Silke's touch the difference as 14-man Corofin end Moorefield's All-Ireland dream
Moorefield 0-6
Corofin 1-6
AIB All-Ireland Club SFC semi-final
Moorefield’s All-Ireland dream came to an end on Saturday afternoon in Tullamore as Liam Silke’s late goal broke the hearts, and the resistance, of the Kildare champions.
In a tense, and mostly underwhelming affair, the tie remained in the melting pot until the last shrill of referee Derek O’Mahoney’s whistle, but 14-man Corofin showed superb defensive nous and experience of the highest order to seal their place in the All-Ireland final against either Nemo Rangers or Slaughtneil.
For Moorefield, it will feel like an opportunity spurned to make it into a first ever Croke Park decider after they failed to break down their opponents despite playing with an extra man for almost the entire game.
Their cause wasn't helped by the absence of captain Daryl Flynn, who was forced to sit out the game after damaging ankle ligaments in training a week beforehand.
Linesman Sean Hurson provided the game’s major talking point after just 74 seconds when Corofin full-forward Martin Farragher was shown a straight red card. It looked a strange decision at the time, and video footage proves it to have been an atrocious call. It stemmed from a fine win by Liam Healy as he claimed the ball on front of his man, but Farragher fouled him as he exited defence and stood over him for a second or two afterwards. James Murray came in and gave a nudge to the Corofin man in the back, and the contact between Farragher’s leg and Healy’s head was both innocuous and minimal.
From that point you would have expected Moorefield to take command with the numerical advantage, but they looked nervous and heavy-legged when going forward, while a wall of Corofin men formed an almost impenetrable blanket for the men in green and white. It was a stagnant, dour affair for the rest of the first half as neither side ever really caught fire, and the brilliant football that both teams had played in 2017 to reach this stage was a long way off.
The first score failed to arrive for 13 minutes, and it eventually came by way of a Moorefield mistake as Tom Kinsella’s kickout went straight to Ian Burke, and Jason Leonard was on hand to finish off the move to tap over from close range. After a couple of early wides from James Murray and David Whyte, it was the latter who got Moorefield’s opening point from long range after Murray set him up.
That quick exchange of points failed to ignite the game however, and the only blows traded before the break were scores from frees that came courtesy of Gary Sice and Eanna O’Connor at either end. The Galway men should really have found the net shortly before half-time however, as a super ball from Burke found Micheál Lundy, but he dragged an effort wide of Kinsella’s lefthand post.
30 minutes of forgettable fare ended 0-2 apiece.
Upon the restart Corofin bettered their entire first half tally in the first five minutes as they registered three points on the bounce. Sice kicked off their purple patch with a simple point from a free, before Burke stroked over another to double the Connacht champions’ lead. Midfielder Ronan Steede then nudged over a superb point at the end of a free-flowing move to put Corofin well in charge.
Moorefield dominated possession for a spell after that, but some fabulous Corofin defending combined with some wasteful kick passing meant that their moves broke down all too frequently. The presence of Cathal Silke as a sweeper on front of the Corofin full-back line was the biggest detriment to Moorefield’s play, along with some wasteful finishing when they did get into scoring positions.
It took until the 47th minute for Moorefield to get their first score in the second half, coming through Eanna O’Connor after his brother won the free, and that seemed to take the shackles off Ross Glavin’s men somewhat. Substitute Arron Mullins made an immediate impact upon his introduction by coolly slotting over a point from the left wing as Moorefield closed the gap to within one point.
James Murray then made a superb turnover when he smashed into Lundy and stripped the ball from him inside his own 13 metre line, and when the ball was worked up the other end of the field it was Murray who was on hand to float over an exceptional point from 40 metres out.
Sice nudged Corofin back into the lead with a point from a free, but again Moorefield responded as Murray won possession on the right wing and the ball was worked to Cian O’Connor who slotted the ball over to level the game with five minutes to go.
The winning score game two minutes from time, and it was well worthy of making the difference in any game. A superb ball in from Dylan Wall found Ian Burke, and he showed fleetness in his hands to offload to the onrushing Liam Silke who smashed home to the back of Kinsella’s net, leaving Moorefield with too steep a mountain to climb.
They through the kitchen sink at it in the closing stages, but the closest the Kildare champions could come was when Mark Dempsey’s late effort for a goal was blocked in a crowded square and Corofin hung on.
Scorers for Moorefield: E O’Connor 0-2f, A Mullins, J Murray, D Whyte and C O’Connor 0-1 each.
Scorers for Corofin: G Sice 0-3f, L Silke 1-0, I Burke, J Leonard and R Steede 0-1 each.
Moorefield
Tom Kinsella; Liam Callaghan, Liam Healy, Sean Healy; James Murray, Kevin Murnaghan, Mark Dempsey; Cian O’Connor, Aaron Masterson; Anthony Durney, Eddie Heavey, David Whyte; Niall Hurley-Lynch, Ronan Sweeney, Eanna O’Connor.
Subs used: Adam Tyrrell for Durney 34mins, Ian Meehan for Heavey 40mins, Mark Murray for Hurley-Lynch 45mins, Aaron Mullins for Tyrrell BC 48mins, A Sweeney for Whyte 60mins.
Corofin
Bernard Power; Liam Silke, Kieran Fitzgerald, Cathal Silke; Kieran Molloy, Michael Farragher, Dylan Wall; Daithí Burke, Ronan Steede; Gary Sice, Micheál Lundy, Jason Leonard; Ian Burke, Martin Farragher, Colin Brady.
Subs used: Barry O’Donovan for Brady 50mins, Conor Cunningham for Farragher 60mins, Darragh Silke for Leonard.