Corofin 3-13 Mountbellew/Moylough 0-12
Corofin captured their 17th Galway SFC crown and completed a three-in-a-row for the first time in their history after an entertaining contest at Tuam Stadium.
Mountbellew/Moylough, bidding for their fifth title and first since 1986, pushed them for three quarters of the contest but the All-Ireland champions pulled away to canter home.
They will now turn their attention to trying to retain their provincial and All-Ireland crowns but as the star of their manager Stephen Rochford continues to rise it may be only a matter of time before the Crossmolina native moves on to great things.
Rochford, the favourite to take over from Pat Holmes and Noel Connelly as Mayo manager, said that his primary focus at the moment is a Corofin side he has now guided to three county titles but he admitted he would love to take charge of his home county.
“I am on record saying that at some stage in my managerial career, as a man from Mayo, I would love to be given the opportunity to manage Mayo. Whether that is going to be in 2016 or not, time will tell.
“I am very, very focused on Corofin, we have a game again in two weeks’ time. I have had no communication with the county board either proactively or reactively. We will just be enjoying tonight’s win and focusing on Mohill come Tuesday,” said Rochford.
His men didn’t have it all their own way and yet their margin of victory would have been much greater had they finished the large number of goal chances they created.
They led by 2-6 to 0-8 at the interval with midfielder Ronan Steede and full-forward Martin Farragher finding the net in a blistering three-minute spell in the second quarter.
The sides were level three times in the opening quarter but Corofin looked that bit more dangerous going forward and former Aussie Rules player Steede set the tone with an early point and then soloed through to blast home a fine goal after 20 minutes.
The impressive Gary Sice was involved in creating the second goal which was finished by Farragher.
Mountbellew/Moylough responded well with Cathal Kenny getting a couple of points and Barry McHugh also got a second.
Mountbellew/Moylough got on top in the early stages of the second-half with former Galway midfielder Joe Bergin prominent after moving up front.
Two more frees from Kenny cut the gap to a point and it took a good block by Alan Burke to deny Bergin.
The introduction of Ian Burke added an edge to the Corofin attack and points from him and Sice gave Corofin a four point cushion going into the final quarter.
Mountbellew/Moylough were unable to respond and two more points from Martin Farragher and another from Burke saw them pull away before Burke fisted home their third goal three minutes from time after being set up by Farragher to secure their 14th title in 25 years.
“We had to ride out that third-quarter challenge,” added Rochford. “But I was really, really happy with our defensive performance. We didn’t give away any goal chance, and at the other end then, we bided our time, we kept tipping around and got the ball over the bar. And we got the goal at the end then to round it off.”
Corofin will now prepare for a Connacht quarter-final meeting with Leitrim champions Mohill in two weeks but by then their manager might be considering a winter of double jobbing on the GAA managerial front as Mayo come knocking.
Corofin: T Healy; P Kelly, K Fitzgerald, C Cunningham; C McGrath, A Burke, L Silke; D Burke, R Steede (1-1); G Sice (0-1, 0-1f), M Lundy (0-1), D Wall (0-1); J Leonard (0-1, 0-1f), Martin Farragher (1-4, 0-1f), Michael Farragher. Subs: I Burke (1-3) for Leonard (41 mins), K Molloy for Cunningham (52 mins), C Silke for Kelly (54 mins), S Monaghan for Wall (57 mins), J Canney for Martin Farragher (58 mins), K Murphy (0-1) for Sice (58 mins).
Mountbellew/Moylough: B Donnellan (0-1, 0-1f); G Sweeney, D Hogan, C Duffy; C Mannion, C Colleran, A McHugh; J Bergin, M Barrett; S Boyle, M Daly, P Donnellan; C Kenny (0-8, 0-7f), E Finnerty (0-1), B McHugh (0-2). Subs: A Sweeney for Colleran (41 mins), N McDonagh for A McHugh (43 mins), J Meehan for Donnellan (56 mins), S Sweeney for Daly (56 mins), D McHugh for Hogan (59 mins)
Referee: S Hehir (Beagh).
