*Cillian McGroary in possession against An Ghaeltacht. Photograph: Burren Eye Photography
COROFIN manager Peadar O’Brien has said he believes his side’s first-half performance, despite having the advantage of the wind, left them with ‘too much to do’ to get over the challenge of Kerry’s An Ghaeltacht.
By Gearóid Howley
Speaking after their five-point Munster intermediate club football defeat in Páirc Finne, O’Brien expressed his disappointment with his side’s performance in the first thirty minutes but also credited his charges for never dropping their heads and producing a courageous second-half display.
“We’re disappointed by it. We probably didn’t perform in the first half, being six down after being with the breeze left us with a small bit to do and we just couldn’t get over the line in the finish,” he told The Clare Echo.
Having just a 20% conversion rate from play in the opening half, Peadar pinpointed Corofin’s shot selection as an aspect that let them down. “Lads probably felt under pressure to get a few scores with the breeze and panicked into shooting at times. We know we didn’t have a lot of the ball in the first half and took shots when we shouldn’t have taken them really. In hindsight it’s easy be wise, but we could have worked it into better positions and not rushed it as much.
The Corofin boss stated the importance of getting a better return on both their own and the opposition restarts to find a way back into the game. “Once we got on top of their kickout it made life a bit easier and to be honest, we probably dominated possession wise in the second half.
“When you have possession of the ball it makes life an awful lot easier and we actually got a lot of possession as the half went on. When you have primary possession you can do something, at least we were getting their defence turned rather than them sitting back waiting for us and coming out putting pressure on and dispossessing us”.
Jamie Malone once again returned home from the UAE to line out for the North Clare club, and he was heading straight up the road to Dublin Airport to catch a flight after the final whistle. O’Brien praised the forward’s commitment and was already thinking of the prospect of having him at his peril for Corofin’s return to the senior ranks. “It’s a major positive, he’s a good clubman. It takes a lot of commitment to go over and back from Dubai. We’re delighted to have him, he’s given a good service to the club and the county, and we’d be hoping to knock a few more years out of him when he comes back from UAE whenever that may be. We’ll see how it goes with him next year and what his schedule is like”.
Corofin were down two more starters from their Clare IFC success with full-back Cilléin Mullins and Seán O’Brien off on their respective travels. O’Brien opted to look at the positives as it resulted in his younger players, such as Leaving Cert student Seanán Kirby, seeing plenty of action. “Younger players like Seanán maybe wouldn’t have had seen a lot of game time if we had our more established players around. They got a good bit of game time, Colm Breen is another, he actually pulled his hamstring only a day or two ago so he couldn’t play today. It can’t be anything but positive for them and bring them on football wise. We have a few lads in with the county under-20s so hopefully that will bring them on a bit more”.
