All-Ireland club SFC quarter-final: Corofin ease past Tir Chonaill Gaels

Corofin 0-9 Tir Chonaill Gaels 0-2

A second-half scoring burst from Gary Sice helped Corofin to a scrappy win over Tir Chonaill Gaels at Ruislip.

The Tribesmen squandered a plethora of chances during the opening period to lead 0-2 to 0-1, but Sice then discovered his shooting boots.

The half-forward missed an easy free from in the front of the posts at the start of the second half, but atoned for that from the next passage of play with a cracking long-range point, and he added four further points from placed balls to seal victory.

"Gary missed what he would regard as an easy free and would be disappointed with that," said Corofin manager Stephen Rochford. "But at the same time he didn't shirk the responsibility and showed true leadership. He scored a great point from play and then kicked on with a few frees.

“We had numerous chances in the first half. We just weren’t making the scoreboard work as much as we did in previous games. From that aspect we weren’t overly concerned.

“With the work-rate and effort we were putting in, we just needed to be patient. Thankfully we got the scoreboard moving in the second half, and while I thought it was a battle, we were value for our seven points.”

Corofin had scored 23-96 in this year’s championship prior to their trip to the English capital, but they struggled to reproduce that on a bog of a pitch. They broke the deadlock after two minutes but didn’t register another score until the last minute of the first half.

Tir Chonaill Gaels were the much happier side at the interval, but having not played a competitive match since the start of September, their lack of sharpness in front of goal ended any hope of a first All-Ireland quarter-final victory in 15 attempts.

Like their hosts, Corofin were much more comfortable when playing into the gale, and Sice showed some much-needed composure in front of goal. Five points in 10 minutes at the beginning of the second half ended the game as a contest.

“We have been playing some intense games,” said Rochford. “We had a league final two weeks ago, and a Connacht final the week before that. That stood to us in relation to our match fitness. It’s very difficult for Tir Chonaill Gaels to be able to match that.”

Scorers – Corofin: G Sice 0-6 (4f), Martin Farragher, Michael Farragher, D Burke 0-1 each. Tir Chonaill Gaels: C O'Neill, E O'Neill (f) 0-1 each.

Corofin: T Healy; C McGrath, K Fitzgerald, C Cunningham; G Higgins, A Burke, L Silke; D Burke, R Steede; G Sice, M Lundy, Michael Farragher; Martin Farragher, G Delaney, I Burke. Subs: P Kelly for Fitzgerald (37), D Wall for Michael Farragher (46), J Canney for Martin Farragher (55), A O'Donovan for I Burke (60), B O'Donovan for Silke (60).

Tir Chonaill Gaels: D Traynor; B Ross, P Butler, A Downes; N Boyle, E McConville, G McGee; M Gottsche, A Bradley; C O'Neill, D Gilsenan, J McNicholas; L Kavanagh, J Feeney, C Magee.

Subs: B Collins for Ross (10), L Gavaghan for Kavanagh (40), E O’Neill for C O’Neill (42), M McCoy for Downes (47), B Duddy for Magee (53), B O’Reilly for Gilsenan (55).

Referee: F Kelly (Longford)