The Mayo News

The sky falls in on Charlestown


Mayo champions crushed as Corofin cut loose again

Final
Corofin 2-14
Charlestown 0-7

Mike Finnerty
Charlestown

IT wasn’t supposed to end like this for Charlestown. Not on their home pitch, in front of their own supporters, after the historic, memorable season they have had. This was supposed to be the day when Mayo’s champions would take their place at the high table in Connacht again. Or, at the very least, push Corofin, the defending champions, to the pin of their collar.
Alas, it was not to be.
Instead, Charlestown picked last Sunday to produce their poorest performance of the season. They started poorly, fell behind, and the longer the game wore on, the more a recovery looked unlikely. Corofin are not thirteen points a better team than them but last weekend they looked a different class to their beleaguered opponents.
In the end, the final whistle couldn’t come quick enough for Charlestown.
Afterwards, nobody seemed too sure exactly why they malfunctioned so badly. It was just one of those days for the locals; nerves, the absence of ‘Ginger’ Tiernan, and Corofin’s intensity and  early goal were certainly factors, but there was also a nagging suspicion that Charlestown were running on empty. There was just nothing left in the tank when Corofin upped the ante and the winners played all of the second half at their own pace.
Charlestown were second best in most positions, were cleaned out on breaks around the middle of the field, and their forwards struggled to lose their tigerish, tight markers.
Consider these statistics; Corofin led by 1-3 to 0-1 after twenty minutes and by 1-4 to 0-4 at half-time. With 48 minutes on the watch, it was 1-10 to 0-4 and Gary Sice’s goal made it 2-12 to 0-5. In hindsight, it was an open and shut case from early in the day.
Once Corofin gained control around the middle, everything else fell into place for them. In the absence of Tiernan, Tom Parsons was ploughing a lone furrow and found himself outnumbered in the battle for territory.
Greg Higgins and Aidan Donnellan were a formidable midfield partnership, and they got plenty of support on the ground from the likes of Tony Goggins, Ciaran McGrath, Gary Sice, Ronan Steede and Alan Burke who hoovered up most of the loose ball.
Their hard work meant a plentiful supply for inside forwards Kieran Comer and Joe Canney, and the dynamic duo did the rest. Comer ended the day with 1-7 (a third minute goal, six points from frees, and a superb score from play) after a man of the match performance while the elusive Canney caused havoc. His constant movement tormented Charlestown and he nailed two points for good measure.
The writing was on the wall early on for the Sarsfields and only a couple of last-ditch blocks from Darragh McMeel prevented Corofin from disappearing into the distance in the first half.
Even still, Charlestown had fallen five points behind by the 20th minute but good scores from Richard Haran (2) and Paul Mulligan (free) left just a goal between the teams at the break.
However, Corofin’s midfield dominance and high-intensity approach provided them with the platform to push on after the restart. Playing with the aid of the strong wind, they took complete control and reeled off six unanswered points during the third quarter that killed the game as a contest.
The marauding Kieran Comer could do no wrong and nailed four of these scores with the irrepressible Joe Canney tagging on a brace of points from close range.
When the dust had settled after this purple patch, Charlestown were nine points behind with twelve minutes left. Incredibly, they were struggling to even get out of their own half for long spells and ended up playing for pride in the final quarter.
Late points from Richard Haran (free), Paul Mulligan (free) and Tom Parsons proved scant consolation for the homeside as Corofin continued to turn the screw at every opportunity.
The rout was completed in the 59th minute when impressive wing-back Gary Sice used his pace to split the Charlestown cover. His subsequent one-two with Joe Canney ended with Sice palming the ball to the empty net and the celebrations began in earnest.
Claremorris-based Garda, Ciaran McGrath, capped an eye-catching personal performance with a sweet score deep into injury-time that glossed the final scoreline even further for Corofin.
By that stage, Charlestown had been reduced to a pale shadow of themselves and just wanted the day to be over. The moral of the story? Some things just aren’t meant to be.

Corofin
D Morris; G Delaney, D Burke, C Silke; D Keane, T Goggins, G Sice (1-0); G Higgins (0-1), A Donnellan; M Farragher (0-1), R Steede, C McGrath (0-1); K Comer (1-7, 6fs), J Canney (0-2), A Burke.
Subs used: S Monaghan (0-1) for Keane; A O’Donovan (0-1) for Farragher; T Burke for Steede.

Charlestown
J Casey; E Casey, D McMeel, D Caffrey; D Higgins, K Deignan, C Maye; T Parsons (0-1), A Higgins; R Haran (0-3, 1f), M Caffrey, P Mulligan (0-3, 2fs); M Mulvaney, T Mulligan, O Conway.
Subs used: B O’Connell for Conway; S Morris for Maye; M Divilly for Caffrey; E Gallagher for Mulvaney.

Referee: Marty Duffy (Sligo)

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