Corofin show distinct lack of mercy as they march on to Connacht final

Corofin 7-20 Aughawillan 0-6

There was nothing between these sides in the opening quarter but once Corofin got in front they went on a scoring rampage to book their place in the provincial decider against Mayo champions Ballintubber.

With the wind at the backs, the Galway champions led by just 0-5 to 0-3 at the end of the opening quarter as Aughawillan worked relentlessly to stay in the game.

But with wing-forward Gary Sice and midfielder Ronan Steede orchestrating matters, Corofin hit four points in as many minutes and then pushed on to lead by 0-11 to 0-3 at the break.

The floodgates well and truly opened in the second-half once Martin Farragher got the first goal of the game four minutes after the restart.

Galway player Michael Lundy helped himself to a hat-trick, Farragher bagged a second and Ian Burke and Joe Canney also rattled the back of the net as Corofin, despite missing half a dozen probable starting players through injury, mercilessly carved open the Aughawillan defence to qualify for their tenth Connacht final.

Aughawillan, who won their first Leitrim title in 20 years this season, kept in touch early on with Ciaran Gilheany and Gary Plunkett, but they had ran clean out of ideas once Corofin got a run on them.

Corofin will now go in search of their sixth provincial title and their manager Stephen Rochford, who is from Crossmolina in Mayo, said he knows how tough Ballintubber will be in the final.

“They have household names and guys on the sideline like Peter Ford and Tony Duffy who have intercounty experience so we know what we are up against.

“But in the next fortnight we will get our heads down and prepare diligently for what will be game number seven for us this year.

“We have never looked beyond the next game all year, it was the same with Aughawillan and thankfully we are now in the Connacht final,” said Rochford.

COROFIN: T Healy; M Comer, K Fitzgerald, C Silke; C McGrath, A Burke, L Silke; D Burke, R Steede (0-3); G Sice (0-6, two frees), M Lundy (3-1), D Wall (0-3); M Farragher (2-1), G Higgins (0-1), I Burke (1-2). Subs: C Cunningham for Comer (7 mins), A O'Donovan (0-1) for D Burke (47), J Canney (1-1) for Farragher (47 mins), P Kelly for Fitzgerald (50 mins), B O'Donovan (0-1) for Wall (50 mins), A Lawless for C Silke (51 mins).

AUGHAWILLAN: C Maguire; D McGovern, Michael Quinn, G McGovern; M Beirne, N Plunkett, S Quinn; S Fox, S Flanagan (0-1); R McTague, M Plunkett, P Dolan; C Gilheany (0-4, two frees), G Plunkett (0-1), M Quinn. Subs: S Gilheany for Beirne (38 mins), R Creamer for N Plunkett (48 mins), K McTague for Morgan Quinn (51 mins), F McTague for Dolan (56 mins), G Deane for G Plunkett (56 mins).

Referee: J Henry (Mayo).