This article is from page 43 of the 2008-08-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 43 JPG
INSPIRED by a surprise victory for St Joseph’s on Friday night that opened up the group once more, both teams pinpointed this game to get their challenge back on track.
As a result, Corofin and Tubber tore into each other in real local der- by fashion, producing a compelling yet open encounter in the last of the championship games on Sunday.
Despite a strong breeze blowing towards the clubhouse, it was a rela- tively even affair throughout but that SOKO LNAUE NUM Mmoiesleore menace phant was due to a ten minute pur- ple patch directly after half-time in which they outscored Tubber by 2-6 to 0-1 to overturn a one point deficit into a ten point lead.
Admittedly, they took their foot off the gas after that and allowed Tub- ber to charge at them once more but after building up such a mammoth advantage, they deservedly held on to complete the victory.
Essentially, the difference overall was the ability of Corofin and Kevin Heagney in particular, to obtain goals out of nothing. The Clare mi- nor set up Corofin’s first goal for Kil- lian Neylon and then scored two op- portunistic goals in the space of six minutes after half-time, first gather-
ing a John Williams puck-out before slipping his shot into the far corner of the net.
The second was even better when he again fielded from a Darragh Clancy clearance before jinking past his man and burying into the top corner.
At the other end, despite grabbing two late goals, Tubber had four clear goal chances over the 60 minutes that were twarted by goalkeeper John Williams, including a late first
half penalty save from Blaine Earley that would have given Tubber a four- point half-time cushion.
Tubber had started brightly and were Q-5 to O-2 ahead at the end of the first quarter, mainly thanks to three Blaine Earley frees but they were rocked by Neylon’s goal that cancelled out their early advantage.
From that juncture to the break, the sides went point for point until the impressive David O’Donoghue con-
verted his third point of the half to give Tubber a slender half-time lead.
Corofin emerged a more focused side in the second period and mov- ing Dara Shannon to midfield, they opened up Tubber with ease to score 2-6 and push them into a command- ing lead.
Tubber emptied the bench and it sparked a reaction with first, Shane O’Connor and then first cousin Bar- ry grabbing two goals by the 55th
minute to produce a nervy finish.
As the heavens opened though, the game petered out and Corofin held their ground to carve out the much needed win and even up the group once again.