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*Corofin’s Darragh McGroary. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
COROFIN maintain a second round Clare SFC win over St Breckans at “worst case” will result in a preliminary quarter-final place.
Both Corofin and St Breckans lost out in round one to Lissycasey and Kilmurry Ibrickane in round one of Group 3. The North Clare sides are eyeing up victories this weekend to put themselves back in the reckoning for getting out of the group rather than sweating until the final round to try pick up points.
Whoever prevails this weekend will be level on points with the loser of the Lissycasey and Kilmurry Ibrickane tie, provided it doesn’t end in a draw.
Ahead of Sunday’s showdown in Gurteen (15:00), Corofin manager Peadar O’Brien stated, “Whoever wins that game is going in the worst case get to a preliminary quarter-final but there is a lot of football to be played still. St Breckans are quite capable of beating Lissycasey, Kilmurry Ibrickane won’t want to let anyone beat them so you don’t know how it will go, you could finish up with three teams on two points or three teams on four points, there is a lot to play for”.
Having fell 1-8 0-0 behind in the opening half, Corofin took twenty nine minutes to get off the mark in their return to the Clare SFC. “We found it difficult to get to the pace in the first half, we couldn’t live with them, we couldn’t get a hand on them, the two pointers are a major game-changer, we went from eight down to only three minutes later being within two points, we found it difficult and the couple of injuries didn’t help us but everyone has them. We found it difficult to get to the pace of the game in the first half particularly”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, O’Brien acknowledged their slow start was to do with the jump from intermediate to senior and lining out in the Garry Cup. “There is a bit of that in it definitely, there is a bit of a difference playing Cusack Cup versus Garry Cup, I know it is not taken majorly serious in either case but at the same time there is a difference in pace and you can see the quality Lissycasey have especially with their forward players, they are really good footballers, technically they are good footballers and good scorers, they have four or five forwards capable of scoring on any given day. We were putting fires out all over the place, it wasn’t that anyone was doing serious damage but they were all doing a bit of damage, it all adds up”.
Trailing by thirteen points with thirty nine minutes on the clock, Corofin kicked into gear scoring 1-8 without reply, a run that could well prove vital if scoring difference comes into play after the final round. “If we’re truthful the first half was embarrassing, at least we showed a bit and we were there at the end, with five minutes to go they were starting to sweat because we had all the momentum and a bit of a head of steam up, we were starting to motor which is all we can ask for, we want to be in the game towards the end of it and hopefully we’ll be in that position for the next two rounds and hopefully get something out of one of them, that should be enough,” Peadar commented.
Damien O’Loughlin and Cilléin Mullins were both missed from their defence in round one, O’Brien is hopeful they may feature this weekend. “We’d be hoping Damien would definitely be back, we’re not sure about Cilléin”.
