Dr Crokes (Kerry) 2-11
Corofin (Galway) 0-8
COLM ‘GOOCH’ COOPER moved a step closer to an All-Ireland SFC club medal this afternoon after Dr Crokes from Killarney led from start to finish in an entertaining semi-final in Limerick.
They will now meet Slaughtneil in the final on St Patrick’s Day in a Derry v Kerry decider.
Corofin, All-Ireland champions two years ago, were always chasing the game. Dr Crokes deservedly led by double scores at the break when they opened up 1-7 to 0-5 lead.
Kieran O’Leary, dropped from the Kerry squad last year, showed what he is still capable of. He tormented the Corofin defence from the outset and kicked five points from play in the opening half, as well as setting up Gavin O’Shea for a goal six minutes from the break.
O’Leary did well to keep an effort from Cooper in play before passing back to O’Shea and he saw his shot for a point dip into the top right corner. That put Crokes 1-5 to 0-4 in front after Corofin had earlier done well to haul back the Kerry side, who raced into a 0-3 to 0-0 lead after just three minutes.
Points from Ian Burke, Michael Farragher, Jason Leonard and Gary Sice helped Corofin to reduce the margin before O’Shea struck for his goal. O’Leary stretched the lead a minute after the goal with another point.
Sice pulled back another free for the Galway champions, but O’Leary struck again for the Killarney side with his fifth point leaving them ahead by double scores at the interval.
Frees from Cooper and Daithi Casey extended Crokes’ lead after the restart but Corofin never gave up and Jason Leonard gave them hope with a point.
Dylan Wall then burst through for two points for Corofin to cut the gap to four going into the final quarter. But Crokes responded in style, with Daithi Casey soloing from deep inside his own half to bear down on the Corofin goal and set up Jordan Kiely to blast to the net ten minutes from to kill off the game as a contest.
Scorers for Dr Crokes: K O’Leary 0-5, J Kiely 1-0, G O’Shea 1-0, D Casey 0-2 (0-2f), C Cooper 0-1 (0-1f), S Murphy 0-1 (0-1f), B Looney 0-1, T Brosnan 0-1.
Scorers for Corofin: G Sice 0-2 (0-2f), J Leonard 0-2 (0-1f), D Wall 0-2, I Burke 0-1, Michael Farragher 0-1.
Dr Crokes
1. Shane Murphy
2. John Payne
3. Michael Moloney
4. Fionn Fitzgerald
5. David O’Leary
6. Gavin White
7. Luke Quinn
8. Ambrose O’Donovan
9. Alan O’Sullivan
10. Johnny Buckley
11. Gavin O’Shea
12. Brian Looney
13. Colm Cooper
14. Daithi Casey
15. Kieran O’Leary
Subs:
20. Shane Doolan for White (29, blood sub)
6. White for Doolan (half-time)
17. Michael Burns for Looney (42)
22. Jordan Kiely for O’Shea (48)
19. Tony Brosnan for Casey (54)
20. Doolan for O’Leary (59)
18. Mike Milner for Cooper (63)
Corofin
1. Bernard Power
2. Cathal Silke
3. Kieran Fitzgerald
4. Liam Silke
5. Kieran Molloy
6. Ciaran McGrath
20. Conor Cunningham
8. Daithi Burke
9. Ronan Steede
10. Gary Sice
11. Dylan Wall
12. Jason Leonard
13. Ian Burke
14. Michael Farragher
15. Michael Lundy
Subs:
25. Greg Higgins for C Silke (36)
7. Alan Burke for Molloy (38)
19. Barry O’Donovan for Cunningham (49)
24. Colin Brady for Wall (51)
Referee: Ciaran Branagan (Down)
