Pádraig Pearses boss questions bookmaker wisdom after surprising Corofin
Corofin Picture: A His Pádraig Carey Celebrates ó Victory Paul After Piaras Of Over With Mídheach/sportsfile Supporter Pearses Side's
Pádraig Pearses manager Frank Canning called the skills of the bookmaking community into question after his 7/2 underdogs turned over Corofin with a devastating first half display of attacking football at Tuam Stadium yesterday.
“The bookies don’t always get it right, they’re not analysing games properly” he declared after his side’s 2-10 to 0-10 win at Tuam Stadium, their fifth win in six Connacht SFC games in 2019, 2021 and this week.
“Corofin are an iconic club, they’re known nationwide in the 32 counties, and that fed into the bookies as well. That’s not to say that Corofin didn’t deserve to be favourites today but not as highly fancied as maybe the bookies were making them out to be”.
Canning followed up by suggesting that the same thing might apply next Sunday when his players travel to Leitrim to take on Mohill in the Connacht semi-final.
“The shoe is probably on the other foot now” said the man who guided Portumna to All-Ireland hurling glory in 2014.
“The bookies will probably be disrespectful to Mohill now next week, it’s just the way they do it”.
In defence of the much-maligned oddsmakers, they could be forgiven for going over the top about the Roscommon champions after this. Corofin scored two points in the first five minutes, and for the next 50, Pearses were rampant.
The scoring damage was done in the first half when Paul Carey fired 1-3, Eoin Colleran shook off concerns about a shoulder injury to kick three excellent points, and wily veterans David Murray, Niall Daly, Conor Daly and Niall Carty performed their roles superbly well, suffocating a Corofin attack that never caught fire.
A Colleran free and a majestic Niall Daly point cancelled out Corofin’s start, then Carey rattled the net after 12 minutes when referee John Gilmartin seemed to decide that Carey’s extra couple of steps and Conor Cunningham’s wraparound tackle on the Pearses attacker cancelled each other out.
Instead of jolting Corofin into action, Pearses only piled on the pressure further, terrorising a defence that had 2024 and 2022 All-Stars in the shape of Dylan McHugh and Liam Silke.
By half-time it was 1-8 to 0-3, and even though Pearses’ flamboyant attacking play disappeared after that, Corofin outscoring the south Roscommon side by the odd point in five over the next 25 minutes wasn’t much use to the five-time All-Ireland champions.
“It was a rude awakening in the second half, it wasn’t as pretty” said Canning.
“We actually created a good bit, our final application was poor I thought. There was an odd ball that didn’t hit the target”.
Corofin did hit the target four times from the 54th minute onwards, but as a chink of light appeared for the home supporters, Pearses shut it out.
Liam Silke’s skyscraping kick made it 1-10 to 0-10 in stoppage time, but Declan Kenny won the subsequent kickout and placed perfect long ball over the top into the path of Jack Nevin, and the substitute easily ran the ball in as the furthest man forward to clinch their win.
“We came back from eight points to three points; we had the momentum. But just too little, too late” said Kevin Johnson, Corofin manager. Though perhaps he too is ready for his bookmaker’s licence, as he declared the Roscommon club real contenders for a first ever All-Ireland title.
“Look at them beating St Brigid’s already this year; St Brigid’s were a kick of the ball from winning an All-Ireland club title. That win would have given them massive belief, and beating Corofin on the way will give them massive belief too. They will look further ahead but next week will be a challenge for them”.
P Carey 1-4 (0-2f, 0-1m), E Colleran 0-3 (0-1f, 0-1m), J Nevin 1-0, N Daly 0-1, D Kenny 0-1, C Harley 0-1.
D Canney 0-4 (0-2f), K Molloy 0-2, D Silke 0-1, J McCabe 0-1m, M Lundy 0-1, L Silke 0-1.
P Whelan; G Downey, N Carty, D Murray; D Kenny, C Keogh, C Harley; C Ryan, N Daly; C Daly, R Daly, A McGreal; E Colleran, P Carey, J Tumulty.
S Canning for McGreal (41), M Richardson for Downey (51), J Nevin for Tumulty (53), C Lohan for Harley (59), E Kelly for Colleran (60+2).
B Power; C Silke, D McHugh, L Silke; B Cogger, C Cunningham, K Molloy; P Egan, M Farragher; D Canny, T Gill, C Brady; D Silke, G Sice, J McCabe.
G Burke for C Silke (24), J Leonard for Gill (half-time), M Lundy for Cunningham (half-time), M Farragher for Sice (43), R Coen for D Silke (53)
John Gilmartin (Sligo).