Corofin 1-11

Tuam Stars 1-9

By Alan Dooley at Tuam Stadium

COROFIN claimed the Division One league title for a third successive season last Friday evening at Tuam Stadium after a late Conor Carson goal ensured that extra time and penalties were not required this year to get the better of Tuam Stars, who will wonder how they came out second best for the second year running.

Given the fact that Corofin were without their seven Galway senior panelists, this was a golden opportunity for Tuam Stars to claim some silverware, but ultimately it was their inefficiency in front of the posts that cost them a first league triumph since 2019 with only ten scores registered from 24 attempts.

Corofin will not be happy with many aspects of their own performance, ending up with just over a 50% strike rate in front of the posts and plenty of unforced errors, but they timed their scoring burst to perfection, with Carson’s goal complementing three Jason Leonard points down the stretch as Gary Sice carved open the Stars’ defence on two occasions with perfectly timed handpasses.

Despite having not scored since the 33rd minute, Tuam Stars retook the lead when Brian Mannion guided over an excellent free from the right corner with a little under four minutes of normal time left to play. In Corofin’s next attack, though, Sice played an incisive handpass which caught the Tuam defence unawares and the impressive Carson burst through into the gap before playing a one-two with Micheal Lundy and then palming the ball to the net from close range.

Corofin suddenly had their noses in front for the first time since the opening half, but quickly had to rely on the sharp reflexes of their goalkeeper Bernard Power to keep out a powerful shot from the lively Mannion. The same player cut the deficit to the minimum with a minute left on the clock and Tuam had further opportunities to kick a leveller, but Corofin broke away in stoppage time for the classy Leonard to kick the insurance score.

The teams will meet again in the hampionship group stages and both were clearly in the business of marker-laying at various stages of the contest. Tuam decided to play with the significant breeze blowing into the Frank Stockwell end in the first half, but Corofin dealt with the challenge well in the opening minutes and led by 0-3 to 0-1 after 10 minutes.

Pictured: Corofin’s Dylan Brady is chased by Tuam Stars’ Cillian Reidy and Jamie Murphy during Friday’s Division One League Final at Tuam Stadium on Friday evening. Photos: David Cunniffe.