*James Organ. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill.
COROFIN kept their hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the Clare PIHC alive when overcome Sixmilebridge by six points.
Corofin 0-19
Sixmilebridge 0-13
Venue: Clarecastle
Initially viewed as a burdensome fixture, Corofin actually found it to be a cathartic means of overcoming the heartbreak of their senior football play-off exit only four days earlier,
That they also returned to the scene of the crime perhaps greased the wheel of recovery even more as despite being without the likes of Conor Leen, Cillian McGroary and Diarmuid Cahill, Corofin led from start to finish to put themselves right back in the mix for a business end berth ahead of Sunday’s final round.
It wasn’t as straight-forward as the North Clare side would have hoped for but in truth, a Sixmilebridge side battling for their Premier Intermediate lives were never going to make things easy for their flagship opponents.
Being the Bridge’s final outing, the second string admirably slashed a seven point deficit to just two by the three-quarters mark. At the time, Corofin were wobbling for the first time as Gearoid Kelly’s frees that were sailing over in the opening period started to drift agonisingly wide whereas his counterpart Cillian Murphy was impressively unerring throughout,
However, a switch of freetaker to James Organ proved the relieving path to victory as the former Clare minor and Under 20 converted four of his side’s last six points to tee up a final round showdown with current Group 1 leaders Whitegate.
Without a goal at any stage of even the hint of one, Sixmilebridge were always going to find obtaining their first victory of the campaign difficult but overall, they’ll reflect on hitting almost as many wides (12) as scores over the hour.
Corofin were better balanced, with Organ, Gearoid Cahill, Kevin Keane and Seanán Kirby all popping up with crucial scores to keep their noses in front throughout.
An Organ point was sandwiched by a brace of Gearoid Kelly frees before Caimin Morey arrowed over from halfway in the sixth minute.
Corofin responded with eye-catching scores for Organ and Gearoid Caholl on the left touchline to extend the gap to four, a margin that would predominantly remain for the second quarter.
The indefatigable Derek Fahy did his utmost to inspire his side by emerging from goal at every available opportunity and landing two big points including one from play.
However, it was Corofin that finished the half with the last two scores as a foul on Organ saw Kelly land a free before Seanán Kirby ensured a six point cushion by the break at 0-12 to 0-06.
When Gearoid Kelly landed a free in the opening minute to make it a threescore game, all seemed lost for Sixmilebridge. Ironically, it incrementally turned out to be their best period as Cillian Murphy’s guiding frees initiated a five point blitz capped off by points for Ronan Tuohy and Luke Keogh to slash the arrears to just two at 0-13 to 0-11 by the turn of the final quarter.
That was as good as it got for Adrian Chaplin’s side though as Organ steadied the Corofin ship to complete back-to-back victories and put them within touching distance of the knock-out series.
Sunday’s final bout against Whitegate in Sixmilebridge (1pm) should be a group decider for a place in the last four. However, that’s only the case if Whitegate win as even if Corofin prevail, they would be edged out of an automatic semi-final spot on the head-to-head if Tubber were to overcome Parteen/Meelick.
Regardless, a positive result gets Corofin out of the group where for Sixmilebridge, it’s a winner-takes-all relegation final with Smith O’Brien’s in three week’s time.
Scorers for Corofin: James Organ 0-7 (3f), Gearoid Kelly 0-5 (5f), Gearoid Cahill 0-2, Kevin Keane 0-2, Seanán Kirby 0-2, Damien O’Loughlin 0-1
Scorers for Sixmilebridge: Cillian Murphy 0-7 (7f), Derek Fahy 0-2 (1f), Caimin Morey 0-1, Stephen Gavin 0-1, Ronan Tuohy 0-1, Luke Keogh 0-1
Corofin
1: Liam Corbett
19: Cian O’Loughlin
3: Fionn Clancy
4: Marc O’Loughlin
7: Eoin Davoren
2: Damien O’Loughlin
18: Evan Doolin
9: Gearoid Kelly
14: Micheál Duffy
10: Kevin Keane
12: James Organ
15: Gearoid Hanrahan
13: Seanán Kirby
8: Gearoid Cahill
20: Michael Cahill
Subs
11: Diarmuid Cahill for Duffy (37)
17: Cian Doolin for Cahill (52)
14: Duffy for Kelly (59, inj)
Sixmilebridge
1: Derek Fahy
2: Colm Flynn
3: Brian Carey
4: Adam Breen
13: Seamus O’Connell
21: John Deasy
5: Mark Mullins
8: Jack O’Halloran
9: Cillian Murphy
14: Luke Keogh
6: Caimin Morey
18: Stephen Gavin
17: Dara Casey
22: Dylan Keogh
15: Ronan Tuohy
Subs
20: Fionn Hayes for Casey (12, inj)
12: Kevin Lynch for D. Keogh (46)
29: Daniel Chaplin for L. Keogh (52)
19: Rory Chaplin for O’Connell (58, inj)
Referee: Gus Callaghan (Feakle)
