Corofin (Galway) 1-14

St. Vincent's (Dublin) 1-9

Corofin scored the last three points of a terrific contest at Tullamore to end St. Vincent's reign as Andy Merrigan Cup holders and qualify for the All-Ireland club football final on St. Patrick's Day.

Stephen Rochford's underdogs recovered from the double blow of missing a penalty and then immediately conceding one at the other end, which Tomas Quinn converted in the 25th minute, to hit back with a Martin Farragher goal and take a 1-8 to 1-6 lead into the break.

The Galway and Connacht champions extended their advantage to six points, 1-11 to 1-6, early in the second half before Vincent's rallied to cut the deficit to two. But three unanswered points in the final 10 minutes saw Corofin through to the final where they will face the winners of tomorrow's second semi-final between Austin Stacks and Slaughtneil in Portlaoise.

The Croke Park decider offers the green and golds an opportunity to win their first All-Ireland title since 1998 when they defeated Dublin's Erin's Isle.

A Gary Sice free opened the scoring in a game which Corofin might have won more comfortably had St. Vincent's goalkeeper Michael Savage not saved a goal-bound shot from Michael Farragher at the expense of a '45'. Also in the first half, Ian Burke opted to take a point with only Savage to beat.

When Sligo star Brendan Egan fouled Sice for a 23rd minute penalty, it looked like the Westerners would finally raise a green flag, but Gary Delaney's shot hit the crossbar and Quinn rubbed salt into their wounds when he made no mistake from the spot barely two minutes later after Kieran Fitzgerald had taken down Ciaran Dorney.

That gave the Marino men a 1-5 to 0-7 lead, but Martin Farragher netted a short time later for Corofin before man of the match Micheal Lundy and Brendan Egan traded points in a frenetic finish to the first half.

Another Lundy effort and a Burke brace pushed Corofin six points clear within eight minutes of the restart, but two points (one free) in the space of three minutes from Diarmuid Connolly, and a Quinn free, left just two in it.

Cathal Silke then came to Corofin's rescue when he denied Ruairi Trainor a certain goal with a last-gasp before the Galway men pulled clear again with points from Burke, Sice (free) and Martin Farragher in the closing stages.

Corofin - T Healy; K McGrath, K Fitzgerald, C Silke; D Burke, L Silke, A Burke; G Higgins, R Steede; G Sice (0-3f), G Delaney, Michael Farragher; Martin Farragher (1-2), M Lundy (0-4), I Burke (0-5, 1f). Subs: D Wall for R Steede, J Burke for Martin Farragher, C Cunningham for A Burke, K Murphy for Michael Farragher.

St Vincent's - M Savage; Cameron Diamond, J Curley, H Gill; B Egan (0-1), G Brennan, M Concarr; E Fennell, G Burke; Cormac Diamond, D Connolly (0-3, 1f), S Carthy (0-1); R Trainor (0-2), C Dorney (0-1), T Quinn (1-1, 1-0pen, 0-1f). Subs: T Diamond for Cormac Diamond, G Murphy for C Dorney, E Brady for M Concarr.

Referee - P Hughes.

Tweet

Most Read Stories