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GAA

21st Jan 2020

GAA JOE club football team of the year

Niall McIntyre

Corofin can’t be stopped.

For the third successive year, the Galway side were crowned All-Ireland club football champions after a hard-fought win over gritty Down side Kilcoo on Sunday.

While their last two wins came comfortably, with convincing final victories over Dr Crokes and Nemo Rangers, this was less total football and more steely resolve.

When it comes down to it, Corofin will grapple with the best of them too. All in all, Kilcoo’s Ulster championship win was the story of the year in club football though, with the determined Branagans driving them forward and the stylish Laverty making them tick.

The story of their ‘keeper Martin McCourt is perhaps the most admirable though, when you consider that the young goalkeeper was playing with their third team just last summer, attempting to force his way into the senior set-up.

He earned his break and justified it with a number of great saves throughout the championship, and impressed in the final too.

On the other end of the scale, Corofin’s 39-year-old full back Kieran Fitzgerald keeps on delivering for his club too. It’s almost 20 years since Fitzgerald was a member of the Galway team that won an All-Ireland in 2001 and he’s still playing with the same fitness and aggression. Some man.

Club team of the year 2020

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