*Niall O’Farrell. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
BROADFORD battled to their limits outscoring their opponents 5-13 0-4 in the second as Corofin collapsed.
Broadford 5-25
Corofin 4-10
Venue: Zimmer Biomet Páirc Cíosóg, Ennis
The Clare Echo’s online coverage of the Clare SHC is with thanks to The Temple Gate Hotel.
With Corofin leading by six points at half time, nobody in their wildest dreams would have dared to predict that by the final whistle Broadford would run out victors by an eighteen point margin.
It was a turnaround of sorts for Broadford who let victory slip from their grasp in the first round to Clooney/Quin whereas this time they roared into proceedings into the second half to keep their hopes of reaching the knockout stages alive.
Niall O’Farrell struck for 3-14 inspiring the East Clare men to victory while their greater scoring prowess was key to overcoming a Corofin side who looked promising in the opening half but struggled to win primary possession throughout the second half.
Goals of the softer variety were par for the course during the course of the game. It was a comedy of errors for Broadford’s blitz of four goals in the final ten minutes.
Michael Vaughan dribbled the sliotar with his feet before kicking to the net on fifty one minutes, Diarmuid Moloney volleyed on the sliotar mid-air with Corofin goalkeeper Liam Corbett bringing the ball down only to let it slip into the net on fifty two minutes.
A shot from Darren Chaplin bounced off the upright and to O’Farrell who bagged their fourth goal on fifty six minutes and he collected a hat-trick on fifty nine minutes.
By the tenth minute, Broadford led 0-5 to 0-2, four from the stick of O’Farrell, but Corofin turned the game on its head with James Organ striking for two goals in the space of four minutes. They almost came in identical fashion too as first Kevin Keane caught a Killian O’Connor delivery to offload to the Clare Under 20 to fire to the left corner before repeating the dose when Gearoid Cahill picked out Keane in thew right corner once more at 2-4 to 0-6 entering the second quarter.
The roles would be reversed in the 21st minute when James Organ’s shot for a point dropped short for Keane to flick the ball away from his marker before burying past goalkeeper Cian O’Brien from close range at 3-5 to 0-8.
A shellshocked Broadford did bounce back off the ropes with the next three points, two from O’Farrell to halve the deficit to just three by the 26th minute.
However, they would be dashed once more by a rampant Corofin who scored a late penalty to ensure a six point interval cushion. It stemmed from a dropping Gearoid Cahill shot for a point that was batted partially clear by goalkeeper O’Brien only as far as
Kevin Keane who was held by Eoin Donnellan, Up stepped Gearoid Kelly to score the resulting penalty and hand his side a comfortable 4-06 to 0-12 lead.
The only way was up for Broadford and it took until Niall O’Farrell’s inspirational 38th minute goal to finally kickstart their challenge in earnest. Points from O’Farrell (2) and Diarmuid Moloney finally regained full parity by the 42nd minute at 1-16 to 4-07 before the latter inched the East Clare side in front of for the first time in 30 minutes.
While clear momentum was now on Broadford’s side, they still only led by two entering the final ten minutes but the best was yet to come for Paddy Meehan’s side as almost everything they hit managed to end up in the net for the remainder.
Newcomer Mikey Vaughan had lost his hurley when the ball broke towards goal but he managed to sidefoot perfectly past Liam Corbett in the 51st minute while two minutes later Shane Taylor’s handless was instinctively met on the volley by Diarmuid Moloney whose shot for a point was kept out by Corbett only for the ball to agionisingly drop into the net at 3-21 to 4-09.
Corofin then grabbed a potential lifeline when Micheál Duffy was unceremoniously brought down but this time Cian O’Brien was equal to Gearoid Kelly’s penalty strike, a save that would be magnified as within seconds Niall O’Farrell had finished a fortuitous break off the post to the Corofin net.
There would still be time for O’Farrell to complete his hat-trick as Broadford flatteringly prevailed by 18 to revive their quarter-final hopes ahead of a final round showdown with Inagh/Kilnamona while there will be much head-scratching in Corofin for the next fortnight before they lock horns with Clooney/Quin in an effort to save their senior lives.
Scorers Broadford: N O’Farrell (3-14 13f), D Moloney (1-3), M Vaughan (1-0), Craig Chaplin (0-2 2f), P Donnellan (0-2), C Mulqueen (0-1), S Taylor (0-1), Donie Whelan (0-1),
Scorers Corofin: J Organ (2-1), G Kelly (1-4 4f), K Keane (1-1), G Cahill (0-2), K O’Connor (0-1), C Leen (0-1).
Broadford:
1: Cian O’Brien
18: Darragh Whelan
3: Eoin Donnellan
4: Damien Keniry
5: Paurig Taylor
2: Paddy Donnellan
7: Davy Boland
9: Diarmuid O’Brien
8: Cian Mulqueen
12: Darren Chaplin
6: Shane Taylor
10: Mikey Vaughan
13: Donie Whelan
11: Niall O’Farrell
14: Diarmuid Moloney
Subs:
17: Craig Chaplin for Mulqueen (HT)
22: Oisin Kavanagh for S Taylor (58)
Corofin:
1: Liam Corbett
7: Seán O’Brien
3: Damien O’Loughlin
15: Evan Doolin
18: Gearóid Hanrahan
6: Killian O’Connor
5: Cillian McGroary
11: Gearóid Kelly
9: Gearóid Cahill
12: Micheál Duffy
13: Diarmuid Cahill
10: James Organ
14: Kevin Keane
8: Conor Leen
17: Cian Doolin
Subs:
22: Seannan Kirby for C Doolin
Referee: Eoghan O’Leary (Whitegate)
