RENEWING RIVALRIES
Corofin favourites to come through Saturday afternoon’s tie against Ballina
REWIND 12 months and a fresh new name was guaranteed on the Connacht Senior Club Football Championship roll of honour. None of the six teams starting out in the competition had previously won it before Maigh Cuilinn swatted aside the best of Mayo (Westport), Roscommon (Strokestown) and Sligo (Tourlestrane) en route to being crowned kings of the province.
With Roscommon's Pádraig Pearses also first-time champions in 2021, it hinted at a new order emerging in the west. 2023 has witnessed a return, with a vengeance, of some of the province's most established teams, however. Not that they'd ever slipped out of contention, just retreated behind new favourites in their respective counties.
Between them, Corofin (ten), Roscommon's St. Brigid's (four) and Mayo's most successful club in Ballina Stephenites (three) have amassed 17 Connacht titles between them. That's quite a strike rate between the three favourites to lift the Shane McGettigan Cup in early December.
Not only that, the trio went on to win silverware at national level with an All-Ireland three in-a-row in 2020 taking Corofin's tally up to five and Ballina (2007) and Brigid's ('13) also translating local success onto the higher stage…
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