(Photo – Galway GAA)
Galway are flying it in the National Football League with maximum points and their top-flight status effectively secured and they’ve achieved this without many of their key players.
Retirements saw Michael Meehan, Finian Hanley and Gary Sice say goodbye to the maroon and white. But the current brigade have overcome Tyrone, Donegal and Mayo without their county champions’ representatives who are in action this weekend.
Corofin meet Kildare’s Moorefield in the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Semi-Final hoping to return to Croke Park on St. Patrick’s Day where they won the crown in 2015. But while focused on the task at hand, some of their contingent have kept their eye on the county’s progress.
“It’s nice to beat Mayo anytime but at the end of the day the Championship is the big one,” said Micheal Lundy ahead of that All-Ireland semi-final. “There’s a game there in the middle of May that Mayo and Galway eyes are fairly focused on. It’ll mean nothing, yesterday, if you go and lose in May.
Lundy has been key to Corofin’s progress through a difficult Connacht series where they went to extra-time twice and his loyalty saw him take a major gamble before the decider against Castlebar Mitchells.
Just 10 days beforehand, he had his appendix removed and was almost certain to miss out but after realising that no serious long-term damage could be done to his health, he made the brave move to make himself available.
Just 10 days after appendix operation, Micheal Lundy is starting for #Corofin in @AIB_GAA Connacht Club Final against @MitchelsGaa ..! Fantastic commitment, but I hope he will be ok. #TheToughest pic.twitter.com/erZS8LXVA6
— Des Cahill (@sportsdes) November 26, 2017
“I asked him what could happen and he said like, ‘The scar could open and maybe a possible hernia’,” added Lundy who went on to score a first half goal against the Mayo outfit. “I asked him, ‘Is that bad?’ And he said, ‘No, it can be fixed’. If it could be fixed that’s all I needed to know.
“The last thing I wanted to do was not be 100% fit and cost the team, ruin our chances, but I felt like I could input something into the game and luckily I did but I tired towards the end and I came off and the lads came in and freshened things up and won it but I felt grand going into it and luckily I’m alright now.”
It was another example of Lundy’s commitment to the club’s cause. In 2016 while spending the summer in the United States, he refused an option to link up with the New York footballers as that would have ruled him out of returning to Corofin in the winter.
Recent examples involving Matthew Keating and Jamie Holland for Turloughmore’s hurlers have shown that summer sabbaticals across the Atlantic can spoil domestic bliss and Lunday wasn’t prepared to miss out on a golden period for Corofin.
“Yeah, if I’d declared for New York,” added Lundy. “I would have had to fully transfer to a club over there. If it was a case that I could have played for New York and stayed with Corofin, it probably would have been an option. But I had to give up my club at home, and it’s hard to do.”
Corofin face Kildare’s Moorefield this Saturday (17th February) in the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Semi-Final. Throw-in at O’Connor Park, Tullamore is at 2pm.
Moorefield's James Murray alongside Corofin’s Michael Lundy as they go head to head before Saturday's AIB All-Ireland SFC Championship Semi-Final at O’Connor Park. #TheToughest pic.twitter.com/JOyrNaiVhA
— Sportsfile (@sportsfile) February 12, 2018
