Sports

Corofin on cloud nine after crushing Ballintubber

Published

8 years ago

November 27, 2014

Francis Farragher

COROFIN 2-13

BALLINTUBBER 1-7

ANY lingering doubts about the bona fides of Corofin as a club side of genuine quality and class were well and truly buried under the green sod of Castlebar’s MacHale Park on Sunday when the Galway champions demolished the challenge of an outclassed Ballintubber side.

This was to be the game to test Corofin following a season of big wins across Galway and Leitrim, with Ballintubber reputedly packing a fair punch after recent successes over Castlebar and St. Brigids, but once more Stephen Rochford’s side quite simply played the game at a different level to their opponents.

With a trip to London coming up before Christmas, Corofin will be doing their best to dampen down expectations, but yet the team and management will take a lot of quiet satisfaction from travelling down to Ballintubber’s backdoor and returning to Cummer with the Shane McGettigan Cup.

There was no scrimping or scraping in this Corofin success. They might have only led by three points at the interval but by then they had laid down a very clear marker in terms of winning clean possession, moving the ball at pace, and into the bargain, defending quite stingily as well.

After the first quarter, Corofin had won the first big battle of this match around the middle of the field. Their trio of Ronan Steede, Daithí Burke and Greg Higgins were utterly dominant against Stephen Broderick and Jason Gibbons, a duo who came into the game with impressive form cards.

That possession graph never really changed from start to finish, while in defence, Gary Delany (back after injury) and Kieran Fitzgerald, defended with a zeal that almost completely shut-out a Ballintubber attack, unable to generate any real poke.

The final part of the Corofin success package was provided in their livewire attack, where Ian Burke, in particular gave a class exhibition of corner forward play – always out in front of his man, quick with his passes but most importantly willing to look up at the posts and drive the ball over the blackspot.

He was by no means a ‘lone bird’ in his endeavours with Gary Sice, Michael Lundy and Michael Farragher also lively and deadly accurate in their ball distribution, as Ballintubber struggled to keep in touch.

Corofin’s performance though cannot be segmented and therein lies their real strength – the whole of their endeavour is far greater than the sum of its parts. As an integrated unit, Corofin so far, seem to be in a league of their own in club football.

Once Corofin established their midfield superiority early on, a steady stream of chances started to be created with Ian Burke kicking four of their seven first half points while the Farragher brothers, Michael and Martin, as well as Michael Lundy also found the target.

Related Topics:connacht tribune Corofin v Ballintubber

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CITY TRIBUNE

Four teams locked in battle for promotion to top flight

Published

1 day ago

March 24, 2023

Mike Rafferty

Pablo Martinez De Eulate of West United moves in to challenge Kevin Stankard of Colga FC in South Park last weekend. The game was abandoned just before half-time due to a head injury to a West player. Photos: Joe O'Shaughnessy.

Soccer Wrap with Mike Rafferty

Four teams are vying for promotion to the Premier Division, and with University of Galway, Loughrea, Dynamo Blues, and Colemanstown United all having played each another twice, there is no room for error as they play out the last few games of the campaign.

Loughrea are in pole position, but the chasing pack all have games in hand as they try and reel in the table toppers. All four were winners over the weekend, with three of the games decided by just a single goal.

Elsewhere, the draw for the last eight of the Connacht Junior Cup took place as four Galway League teams remain in the competition. Athenry will be pleased to have drawn a Cois Fharraige side who caused a huge upset when defeating West United in the last round, but it would be an even bigger shock if the Division One outfit were to prevail on this occasion.

Two Galway sides head to Mayo for their ties and Mervue United will fancy their chances against a Westport United B side who defeated Colga B 4-2 at the weekend. It will not be as comfortable for University of Galway who will meet Castlebar Celtic; while Cloonfad and Strand Celtic meet in the remaining tie. The games are scheduled to be played on April 9.

CHAMPIONSHIP

Knocknacarra 0

University of Galway 1

Just a month ago these two sides played out a scoreless draw in Dangan and in the reverse fixture at Cappagh park on Sunday, little separated the sides once more, before a Stephen Gilmore goal on the hour mark settled a contest played in dreadful conditions.

With every point crucial to the Students in their quest to remain in the promotion shake up, they were mainly the better side, but also had to endure some anxious moments as the home side always offered the potential of a breakthrough.

However, their opportunities were more limited than the College side, with just a Marc Lucero effort that struck the woodwork the closest they went to a breakthrough.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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CITY TRIBUNE

Dolan delivers a big display as Galway defeat the Dubs

Published

1 day ago

March 24, 2023

Our Reporter

Player-of-the-match Carrie Dolan on her way to scoring Galway's goal in Saturday’s National League win over Dublin at Duggan Park. Photo: Michael Gough.

Galway 1-14

Dublin 0-9

Eanna O’Reilly at Duggan Park

THE Galway senior camogie team recorded their third victory of the National League campaign, with a straightforward success over a limited Dublin side on Saturday in Ballinasloe. This expected win puts Galway in with a chance of qualifying for the league final. To do so, the Tribeswomen must overcome Cork on Saturday in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Galway lined out against Dublin without injured duo Siobhán Gardiner and Niamh Hanniffy, while Niamh Niland (Clarinbridge) and Laura Kelly (Salthill-Knocknacara) made their first starts for the senior team. The Tribeswomen made good use of the wind in the opening quarter and raced into a 0-5 to 0-0 lead.

Carrie Dolan pointed an early free, followed by a ’45 to get the scoreboard ticking. Laura Kelly then sent over an impressive score from the left wing. Two minutes later, Dublin had a goal chance, but Aishling O’Neill was superbly hooked by Shauna Healy. Galway quickly worked the ball forward to Ailish O’Reilly, who added a neat point.

Carnmore midfielder Jennifer Hughes soon fired over another score for the home side, after a strong run. Dublin were already chasing a five point lead but opened their account in the tenth minute with a point from Gaby Couch.

Two minutes later, Aisling Maher sent over Dublin’s second score, before Dolan replied with an excellent point at the other end, after a good pass from Hughes. Maher pointed a free to make it 0-6 to 0-3, but the home side soon struck for 1-2.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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CITY TRIBUNE

Injury misery for Connacht as the Scots roll into town

Published

1 day ago

March 24, 2023

Keith Kelly

Flanker Paul Boyle who has signed a contract extension with Connacht ahead of Saturday's home URC clash with Edinburgh.

THE frankly bizarre nature of the URC schedule came into focus again this week as the league is set to resume after a two-week break for the Six Nations championship with Connacht welcoming Edinburgh to the Sportsground on Saturday (3pm).

The league might be entering the business end of the campaign, but the last few weeks has felt like more like pre-season preparation than a final push for glory, with Saturday’s game set to be only the third game in eight weeks for Connacht.

“After the Christmas period, it is kind of stop-start. Yeah, you probably do get a bit bored with training, you are looking forward to playing a game, and now we have back-to-back games which lets you get a bit of momentum,” Connacht centre, Tom Farrell, said in the media briefing this week ahead of this Saturday’s tie.

Connacht go into the game on the back of three consecutive wins – 22-20 away to Dragons, 57-34 away to Zebre, and 43-24 at home to the Lions – but it is hard to take any momentum from those games considering they were three, five, and eight weeks ago respectively.

Any momentum they might have had from that winning run will have been hit with the injury list issued this week that is nearly as long as the list of those players who are available. Grand Slam heroes Bundee Aki and Mack Hansen have yet to return to the province, while Finlay Bealham is out for at least a month with a knee injury.

He’ll have plenty of company in the treatment room as Denis Buckley (ankle) and Jack Carty (hamstring) have both been ruled out for this weekend; Josh Murphy (head) is following concussion GRTP protocols and is unavailable for selection this week; and Conor Fitzgerald has had surgery on his ankle and is out for the remainder of the season.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App

Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.

Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.

Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.