Sligo Club Football & Hurling

[magpie seanie]

Stuck to the bollix this weekend for numbers. We have 8 players out through involvement with the county (3 seniors, 3 minors and 2 Hurlers) and the regular injuries and unavailability mean we are down about 15 players who play regularly. Add to that the seniors playing after the second team on the same day and it all adds up to bad news for our Div 2A team. Hopefully Michaels will be stretched after their East Div junior final the night before but we really look to be up against it. Our first team is pretty decimated too and will do well to take Calry who are on a good run. I fell pretty frustrated with the whole thing. As games between the two sides show we're near enough the same ability as Owenmore Gaels yet they have 8 points and are almost safe while we have only 1 point and are virtually doomed. All last years hard work looks to be going up in smoke but I suppose if we can get our act together for the JFC it will be a price worth paying.

[Teeling Gael]

To add to your woes Seanie, according to the champion, the east division final was on Wednesday night so Michaels should be well rested !! ( No idea of the result though).  Its having the second team play before the first is the real killer on weekends like this. Meant to ask you since our match will the prodigal son fresh from his Coolera Rovers exploits committ to playing with your seniors this summer or is he concentrating on intermediates/ juniors ?? Agree that when ye are at full strength ye would have been competitive in this division ands on a par with the likes of Owenmore Gaels. With a junior semifinal next weekend can't see ye been in any better shape then either so that would be curtains. Have a funny feeling though that if the right team doesn't get relegated with ye,  I can't see Pats , Coolaney or Michaels ( be some game between their 1st and 2nd team all the same !!) not using their powers to get 2A and 2B redrawn in 2008.

On an aside I see the minor team named on a recently much improved sligogaa.ie. To be honest have only seen J Keaney and K Cawley at first hand. Our guy must be one of the smallest no. 6' s to play at this level for Sligo but he is a top quality footballer. Presumably Cawley is one of the stars of this team based on anything I've seen. The striking thing I notice is that St Pats have 3 starters and 6 on the panel which is some achievement for a club that hasn't been competitive at even grade B for the last few years at minor. Hopefully its the start of a resurguence in Skreen/Dromard adult football . The other striking thing is that from reputations Gilsenan from Grange , Clarke from enniscrone and particuliarily Maye from Marys and Harris from Johns were marque players at the start of the year and all have to settle for places on the bench. For all I know these guys could be recovering from injuries etc but at least it appears that the outside manager seems to have started with a blank sheet of paper and that can only be good for Sligo football.

[magpie seanie]

Yeah, noticed that since I was on. Ballymote are down to face Tubber in the junior semi so they must have won that (expected - they will be good). We are down to play Enniscrone in "neutral" Easkey. We should be strong for this game and we'll need to be out there. I get the feeling we're not supposed to win this JFC but sure we'll keep on trying regardless.

Not sure about Georgie's plans. He hasn't returned to the senior fold as yet anyway. He was really good in the North Div junior final.

I noticed that about Pat's myself and checked the minor league tables and they seem to be doing ok, albeit in a weaker section that our lads are in. Haven't seen the minors in action but looking forward to Sunday. Keelan is a fine player alright and his younger brother is no flat either and will probably be introduced at some stage. Some of the lads you mention that were touted strongly on Hogan Stand and I wouldn't blame the lads themselves for that. I've seen young Maye a couple of times and he didn't stand out. Needs to fill out a bit. Don't know anything about the others. I genuinely think that Moyles has done a good and fair job. Would have liked to see Conor O'Mahoney playing out the field but it was his own choice I think.

[Teeling Gael]

Delighted there to see some clarity on the fixtures for the club championship on sligogaa.ie. It all makes perfect sense. My only quibble is starting the championship at all before the leagues are over. At this stage the  leagues would be over by end of July if given a clear run at them and 11 august is plenty of time to start the championship. Of course the agrument against this, is that if you dont have a round of the championship in July then if Sligo win an All Ireland quarter final then the championship would be in chaos but that would be a small price to pay for such glory !!!   

Would be slightly wary of your semi final alright Seanie. West Sligo teams have a great tradition in recent years in the junior and when they smell the sweet smell of success they pull out all the stops. Still if ye are at full strength, helped by the county minors losing, I'd expect ye to win. I expect Ballymote to win the other semifinal.                             

[Stagmeister]

Yeah, noticed that since I was on. Ballymote are down to face Tubber in the junior semi so they must have won that

Yeah Ballymote won wednesday night, Didnt hear too much about it other than it was a poor game played in bad conditions.

[Ethan Edwards]

Headin down to watch the wee bro' in the feile next weekend.they're being hosted by the st johns club.where abouts are they based?whats sligo like at the w'ends?

speaking of the feile, who are the top U14 teams in Sligo, I am assuming that they didnt have to qualify, just wondering ?? its a great competition

[magpie seanie]

speaking of the feile, who are the top U14 teams in Sligo, I am assuming that they didnt have to qualify, just wondering ??

According to the league tables it would be St. John's, Calry/St. Joseph's and Shamrock Gaels though I'm not too well up on things at that age group.

At the weekend couldn't field for second team game but our well deplated seniors continued the unbeaten run to close in on promotion with a 0-11 to 0-6 win over Calry/St. Joseph's. Also in 1B Tubber only drew with St. John's, Enniscrone got their first win by beating Shamrock Gaels and Drumcliffe beat Farnans to keep their promotion hopes alive. In 1A Mary's lost a crucial game to Easkey by a point and coupled with Castleconnor's win over Ballymote it leaves the town team in grave danger of their first ever relegation. Curry gave Harps a bit of a thumping while Tourlestrane kept their impressive run going. The other 2A games saw Geevagh get the edge over Molaise Gales in a promtion battle and Pat's winning well against Coolaney in a relegation tie. Owenmore Gaels were a tad unlucky against Harps from what I hear and need to pick up a few more points to be safe.

[Teeling Gael]

Funny I thought we were relatively well beaten against Harps but quite a few of our guys thought we were unlucky. My understanding Seanie was that there was a 2 walkover and you are out rule. Am I mistaken ?? What this weekend tells me is that second teams isn't working and needs to be changed ASAP. It is obvious that clubs are using the same pool of players for their second team and for first team panel. Is it of benefit to Sligo football that this weekend our two weakest Clubs Ballisodare and Cloonacool have no game , that next week they could be playing a team half of whom had a warm up the night before and the previous weekend playing Senior football Some footballers from Coolera , Harps, Curry, Michaels and Farnans have played over 20 adult games this year and yet a committed footballer from Cloonacool Has barely played 10 !!! For all we know the footballer who might in time make the difference to Sligo actually winning something is playing U12 in Ballisodare or Cloonacool. If this continues then sure as anything he'll be playing soccer when he's 18 and could you blame him

[magpie seanie]

We couldn't field the second team this weekend because among other things we had 8 lads on county duty (3 senior, 3 minor and 2 hurling). We had about 9 or 10 others injured or unavailable. For most of the season most of our "second team" have been playing in Div 1B, propping up the first team. Its up to clubs to sort their own houses out. The second team is working for my club (if we didn't have it we would have lost lads and not been able to field in Div 1B this year and certainly not win). It's definitely working for Harps. It's working for Curry. I'd be dubious about Farnans and Michaels as it seems to me theres a lot of double jobbing going on there. However, it's up to the clubs in those divisions to marshall that as the CCC sure as hell won't. Things are loaded against clubs second teams from what I can see.

As for the two walkovers and you're out - well several clubs have given more than two already this year and are continuing on. I think being asked to play a second team game before a first team game when you have 8 lads representing Sligo is a bit rich. The two days we couldn't field have been the exact same. If that's reason to fire us out of the league then go ahead but it don't sit well with my version of fair play. We've been treated like muck all year and have performed heroics to field as often as we have (the second team alone played 5 games in 11 days recently, no wonder we have injuries).

[Teeling Gael]

You have launched a stoic defence of your club, Seanie ,as I would expect, but I didn't intend my comments as a personal attack on Coolera. On a few substantive points we have very diverse viewpoints here.

In reality it's 2 matches on one day in that sequence that caused your walkover not the 6 county players (you have fielded teams without your 6 county players in practically every other round). What I agree with you on is that once you have been accepted into the competition it is unfair to ask a second team to play before a first team particularly when that first team isn't allowed all its players due to county commitments.

I agree that there should be a competition whereby big successful clubs can enter a second team to give guys football who are simply not good enough, no longer good enough or who can't give the commitment for senior football and also to introduce young players to adult football away from the pressures of senior football. I disagree on the way this is done. I believe in a reserve league played after each senior match in a double header. You tell me that historically doesn't work. You believe in the current system. I contend that this isn't working witness the walkovers and also the integrity of the league when teams like Coolera/Harps have wildly different quality of teams out depending on external circumstance outside of that league.

You contend that it is not within your notion of fair play if you were disqualified from
2A for giving 2 walkovers (if indeed such a rule exists??). I contend that unless rules are enforced you have anarchy. (We lost 2 points over not playing a match because of a death within our club and that certainly wasn't fair play).

I disagree with your view that it is up to weaker clubs themselves to sort themselves out. The county board has to create an environment in which these clubs can improve. An environment whereby a Coolera player can play over 20 competitive matches to date and a Cloonacool player half that is not that environment. Owenmore Gaels were the weakest club in Sligo (Ireland ??)  and indeed a laughing stock in the 90's. In my view the county board should have appointed outside liaison officers , whatever it took to help turn the club around. On the Sligo minor team of 1993 amongst O Hara, Taylor , Clancy ,Sloyane, Carew to name but few was an Owenmore Gaels player who didn't look out of place in that company. As Owenmore Gaels drifted into a deep dark hole, that player walked away from football. We all walked out of Navan after the Armagh game in 2003 and wondered who or what might have given us the edge. Now I am not naive enough to say it was that Owenmore Gaels player but if the county board had looked after the weakest club in the 90's, maybe, just maybe he might have had a chance to make it like his peers. In a long winded way, what I am saying is that the strong clubs will look after themselves and that it is partly the function of the county board to help the weaker clubs and I don't think the current league system is doing that.

Sadly I better go and do some work here. Unless you call be a boll*x , I wouldn't be able to reply until tomorrow !!!!

[magpie seanie]

A lot of what you say I agree with. However I cannot countenance a return to the "reserve game after first team game". It didn't work before and I couldn't see it working now. The county board should be doing more to support the weaker clubs alright.

The whole system in Sligo has to be restructured. Why do we have to play 5 full divisions of the league every weekend we have league on? Surely we should have a weekend on/weekend off thing with Div 1 & 2 (1A and 1B if you like) on one weekend and Div 3 & 4 on the next weekend? That's what happens in other counties, Longford for one. Also, leagues need to be restructured to contain about 11 or 12 at most per division. Play 10 or 11 league games and treat it very seriously. County players available for all but 2 or 3 rounds. If there are not enough games for the "ordinary club player" then expand the Pick "n" Choose type comps and play them at times the county team are in action (May/June/July) or better still - revive the old 7 a side competitions (Owenmore Gaels would be hand at that). There are loads of possibilities but one thing is certain - things have to change.

We lost 2 points over not playing a match because of a death within our club and that certainly wasn't fair play

That is a disgrace and a direct consequence of the crazy postponement policy we have from the CCC. Clubs that do that will get no luck from it. They get their payback eventually. It's disgusting.

[Davitt Man]

Is John Casey still involved with Easkey? I think it was Easkey he started training at the beginning of the year.

I saw that he came on for charlestown last week in a league game so how does he juggle both.

[Teeling Gael]

A few notable results this weekend with the most being the now all but mathematical certainty that Marys will be relegated for the first time in their history. Coolera despite a loss this weekend are equally likely to be promoted. Johns revival continues with them getting close to farnans in the league table and that will come down to the wire . Eastern Harps are all but promoted in 2A and that in itself is a fantastic achievement. In a horrific weekend for us , we were well beaten in Geevagh  and Pats lost to Michaels. The now practically certain promotion of Harps and Geevagh also wont help our cause in the last few games or either will Michaels now been safe. I suuppose though you have to earn it yourself and we need to lift it in the next few weeks. Very disappointed with the playing surface in Geevaghs "new" pitch though they weren't working with the best surface to begin with. Have to say they are impressive off the pitch. Mini football for small children at half time followed by tea and sandwiches after the match in their impressive clubhouse. Coupled with 3 players on the panel next weekend and they are definitely a club going the right direction. Congrats to Coolera on their junior semi final win over Enniscrone and they now play relatively surprise package Tubbercurry in next weeks final .

[Stagmeister]

Sligo Park Hotel - League Division 1A

Round No. 11

          Curry                         1-11          Castleconnor                        1-7

          Easkey                       2-11          Bunninadden                       1-12

          Eastern Harps              3-12          St Marys                             0-12

          Tourlestrane                1-9           Ballymote                            1-11

EJ Menswear - League Division 1B

Round No. 11

          Drumcliffe Rosses Pt      0-9           Shamrock Gaels                    0-13

          St Farnans                  0-10          Calry/St Josephs                   0-10

          St Johns                     3-15          Enniscrone                          0-4

          Tubbercurry                 1-12          Coolera/Strandhill                 2-5

Leonard Building Supplies - League Division 2A

Round No. 11

          Geevagh                     3-12          Owenmore Gaels                   0-6

          St Michaels                   1-7           St Patricks                           1-6

          St Molaise Gaels            0-14          Eastern Harps                       1-12

Murphy & Sons Auctioneers - League Division 2B

Round No. 11

          Cloonacool                   2-8           Ballisodare                           1-9

[magpie seanie]

The start of a magnificent weekend for myself was us capturing the JFC for the fourth time and the first time since 1971. The 3 previous times we won it with our first team so its just a great moment for our club. Tubber had a very good young team and fought tooth and nail all the way but we just held on.

Senior and Intermediate c'ship next weekend. Very hard opener for our lads against a setlled Ballymote side. Johnny Mac falling off the presentation stand yesterday was something we could have done without but I think he might be ok.