Gary Sice: Corofin know how Castlehaven feel as Brigid’s do it again

The former Galway star was speaking on the Irish Examiner's Gaelic Football Show. 

Gary Sice of Corofin signs autographs for young supporters after the AIB Connacht GAA Football Senior Club Championship semi-final against Ballina Stephenites. Picture: Ray Ryan/Sportsfile

Former Galway footballer and current Corofin star Gary Sice knows exactly how Munster champions Castlehaven feel after their 1-11 to 0-10 defeat against St Brigid’s last Sunday.

Sice suffered a Connacht final loss against the same opponents. For the second game in a row, St Brigid’s landed the opening score and never trailed at any stage thereafter.

“They are deceiving in that they are not overly physical,” said Sice, speaking on the Irish Examiner Gaelic football podcast. “But their pace is electric and they double that down with something Brigid’s come with every now and again, extremely talented footballers. Ruaidhri Fallon, Conor Hand, Ben O’Carroll, Bobby Nugent, very few of them can’t play.” 

Sice, who turned 39 last year, was the top scorer when he helped Corofin to a Galway SFC title against Moycullen in November. It was his 13th county medal. They came into the Connacht decider as favourites where they were comprehensively outplayed. What went wrong?

“I’ll go from my point of view first; I can’t ever remember missing three frees before. That is personal accountability. Where I set them, they are gimmes. The hard ones are outside that range. I’ve looked at it a lot and I can’t figure it. Our tackle count was down, our physicality was down.

“Brigid’s came with something, we didn’t under-estimate them because they are Brigid’s and we don’t have a great history with them. We’ve never won a Connacht final against a Roscommon team in Roscommon as a club. We were lethargic to be quite honest.” 

Corofin came into the Connacht final after an impressive display against Mayo champions Ballina Stephenites. A slow start and some missed goal chances in the second half saw them lost out by five points in the end.

“Ballina did us no favours because we were up to our ankles in rain and misery in Pearse Stadium and it turned into a dogfight. Moycullen was Moycullen, that was always going to be like that because there is a story building up between the panels at this stage. Brigid’s came and we, arrogance possibly? Not over the top but possibly thinking we made more done than we had.

“It is a young group outside of me. For a lot of lads, it is their first time playing outside of Galway. It is a different animal. County champions and a different calibre.

“We didn’t deal with it for 30 minutes and when we did get a period, we missed a lot. Similar to Castlehaven on Sunday. We got the same patch and did the same thing. Missed the frees they missed and the goal chances they missed. No complaints. Brigid’s were better on the day.”