it against a Corofin side coming off the disappointment of a county final defeat and missing some front-line players. A flat first-half display by Corofin would have given Micheál Breathnachs further encouragement and when they increased their interval lead while Ger Keane's team hit four wides on the bounce, they looked well set. Then came a decisive period of the game as the eventual winners enjoyed a purple patch that yielded an unanswered 1-2 in the space of three minutes and transformed the match. To their credit, Micheál Breathnachs recovered to draw level and extra-time was on the cards until Morris, no stranger to lining out in Corofin's attack, hit the game-breaking score. It wasn't perfect from a Corofin perspective but it was enough. Without Kieran Fitzgerald and Damien Burke, they never sparked into life yet when the game hung in the balance in added time they could dig deep to create the match-winning point. There were a number of important contributions, notably Ciaran McGrath, a constant driving force for his side, Michael Farragher, Alan Burke, Kieran Comer and Alan O'Donovan, who finished with 1-4. This match will not linger long in the memory, yielding little by way of quality passages of football and falling well short of the drama produced in the fixture in recent years, especially the Corofin vs Caherlistrane extra-time thriller of 2008 and Cortoon Shamrocks' first ever Senior title a year ago. By the end of a slow-burning first half, Micheál Breathnachs held a slender 0-4 to 0-3 lead. The opening quarter produced just one point apiece and aside from Micheál Breathnachs â€Ëœkeeper CaoimhÃÂn Mac an tSaoir speeding from his line to block Alan O'Donovan's goal-bound shot, was short on incident and had little to excite the sparse Pearse Stadium crowd. Peadar Ó Coinnaith struck three points for the West Board side while wing-back Barry Ó Conghaile also broke forward to hit an inspirational score. At the other end, Alan O'Donovan had two for a Corofin team that had to wait until the half's final action to hit their opening score from play through Barry O'Donovan. Donal Ó Curraoin extended Micheál Breathnachs lead early in the second half while Corofin's registered four successive wides. The Inverin side were increasing in self-belief until a clinical burst from Corofin, in which they hit 1-2 without reply, turned the game on its' head. Kieran Comer began it all with a fine point off his left and turned provider for the game's only goal a minute later, cleverly flicking a long delivery into the path of the unmarked Alan O'Donovan, who finished clinically when left one-on-one with Mac an tSaoir. Suddenly finding themselves 1-5 to 0-5 down, the question of character arose for Micheál Breathnachs yet they rolled with the punches and rallied. Peadar Ó Cionnaith hit his fourth point of day after a driving Seán Denvir run. Soon after, Seosamh Ó Conaire, a thorn in the Corofin defence throughout, grabbed his second to cut the deficit to the bare minimum. After reverting to defence in an early second half shake-up, Alan Burke broke forward, drew a foul and Alan O'Donovan nudged Corofin two in front with the resultant free. Corofin looked to have done enough yet Tadhg Mór Ó Curraoin's side came back once more. Another Ó Conaire effort, initially waved wide by the umpires before being awarded by referee Frank Kinneen, and a classy score from Galway Minor star Peadar Óg Ó GrÃÂofa levelled matters in the final minute of normal time. It was anyone's game at that point but Corofin had the final say deep in added time. Michael Farragher, who put in another impressive display, and sub Ronan Burke combined to create the opening and David Morris did the rest, shrugging off a tackle before landing the decisive score that regained the Kenny Cup for Corofin. Corofin: D. Morris (0-1); G. Delaney, P. Kelly, C. Silke; C. McGrath, D. Keane, G. Sice (Capt.); G. Higgins, M. Farragher; B. O'Donovan (0-1), A. Burke, J. Canney: S. Monaghan, K. Comer (0-1), A. O'Donovan (1-4, three frees). Subs: R. Steede for Silke, 33 mins; A. Donnellan for B. O'Donovan, 52 mins; R. Burke for Canney, 56 mins; B. Power for A. O'Donovan, 59 mins. Micheál Breathnachs: C. Mac an tSaoir; C. Ó Cadhain, G. Ó Fatharta, M. Ó Maoileáin; B. Ó Conghaile (0-1), S. Ó Maoileáin, D. Ó Maoileáin; A. Ó Feinneadha, S. Ó Feinneadha; D. Ó Curraoin (0-1), P. Ó GrÃÂofa (0-1), P.T. Ó Conghaile; S. Ó Conaire (0-2), P. Ó Coinnaith (0-4, three frees), S. Denvir. Subs: R. Ó Fátharta for B. Ó Conghaile, 33 mins; F. Ó Curraoin for A. Ó Feinneadha, 37 mins. Referee: Frank Kinneen (St. James's) Herald Sport Man of the Match: Ciarán McGrath (Corofin)[private]