Corofin 0-16

Ballina Stephenites 0-12

John Fallon reports from Pearse Stadium

GALWAY CHAMPIONS Corofin advanced to their 16th Connacht SFC final when they shot 0-14 from play to see off Ballina Stephenites at Pearse Stadium.

The 10-time winners of the Connacht title never trailed in this semi-final and were able to respond any time Ballina threatened.

Corofin had the strong wind behind them in the opening half and went in leading by 0-9 to 0-3 as both sides battled with the difficult wet conditions in front of a crowd of about 1,000.

The Galway champions used the wind well and raced into a 0-4 to 0-0 lead after 12 minutes, with 39-year-old Gary Sice leading the way with a couple of frees, while captain Dylan McHugh and promising midfielder Patrick Egan both went forward to shoot good points.

Ballina, already without Mayo player Padraig O’Hora, suffered a further blow when they lost experienced full-back Ger Cafferkey when the former All-Star suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury after just 11 minutes.

Frank Irwin got them off the mark at the end of the opening quarter when he pointed a free after Evan Regan was fouled. However, Corofin hit back and struck four points in five minutes. Sice curled over a superb point from the left after a brilliant dummy past Jack Irwin, while Egan went forward for his second point and Jack McCabe kicked two excellent efforts to lead by 0-8 to 0-1 after 22 minutes.

But they only managed one more score before the break, with McHugh soloing upfield to land an effort with his left foot after Regan had given Ballina hope with two pointed frees to leave six between them at the break.

Regan pointed inside a minute of the restart but the Corofin response was good with Michael Lundy and Sice pointing into the breeze.

Ballina reduced the margin to five with efforts from Frank Irwin and Regan before McCabe got his third of the match with an excellent shot after 48 minutes to lead by double scores at 0-12 to 0-6 after 48 minutes.

Ballina rallied and points from Ciaran Boland and the Irwin brothers Frank and Jack, cut the gap to just a goal with 11 minutes remaining, but Corofin did not panic and resumed control again with the experienced Michael Lundy coming in from the right to put four between them and then McCabe took his haul to 0-5 with two fisted efforts.

That left them 0-15 to 0-10 in front five minutes from the end and they closed out the win with Galway hurling captain Daithi Burke coming on for his first football action of the year in the closing stages.

Scorers for Corofin: Jack McCabe 0-5, Gary Sice 0-5 (0-2f), Dylan McHugh 0-2, Patrick Egan 0-2, Michael Lundy 0-2.

Scorers for Ballina Stephenites: Evan Regan 0-5 (0-4f, 0-1m), Frank Irwin 0-3 (0-1f), Jack Irwin 0-1, Ciaran Boland 0-1, Mark Birrane 0-1, Conor McStay 0-1.

Corofin:

1 Bernard Power

2 Liam Silke, 5 Dylan McHugh, 3 Cathal Silke

19 Mike Farragher, 6 Conor Cunningham, 4 Gavin Burke

8 Patrick Egan, 12 Ciaran Brady

7 Brian Cogger, 22 Michael Lundy, 11 Tony Gill

14 Gary Sice, 18 Dylan Wall, 15 Jack McCabe

Substitutes:

• 16 Oran Burke for Power (half-time)
• 13 Darragh Silke for Wall (half-time)
• 17 Ross Mahon for C Silke (38)
• 23 Glen McHugh for Mike Farragher (48)
• 10 Colin Brady for Gill (52)
• 30 Daithi Burke for Ciaran Brady (59)

Ballina Stephenites:

1 David Clarke

2 Liam Golden, 3 Ger Cafferkey, 6 Sam Callinan

5 Ciaran Boland, 7 David Tighe, 19 Sean Regan

14 Luke Feeney, 12 Mikey Murray

10 Niall Feeney, 26 Ciaran Treacy, 8 Frank Irwin

13 Evan Regan, 20 Jack Irwin, 15 Conor McStay

Substitutes:

• 25 James Doherty for Cafferkey (11)
• 11 Mark Dirrane for Treacy (41)
• 9 Dylan Thornton for Murray (41-52)
• 23 Ciaran Sweeney for J Irwin (56)

Referee: Barry Judge (Sligo)

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