Charlestown’s hopes of landing a second provincial title this decade were dashed in fairly emphatic fashion on their own turf at Fr O’Hara Park this afternoon. Defending champions Corofin hit the Sarsfields with a goal after just three minutes and although the Mayo champions were still only that goal in arrears at half-time, they couldn’t live with the Galway lads in the second half and ended up losing heavily, on a final scoreline of 2-14 to 0-7. The ever dependable Colm Gannon’s early doors match report from Fr O’Hara Park is here.
Corofin’s win today made it their fifth provincial title, which means that they now trail the all-time Connacht kingpins – Roscommon’s Clan na nGael (who, incidentally, haven’t won Connacht for ten years) – by two. Today’s win also means that clubs from Galway have now claimed 14 provincial crowns, compared to 13 from Mayo. (All of these fascinating facts come courtesy of Wikipedia – which has already been updated to take account of today’s result).
Corofin will now head into the Chrimbo dreaming their dreams about a possible second All-Ireland club title next spring. Next up for them will be Antrim’s St Gall’s who showed a clean pair of heels to Derry’s The Loup in today’s Ulster final and the Northerners will undoubtedly prove a stiff challenge for the Galway lads in the penultimate round. However, the fact that they went close enough last time out – they were beaten by eventual winners Kilmacud-Crokes in the All-Ireland semi-final back in February – will surely stand to Corofin when battle recommences on the club scene early next year.
knowing the result already I just kinda watched the match on TG4 but without paying a whole lot of attention.
A thought struck me about the MAYO NEWS CLUBSTARS awards and todays match and that is the Tom Parsons didn’t feature at all in one and just about in the other. Interesting that one of our more promising county players wasn’t a contender for a spot even though 5 of his club colleagues did make the final selection of 15 plus 5 replacements. Not sure if my opinion that he didn’t make an impression in todays match is correct but I don’t see it.
I didn’t watch yesterday’s match too closely either (for the same reason) but I think you’re correct in what you say about TP. He got one point from play right at the end but obviously wasn’t a dominant figure in the game. It’s been a year to forget for him on the football field – a pretty bad case of second season syndrome – to the extent that it’s difficult to believe now that there was that alarm this time last year that he might be switching to Aussie Rules. I think he’s still got huge potential, though, and hopefully he can start proving this next year.
Would be a bit worried about the standard of club football in Mayo at present. A quick and uneducated look at the Mayo News All Stars top fifteen + five shows at least eight of those guys in their early to mid thirties(Fair play to them by the way).
Parsons has been in freefall, ironically since the International series and I hope he regains form but its not like a tap that can be turned on. Glad for Casey. Has reinvented himself as a keeper many years ago, could have been a brilliant forward but for dogged injuries. Lots of other guys like him might have simply abandoned the game. Well done.
A thirteen point walloping by a workmanlike Corofin is a different matter for the County Board to digest and indeed all the other clubs in Mayo. Between 1994 and 2005 we generally made an all-Ireland final every second year. Castlebar 1994, Knockmore’97, Ballina ’99, Cross 2001, Cross ’03, Ballina ’05. The old gap is opening and it shows not a pretty sight.
Very good point ontheroad.
The Club successes were the basis upon which the County team were very competitive and ultimately unlucky.
It is concerning that Ballina and Castlebar are currently not strong either, and the county town has been down for too long. Clubs like Knockmore and Crossmolina don’t have the population base to constantly provide the high standards they have set.
For this generation we are relying on the u21s of the last few years and it is vital that we improve our underage structure to make up for lapses in club standards so that the “gems” are unearthed and nurtured.
guys just as a side , yesterday was the first time in about 30 years since a mayo club lost to a galway team in a club connacht final , 78 or 79 i think it was …. hopefully not a sign of things to come …
Agree with ontheroad, having attended all the quarter finals and semis this year , standards were pretty poor and no one new player stood out at all …in my opinion …
Just after watching the Grand Slam review on RTE. It would have been heartbreak if Stephen Jones had got that last penalty in Cardiff.
It reminded so much of Coyle’s bouncing ball in 1996. It’s a pity we could not be saying “How heartbreaking it would have been had Coyle’s kick managed somehow to bounce over the bar”
Oh the pain of it all.
I think its about time we stop raking the coals and forget about ’96. I dont mean to sound harsh but that sort of loser talk really irks me. It happened, we cant change it, so lets all get over it. Nobody has any power over what happened in the past so its the present team that needs focus. Rant Over!
Going back to Charleston, I dont think the result is a fair reflection on them. Corofin play a dower brand of football with a blanket defence and 12 men behind the ball. That doesnt suit Charlestowns running game which is effective against most teams. Also lets not forget that Ginger Tiernan was the best player for Charlestown this year, as well as the best player in this years club championship and by far the most influential. The public voted for Casey in the MayoNews awards because he is more of a familiar name but if pundits, players or real football people voted then I would say Teirnan had it in the bag. Im not saying that Teirnan would have won the game for Charlestown but the score would certainly have been closer.
The one thing that really struck me from watching the Rugby lads review and its relevance to us was Kidneys handling of a team on the rocks last winter and how he saw the need for psychological repair. of course we dont know what he did or said but he instilled(or extracted from them ) enough belief and steel into those guys to turn them round… oh for such a man in Mayo
On the club stars its worrying alright Most making the grade this year are very senior ex county men with little or no evidence of recent u21 or minor stars stepping up
Charlestown’s loss at the weekend is not the end of the world. As I see it these things go in cycles. At the moment we are at the bottom of the current cycle both club and county. Back in the early 90’s the senior team was at a low ebb. But we were relatively successful at minor and U21. It was about this time that the likes of Kevin O’Neill, Ciaran McDonnell, David Nestor, David Brady, John Casey, and others came on the scene, they went on to form the backbone of the team that reached the AL final in 96 and 97. The last few years have reminded me of that period in the early 90’s. with successful minor and U21 teams. I think that once these guys start to mature we will see the club and count teams becoming more successful.
Its a pity for Tiernan to watch that match on Sunday, he will not get that chance again on his home patch.
What do you make of the down blow-in for charlestown, had a decent game against relentless pressure, couple of fine blocks.