Corofin’s Gearoid – ‘We shouldn’t fear anyone’

Gearoid Kelly knows that Corofin are heavy underdogs heading in to their Munster Intermediate Final against Na Gaeil this Sunday but remains undaunted, writes Ivan Smyth.

While he is aware his side face a tough challenge when taking on the star studded Kerry outfit, he insists that Corofin will not be overawed by the abundance of talent at their opponent’s disposal.

“They will be good no doubt but at the end of the day it’s 15 lads against 15. We will give them as much respect as they need but we will be concentrating on ourselves. We shouldn’t fear anyone. We respect them but we are going out to win. Against Newmarket we were not favourites and we managed to turn them over.”

Although the 28-year-old insists himself and his teammates are just focused on the task at hand this weekend, he knows there has been large excitement in the village for this game during the Christmas period.

“There is an unreal buzz around the place. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s good for the underage lads that they now have a team to look towards. It has been poor times recently with COVID and a lot of doom and gloom so at least we have had something to look forward to.”

Although Corofin entered the Championship this year as favourites to atone for their 2020 county final defeat to St. Joseph’s Doora-Barefield, they have been training a year for this moment. Kelly insists Corofin’s success has come down to their hard work and preparation.

“It has been about 12 months of hard work but that’s what it takes. We all love going down to the pitch. I don’t see it as work. Everyone has been getting better throughout the year.”

“One thing about Corofin is that the bond we have is unreal. When you are going down to the pitch you are going down to meet your friends. No matter rain, hail or shine we all want to be down there.”

When leading by 1-5 to 0-5 at half time in that county final defeat to St. Joseph’s Doora-Barefield, Corofin looked primed for a return to the top tier of Clare football. However, they were overwhelmed in the final 30 minutes of action as they struggled to match their opponent’s intensity.

Kelly admits that the extra year playing intermediate football has helped this group to develop their mental strength in key moments. Their brace of injury time goals helped from behind to beat Kildysart in the county final while overcoming challenging moments in their provincial games against Kildimo-Pallaskenry and Newmarket.

“We were going in favourites this year but that means very little when you are playing the game. We came up short against Doora-Barefield so we had to go again. Last year was a disaster but we needed the extra year in intermediate.”

“Every year you want to go one better than the last. We never looked past the next game. In that final they (Kildysart) really tested us but we found a way and we’ve been doing that the last few games. We have a never say die attitude.”

Kelly acknowledges that this is the biggest game that most of this young squad will have played. However, he insists they will treat this game the same as any other.

With no Clare side ever being crowned Munster Intermediate champions, Corofin stand on the brink of etching their name in to the history books.

“That would be nice to be the first Clare side to win it but if you think about it too much you go down the road of adding extra pressure, It is the biggest game any of us will ever play.”

“We have let the shackles off this year but it’s just another game to us. We just want to be training again on the Tuesday after the match.”

“The lads are fresh and we are all keeping sharp. We all enjoy going to the field.

“We are going in to every game with the same goal and that’s to be training the Tuesday after the game.”