MATCH PREVIEW: Dangerous Corofin will present Slaughtneil with their biggest test of all

All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship final: Slaughtneil v Corofin (today, 4pm, Croke Park)

By Cahair O’Kane

SLAUGHTNEIL didn’t expect to be here. Corofin did.

It might be 1998 since the famous Galway club won their one and only All-Ireland title (beating Dungiven along the way in the semi-final), and 2009 since their previous Connacht title, but eyes were on them from a long way out.

In the aftermath of their impressive All-Ireland semi-final win over St. Vincent’s, key forward Michael Lundy spoke of how they’ve trained practically for 24 months solid under Stephen Rochford.

They won their obligatory Galway title in 2013 but, as 1/3 favourites, they were caught out by eventual All-Ireland finalists Castlebar at the provincial semi-final stage.

That was in November 2013 but far from moping about, they were quickly back at it. And now with a core of experience and a sprinkling of youth that had won county minor titles in 2008, 2010 and 2012, they are well and truly back among the big guns.

The day the country sat up and took notice was exactly 364 days after they’d lost to Castlebar. Determined that there would be no upsets this time, they went out against Leitrim champions Aughawilan and won by 7-20 to 0-6. The scoreline reverberated around the country and ever since then, they’ve been viewed as favourites to win the All-Ireland.

Favourites even above the St. Vincent’s side they dethroned with such panache three weeks ago. The Dublin and Leinster champions pushed aside everything in front of them with relative ease last season, but Corofin were deserving masters of their Tullamore clash at the end of February.

Having viewed that game a number of times, you do have to concede that St. Vincent’s were not themselves. There were a lot of unforced errors in their game, particularly on the attacking side. Where they were swashbuckling twelve months ago, they were shy of such perfection on this occasion.

But they were still a side on a 28-month unbeaten championship run. A large part of their defeat was down to Corofin’s workrate.

St. Vincent’s are far from the only good side to fall foul of Stephen Rochford’s side this year. The Connacht final was highly anticipated. A coming Corofin side with few big names against an in-form Ballintubber, laced with Mayo stars and just after a fine win over St. Brigid’s themselves.

It was a non-contest. Everyone waited for Cillian O’Connor’s contribution but it was Ian Burke who caught the eye at the other end.

He and Michael Lundy have been the stars of the show. Burke, ironically, had at times a fidgety game against the Dublin champions.

But he still hit 0-4 and on another day, there were goals in it for him. It was also he who had done the damage to Ballintubber and if Slaughtneil think for a second that he can be underestimated, then they will pay for it.

Lundy’s constant movement and his athletic running led him to 0-4 from play in a man of the match display, but likewise they cannot look past the elusive Martin Farragher. Not so heavily involved per se, he still found himself leaving Tullamore with 1-2. That, overall, represented a return of 1-11 from their starting full-forward line – all but a point of it from play.

Once more the issue for Slaughtneil becomes their defensive shape. It has served them well for all but 50 minutes of this year. The first half against Omagh, when they employed a sweeper, and when they went man-for-man the first 20 against Austin Stacks were the only periods in which you felt properly concerned for their defence.

They were vocal ahead of the Stacks game about the fact that they would not play a sweeper as they felt it had been counter-productive in the Ulster final. It almost proved costly as the isolation of Kieran Donaghy led to two penalties which would have taken the game away from most teams.

Corofin’s style is very different. They are very much a team that likes to kick the ball. Against St. Vincent’s – whose full-back line was well enough protected – they were able to find Lundy and Burke with notable regularity. The supply of ball was – in the first 30 minutes especially – superb. When their half-back line gets the ball on the attack, their instinct is not to run, not to handpass, but to kick.

To kick into space. Burke and Lundy will run into that space. They are particularly fond of a diagonal ball that drops from the wing directly into the centre of the scoring zone.

Slaughtneil must protect that space, one way or another. Whether it is with an out-and-out sweeper or it is by virtue of Patsy Bradley sacrificing any attacking instincts he has, they cannot allow Corofin to drop good ball into that space.

Their attacking styles are where the two teams differ. Slaughtneil have a preference for running the ball, and it has been a very effective preference all through this campaign.

Indeed, it was when they went against the grain and started to kick it long during the second half in Portlaoise that they very nearly tossed their place in this decider away.

Croke Park has a big impact on this competition in terms of its allure, but it may also have a massive impact on this game.

Nobody is saying that Slaughtneil will have to tear up the manuscript and start kicking the ball, but they may have to make concessions in terms of how often they employ the running game.

The last team I saw in Croke Park that played such a style was St. Patrick’s Maghera, when they went for their second straight Hogan Cup title. The pressure they were put under by Chorca Dhuibhne in their own defence made the running style such an energy-sapping game to try and play. Maghera were beaten because their forward line became so totally isolated.

Kicking the ball is not the key as such. Finding the balance between protecting their defence and not leaving their attack bare is.

Corofin will be able to do that more easily because they kick the ball more often. Their gameplan will conserve energy, which they will use to try and press Slaughtneil when they’re trying to work the ball out.

You saw an example of their workrate in the very first minute against St. Vincent’s. They tackled and harried and hassled and forced Cameron Diamond to overcarry, winning a free from which they worked the opening score.

That’s a strength of Slaughtneil’s as well. You’d expect an All-Ireland final to have a serious level of intensity but this one should be particularly notable for the effort that both sets of forwards will display in terms of their defensive duties.

The big worry for Mickey Moran’s side is how to replace Christopher Bradley of course. It’s not only been his big scores, but his elusiveness. It seems more than likely that Sé McGuigan will come in and move inside, with Paul Bradley coming out to centre-half.

If they can even mask half of Sammy’s absence, they stand a chance. If they can put pressure on the supply lines to Burke and Lundy, then they stand a chance, particularly with the quality of the full-back line Slaughtneil possess.

There are areas that Slaughtneil can win, with midfield a particularly key one. Corofin struggled in the air against St. Vincent’s and in the end, Thomas Healy was trying to pick men out in wide positions. That ploy wasn’t particularly successful either.

The Emmets can win the kickout battle from both ends and thus build a platform from where they can win the game. The best way for them to counter Corofin’s good use of possession is to limit their amount of it as much as possible.

Corofin are a good side. A damn good side. They’re like a throwback to the old days, in a good sense.

Slaughtneil are well accustomed to an underdog tag at this stage. They’ve faced Ballinascreen, Ballinderry, Clontibret and Omagh as second favourites. They beat them all.

To follow in the footsteps of Ballinderry (2002), Lavey (1991) and Bellaghy (1972), they must find a bit more from somewhere. Without Sammy, that is a huge ask.

But the Derry and Ulster champions will throw themselves head first into this and if they can get the game into the final quarter where they’re within touching distance, then they may well find a way to win it.