Sice finds range to steer Corofin into last four
The Tribesmen squandered a plethora of chances during the opening period to lead 0-2 to 0-1, but Sice then discovered his shooting boots.
The half-forward missed an easy free from in the front of the posts at the start of the second half, but atoned for that from the next passage of play with a cracking long-range point, and he added four further points from placed balls to seal victory.
“Gary missed what he would regard as an easy free and would be disappointed with that,” said Corofin boss Stephen Rochford.
“But at the same time he didn’t shirk the responsibility and showed true leadership. He scored a great point from play and then kicked on with a few frees. We had numerous chances in the first half. We just weren’t making the scoreboard work as much as we did in previous games. From that aspect we weren’t overly concerned. With the work-rate and effort we were putting in, we just needed to be patient. Thankfully we got the scoreboard moving in the second half, and while I thought it was a battle, we were value for our seven points win.”
Scorers for Corofin: G Sice 0-6 (4f), Martin Farragher, Michael Farragher, D Burke 0-1 each.
Scorers for Tir Chonaill Gaels: C O’Neill, E O’Neill (f) 0-1 each.
COROFIN: T Healy; C McGrath, K Fitzgerald, C Cunningham; G Higgins, A Burke, L Silke; D Burke, R Steede; G Sice, M Lundy, Michael Farragher; Martin Farragher, G Delaney, I Burke.
Subs: P Kelly for Fitzgerald (37), D Wall for Michael Farragher (46), J Canney for Martin Farragher (55), A O’Donovan for I Burke (60), B O’Donovan for Silke (60).
TIR CHONAILL GAELS: D Traynor; B Ross, P Butler, A Downes; N Boyle, E McConville, G McGee; M Gottsche, A Bradley; C O’Neill, D Gilsenan, J McNicholas; L Kavanagh, J Feeney, C Magee.
Subs: B Collins for Ross (10), L Gavaghan for Kavanagh (40), E O’Neill for C O’Neill (42), M McCoy for Downes (47), B Duddy for Magee (53), B O’Reilly for Gilsenan (55).
Referee: F Kelly (Longford).
