For the first time since winning the competition back in 2017, An Ghaeltacht are back in a Munster Clin IFC final via this composed and clinical performance, holding off a spirited late Corofin revival.<\/p>\n
The west Kerry side controlled large stretches of the contest, particularly throughout a dominant first half in which their power, pace and efficiency in attack yielded a match-winning platform.<\/p>\n
Corofin opened the scoring inside five minutes, Gear\u00f3id Cahill slotting a free to give them an early edge. But despite that bright start, they would endure a long and costly scoring drought. After some early wides, An Ghaeltacht settled when PJ Mac L\u00e1imh curled over their first point on nine minutes.<\/p>\n
Almost immediately, they moved ahead, from the resulting kickout, Corofin were turned over and \u00c9anna \u00d3 Conch\u00fair punished them with a sharp finish. \u00d3 Conch\u00fair added two more, one from play and one from a free, as An Ghaeltacht began to dictate territory and tempo, moving 0-4 to 0-1 in front by the 18th minute mark.<\/p>\n
Aodhna \u00d3 Beaglaoich then almost delivered a killer blow, bursting through the Corofin cover, only to see his goalbound strike saved by Luke Neylon.<\/p>\n
The warning shot went unheeded, however and five minutes later, a swift counterattack cut Corofin open. Conn \u00d3 Riag\u00e1in gathered a long ball into the right channel, released the surging \u00d3 Beaglaoich, and he in turn teed up Tom\u00e1s \u00d3 S\u00e9, who finished low and confidently to the net. That goal pushed An Ghaeltacht into a commanding 1-4 to 0-1 lead.<\/p>\n
\u00d3 S\u00e9 and Brian \u00d3 Beaglaoich tacked on further points, stretching the margin to eight. Corofin finally broke their 25-minute scoring famine approaching half-time, McGroary striking a well taken two pointer before Cahill added another from play. But Gavin \u00d3 Cinn\u00e9ide\u2019s response ensured An Ghaeltacht held a six-point cushion at the break, 1-7 to 0-4.<\/p>\n
The second half began much like the first had ended, with Brian \u00d3 Beaglaoich and \u00d3 S\u00e9 extending the advantage to nine, the Kerry All-Ireland winner landing a booming two pointer to continue the tempo.<\/p>\n
To their credit, Corofin refused to fold. McGroary narrowed the gap with a free and another two pointer, and although An Ghaeltacht replied through \u00d3 Cinn\u00e9ide and Dara \u00d3 Beaglaoich, the Clare men mounted a furious late charge. Cahill struck three points and Jamie Malone added another, hauling Corofin back to within four.<\/p>\n
But when they needed goals, An Ghaeltacht\u2019s defence held firm. Deep in injury time, \u00d3 Conch\u00fair capped his influential display with a free that sealed a deserved victory.<\/p>\n
\n Scorers for Corofin: G Cahill (0-5, 1f), C McGroary (0-5, 2tpf, 1f), J Malone (0-1).<\/p>\n
\n Scorers for An Ghaeltacht: T \u00d3 S\u00e9 (1-2), \u00c9 \u00d3 Conch\u00fair (0-4, 2f), B \u00d3 Beaglaoich (0-3, 1 2pt), G \u00d3 Cinn\u00e9ide (0-2), PJ Mac L\u00e1imh, D \u00d3 Beaglaoich (0-1 each).<\/p>\n
\n COROFIN: L Neylon; M O\u2019Loughlin, C O\u2019Donovan, J Rees; C Flanagan, D O\u2019Loughlin, K Keane; C McGroary, G Kelly; C Doolin, J Malone, E Doolin; D Cahill, G Cahill, S Kirby.<\/p>\n
\n Subs: J Ryan for C Flanagan (42)<\/p>\n
\n AN GHAELTACHT:\u00a0S \u00d3 Luing; C \u00d3 Murch\u00fa, R \u00d3 Beaglaoich, A Mac Amhlaoibh; P \u00d3 S\u00e9, B \u00d3 Beaglaoich, A \u00d3 Beaglaoich; A Walsh, C \u00d3 Beaglaoich; G \u00d3 Cinn\u00e9ide, D \u00d3 Beaglaoich, PJ Mac L\u00e1imh; C \u00d3 Riag\u00e1in, \u00c9 \u00d3 Conch\u00fair, T \u00d3 S\u00e9 (DC).<\/p>\n
\n Subs: D \u00d3 S\u00e9aghada for D \u00d3 Beaglaoich (52), \u00d3 \u00d3 S\u00e9 for T \u00d3 S\u00e9, C Mac Gearailt for C \u00d3 Riag\u00e1in (Both 57), C \u00d3 Corrduibh for PJ Mac L\u00e1imh (60+1).<\/p>\n
\n Referee: D O\u2019Mahony (Tipperary) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time since winning the competition back in 2017, An Ghaeltacht are back in a Munster…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[54829,10416,94059,9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-197036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-clare-gaa","9":"tag-kerry-gaa","10":"tag-munster-gaa","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breakingnews","13":"tag-eire","14":"tag-featured-news","15":"tag-featurednews","16":"tag-headlines","17":"tag-ie","18":"tag-ireland","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-top-stories","25":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115602767527311861","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}