Trust. That’s the key word.
The team – that’s everything. Few teams have captured the imagination of GAA followers far and wide over the last few years quite like the footballers of Corofin.
Slick, free-flowing forward play. Fast, fluorescent movements and daring attacking plays. That’s the Corofin way.
On Sunday, they played themselves out of trouble in a ninth county final in ten years and speaking on Tuesday at the launch of the AIB club season, club legend Gary Sice explained what the Corofin way actually is.
“I think it’s trust between ourselves. It’s trust that you know a guy is going to do something good when he gets it. It’s just enjoyable when you’re playing with a bunch of guys who are on a similar wavelength and who enjoy their football.
“The majority of the time, we try to take the right option. We’d have a high value on that ( a lack of selfishness). I suppose it shows a commitment to what we’re doing…”
Selflessness. A lack of selfishness. It emanates through every Corofin move and was best epitomised in Croke Park last March when Sice himself got in at the end of a simply stunning attacking move.
Not one Corofin player is selfish. Every one of them looks for the man in the best positionpic.twitter.com/Z87qnx53vC
— GAA JOE (@GAA__JOE) March 17, 2019
It’s football at its delightful best. Total football. And with Galway struggling last year in particular, many wondered why there were only two Corofin men making the the team routinely.
But Sice has no complaints. He says county and club football can’t be compared.
“You’re talking about two completely different things. Inter-county and club are two completely separate entitites. They’re nearly almost two different games.
“It’s an opinion that people have but when you dig into the facts of it, you’ll see that the club and county are two different animals. You can’t compare them, they’re different in every way. You can’t really argue about what we should or shouldn’t have. There’s more pace, more physicality.
“You’ve more training done in with the county, you’ve a whole different training structure and set of expectations. A different calendar, there is literally no comparison to it. So therefore to compare what we’re doing and what Galway are doing – they’re just not the same and it’s the same with every club and every county in Ireland. To try and compare it just doesn’t make sense…”
But some players make light work of those different animals. Sice himself played ten years for Galway and is into his 16th season with his club.
“I didn’t really balance it, I just got through it,” he says.
“I suppose for a period I just went on and on and I didn’t really realise it. I was very lucky, physically and secondly to have a brilliant club behind me. There’s great structures in Galway too to keep going. I probably could have won a lot more, but so be it, it wasn’t to be. I wouldn’t swap what I have for what I could have. I was very lucky, I’m still in reasonably good shape, still able to get out and play so you can’t ask for any more…”
As for last weekend, Corofin kept their three year unbeaten record alive. If it wasn’t for Sice, who kicked their last three points, they were in some bother.
The @Galway_GAA SFC Final ended in a dramatic draw as @CorofinGAA hit a last gasp leveling score to force a replay with Tuam Stars. GAANOW has the action here. pic.twitter.com/MPLnZSAE2u
— The GAA (@officialgaa) October 22, 2019
He kept calm through focusing on the job at hand, and not getting carried away it it.
The adrenaline is up, you just go and do it. There’s no thinking about it, I’d say if you did, you’d just freeze on the spot. Mike Farragher won the free, that was the most important thing than kicking it. It was a huge win from the ball he got, I had the easy job at the end of it.
“We’re around a while. We knew with the time that was left there was a little bit of work to do and we settled into it. The lads settled into it well and that last ball was a big one, but look, it’s all forgotten about now, we’ve a lot of work to do to get ourselves ready for the next day…”
They’ll be ready alright.
Gary Sice and a host of GAA stars were at the launch of the AIB Camogie and Club Championship. For exclusive content and behind the scenes action throughout the AIB GAA & Camogie Club Championships follow AIB GAA on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. Photo by Sam Barnes/Sportsfile
