By Eoghan Tuohey

All-Star Galway attacker, Ian Burke, has confirmed at an AIB Club Championships Launch that he is fit and ready to take the field for Corofin in the upcoming Connacht decider against Ballintubber.

Burke suffered a rib injury in the closing stages of the Galway SFC, but will be ready for the clash against the Mayo standard bearers at Elverys MacHale Park on November 25.

 “I'll be 100% now for the next day,” Burke says. “I fractured a rib in the semi-final. So (I) missed the last two games. Had to rest, that's all you can do really with it.”

Corofin managed to see off Mountbellew-Moylough after a replay in the Galway county final and Roscommon kingpins, Clann na nGael in the Connacht semi-final without their marquee forward.

Hurling All-Star Daithi Burke was also absent for the semi-final, while taking part in the Wild Geese Trophy match in Sydney last weekend. Both are fit and ready for the Mayo representatives challenge, and will certainly bolster the already impressive ranks of this Corofin outfit.

Burke admits that his side have had their toughest games to date within Galway, and that, in truth, they were lucky to escape with a draw from the first county final encounter, and he is grateful to his teammates for ensuring he has a campaign within which to resume his season.

“The first day we were very lucky. Fair play to (Micheal) Lundy, the rest of them as well, they dug out the draw. Got a goal early on the second day which gave us a bit of a platform to build on. Still lucky to be still here”.

The ease at which his side qualified for the western provincial decider did come as a surprise to Burke and his comrades, as they unexpectedly cruised to victory.

“Winning in Roscommon, beating the likes of Brigid's, we played them a lot lately and had great battles with them. So we knew what they were like, maybe on the day we got a couple of goals early and that, might maybe have killed it as a contest. The scoreline didn't reflect what it was like out there.”