Messages

Vaccination has been sold to people as a way to get back to normal & that's why it hasn't worked, it doesn't stop transmission & infection. If you behave as you did pre Covid then you're going to get it & pass it on whether you're vaccinated or not. I've learned that personally, I'm fully vaccinated & attended a wedding a number of weeks back where our table had a break out with all of us bar 1 getting it, all of us were fully vaccinated.

I think this focus on the unvaccinated is a way to deflect from failings from politicians & health officials.

I don't think this is the case at all, maybe in the 26 they've been telling the public things will be back to normal once everyone is vaccinated but it hasn't really been the case in the north. The message I've got is to continue on with mask-wearing, sanitising etc.

Too many people have disregarded this, as an anecdotal example I was in Edinburgh last weekend and in all the bars, shops etc there was mask wearing, track and trace, sanitising on every bar/restaurant table. Same with Glasgow when I was last over, the Scots just get on with it. Out in Belfast over the weekend and it was like night and day. People either not wearing a mask or wearing it round their chin, women reluctant to wear it incase it wrecks their make up, men just being ignorant. My favourite was two glammed up girls with the exemption lanyards on but no actual ID attached! Then you have those clampets stood outside city hall, including that glipe gym owner from Newry front and centre calling people Nazis... not a virologist nor a medical degree among them but I bet they'd not say no to a hospital bed should they or one of their loved ones take bad with COVID...

Not sure if you're aware of how things are down south but things are still heavily restricted. Covid passports everywhere, limits on indoor gatherings, social distancing in place, table service, mass uptake of vaccination, compliance with masks very high etc & Covid is still rampant. I guess my position now is that it's going to be rampant as long as things are opened up somewhat, where people are mixing it will spread no matter what precautions you take. You make the comparison between the north & Scotland & how the attitude & approaches are different but from my reading the results in terms of case numbers, hospital numbers, deaths etc are remarkably similar so what has the different attitude in Scotland actually achieved? Whatever approach you take the virus seems to spread. I'm just worried that those in power have no long term strategy here & actually have no idea what they are at.

And yous added in extra ICU capacity-Stormont menawhile..........

Did we?

They borrowed some from the private hospitals at the start (at enormous expense) but I don't think they added any permanent ICU beds.

Vaccination has been sold to people as a way to get back to normal & that's why it hasn't worked, it doesn't stop transmission & infection. If you behave as you did pre Covid then you're going to get it & pass it on whether you're vaccinated or not. I've learned that personally, I'm fully vaccinated & attended a wedding a number of weeks back where our table had a break out with all of us bar 1 getting it, all of us were fully vaccinated.

I think this focus on the unvaccinated is a way to deflect from failings from politicians & health officials.

I don't think this is the case at all, maybe in the 26 they've been telling the public things will be back to normal once everyone is vaccinated but it hasn't really been the case in the north. The message I've got is to continue on with mask-wearing, sanitising etc.

Too many people have disregarded this, as an anecdotal example I was in Edinburgh last weekend and in all the bars, shops etc there was mask wearing, track and trace, sanitising on every bar/restaurant table. Same with Glasgow when I was last over, the Scots just get on with it. Out in Belfast over the weekend and it was like night and day. People either not wearing a mask or wearing it round their chin, women reluctant to wear it incase it wrecks their make up, men just being ignorant. My favourite was two glammed up girls with the exemption lanyards on but no actual ID attached! Then you have those clampets stood outside city hall, including that glipe gym owner from Newry front and centre calling people Nazis... not a virologist nor a medical degree among them but I bet they'd not say no to a hospital bed should they or one of their loved ones take bad with COVID...

Not sure if you're aware of how things are down south but things are still heavily restricted. Covid passports everywhere, limits on indoor gatherings, social distancing in place, table service, mass uptake of vaccination, compliance with masks very high etc & Covid is still rampant. I guess my position now is that it's going to be rampant as long as things are opened up somewhat, where people are mixing it will spread no matter what precautions you take. You make the comparison between the north & Scotland & how the attitude & approaches are different but from my reading the results in terms of case numbers, hospital numbers, deaths etc are remarkably similar so what has the different attitude in Scotland actually achieved? Whatever approach you take the virus seems to spread. I'm just worried that those in power have no long term strategy here & actually have no idea what they are at.

Vaccination has been sold to people as a way to get back to normal & that's why it hasn't worked, it doesn't stop transmission & infection. If you behave as you did pre Covid then you're going to get it & pass it on whether you're vaccinated or not. I've learned that personally, I'm fully vaccinated & attended a wedding a number of weeks back where our table had a break out with all of us bar 1 getting it, all of us were fully vaccinated.

I think this focus on the unvaccinated is a way to deflect from failings from politicians & health officials.

Did you end up in hospital?

Nope it was a fairly mild dose, bit of a headcold for a few days but fine again now.

Vaccination has been sold to people as a way to get back to normal & that's why it hasn't worked, it doesn't stop transmission & infection. If you behave as you did pre Covid then you're going to get it & pass it on whether you're vaccinated or not. I've learned that personally, I'm fully vaccinated & attended a wedding a number of weeks back where our table had a break out with all of us bar 1 getting it, all of us were fully vaccinated.

I think this focus on the unvaccinated is a way to deflect from failings from politicians & health officials.

A one point win for us, came down to the wire as expected.  Patrick O'Connor man of the match, good choice for Captain and certainly justified the selection.  We are a young team and seem to be headed in the right direction.  Cunningham the standout player for Antrim. Tough result for Antrim, I think we deserved the win but need to reduce the amount of wides and easy turnovers.

Next we are off to Wickla...

Great result and fair play to the lads as we must have the youngest team in the country right now. I think Cawley and Ewing were the only outfield players over the age of 24.

Division 4 is probably the best thing for these lads at the minute, I said last year that relegation was probably a blessing to allow these lads get some confidence back and find their level given the inexperience they have.

We've about 4/5 players who I believe would be certain starters and probably our main men if available - Murphy, McDonnell, McIntyre, Kelly and Cian Breheny but for various reasons aren't available or in a position to commit.

Wicklow away next will be tough, every game is going to be a grind for us this year, there's no standout team but two from two is all we could ask for and we've now put ourselves in a good position.

Great to see two clean sheets as well after the cricket scores we let in last year.

I think ye are all missing the point.

I am not blaming Taylor for any of this current situation or previous managers. But what I am saying is having Taylor there for me kills any chance of us progressing or developing. Taylor has not overhauled the team or squad through choice or innovation. Hes had no choice in that regard. Can Taylor develop these players? That's my question. For me its a no from what I have seen. Just explain that to me what makes you think he can.

With regards to the state of club football, Taylor has no effect on that or schools so its irrelevant. Who is responsible for the Club game. The CB, what exactly is being done to improve the club game? Improving the standard is a long term overhaul. What are we going to do differently. I agree its in a bad way. But again its irrelevant to Taylor. Taylor was begged to take it, but the CB ignored a lot of applicants too. If you think no one else wanted it your deluded and misinformed. I don't care if you think we were unattractive there was interest. Hyland going to Leitrim was a big coup for them.

Just because we have the players we have and just because they are getting game time doesn't mean there learning in the right way picking up good habits or being managed in the right way. Experience for the sake of experience is not learning or enough of reason to keep Taylor. We need a better manager even now.

Taylor is not the source of the issue but he is a symptom of a CB who are terrible decision makers. They lack foresight, lack any kind of football intelligence to solve our issues, in fact they perpetuate them. Look at their Managerial selections, its a scandal. They have destroyed any potential progression the last few years and I just see their backing of Taylor as blind as they have been in the past. Taylor is very unlikely to have it in him to develop these players or future ones in the way we need going forward. 

What is being done to improve the club game?

But you're calling for Taylor to go 6 months into a job nobody else would take on. It's going to be 3 years before any manager of a decent calibre will be interested in taking the Sligo job on. They look at the profile of the players available now and they see a bunch of kids with no real experience of intercounty football. Any manager would have struggled to keep us in Div 3 year, Jim Gavin or Jim McGuinness could have been over us and they would still probably have failed to keep us up. That is the reality.

I don't know how you can say Taylor hasn't developed the players when he's been 6 months in the job, can you possibly make that sort of a judgement after so short a time. You can make judgements on results, on performances and to be quite honest, the results and performances are what I expected at the start of the season and that expectation was solely as a result of the players available and the state of Sligo football. No matter who the manager was this year, I was conscious that this was going to be the reality and most Sligo fans I know and have spoken to would feel the same on the matter before Taylor was appointed and after.

The remit now is not performances, it is not results. It's about blooding new players and developing them, that is the remit of the job for this year and probably the next 2 years. If that goes to plan then we might be able to attract a better manager if Taylor is not the man for it but it basically seems that you had your mind made up on Taylor before you have even given him a chance. There might be some logic to it if it wasn't for the fact nobody wanted the job in the first place and you can understand that. The team needs stability now and I think Taylor should be there next year to continue the overhaul that has started.

I think your expectations of Sligo this year have been out of kilter with the reality of the situation.

As for the clubs, I think it has to be club driven itself. I think there are too many big amalgamated clubs like Harps, Molaise Gaels etc that the county board should be trying to intervent with. St Johns area a perfect example of a club with a big catchment area who seem to have varying success at underage but there then have huge issues in terms or retention at senior level. I think a lot of clubs let players slip away over the years with not enough of a fight.

The biggest factor is that there doesn't seem to be the same drive or culture in Sligo clubs that there is in other counties, Tourlestrane aside. If all the clubs in Sligo were as well organised and at the heart of the community as Tourlestrane is then the club scene would be in a much healthier state.

The likes of Coolaney/Mullinabreena and Owenmore Gaels have shown some encouraging signs of progress in recent years but ultimately the clubs themselves need to drive it and the county board should be making it their number one priority to facilitate this.

Hiring Taylor fast tracked retirements not that, that was a bad thing. If OHara knew writing was on the wall why did he even bother going for the job?

I think with a better manager we could of stayed up, Beat Down and offaly, and who knows. So much self defeatist jargon coming out.

The experience the younger players are getting now, is a losing mentality. Losing consistently is not good experience. Are we learning, I don't think so. It is very unlikely mcdonnell ever plays for us again, and Cian is showing no signs of going home here.

Do you honestly think Taylor is the man to develop the young players? When do results matter where Taylor is concerned?

I have to disagree there, we have a bunch of kids, the club scene in the county must be one of the worst in the country and as for fast tracking retirements, it had to be done whether voluntary or forced. Guys like Egan, Breheny, Harrison and Donovan have been terrific servants to the county and stayed on the last few years to help the side out when it would have been much easier to walk away - but we had to turn a new page at some point and while the short term they may have helped us this year, the bottom line is other players are getting the opportunity.

Losing experience is experience, I think we would have been far better suited in Division 4 this year. Next year we start at the level that football in Sligo is currently at, that's where we are at in the present. The good thing is the squad is young, they will improve and get acclimatised to the demands of senior football.

It will be 3 or 4 years before Sligo have realistic ambitions of getting back to a decent level, who the best man is to bring that on we will see but I think you need to be realistic. It's been the same moans with Flanagan, Carew, Corey and now Taylor, the players aren't there. We've been relying on veterans who have been well past their best to carry this team on their back in recent years. You look at when Kevin Walsh left - how many decent players are in Sligo from the ages of 23-29 right now? Murphy, McDonnell, possibly Cian Breheny? That is it, Sligo football has been an utter embarrassment for years. We seemed to have turned a corner at underage in recent years but for about 7 or 8 years before that we endured hammerings after hammerings.

I remember McDonnell and Breheny playing in an u21 Connacht Championship game a few years back where they lost to Roscommon by about 30 points. The results of the senior teams are the results of years of ineptitude at county board level - a manager can't fix problems that are that deep rooted. We have the young players coming through now, it will take them time but there is reason for optimism down the line but I could have down you 5 years ago to write off the next few years.

We should be looking at the likes of Derry who look to have used a terrible year last year to press the reset button and build to the future, I don't see what changing the manager will accomplish when the manager hasn't been the problem for the past 5 odd years.

Out of interest, what players that are playing for Sligo right now would you say are at the right level? I'd say we have about 5 players in our squad capable of holding their own at Div 2 level, many of them are very green and will develop and grow but right now that's about it.

I am going to start on your latest post about McGuinness, he was huge prospect but that injury he got and was year out looks to have curtailed his progress massively. Never really regained what he had.

The Club scene for me is irrelevant in some ways, having been involved myself, most of the county players don't really care about the club, there focus is county, they rarely play club, thats been my first hand experience. Secondly our club scene has been terrible for years for the most part but yet we got to connacht finals in 2010, 2012 and 2015 and underage connacht finals in 2015 and 2017 and various connacht finals in schools and AI b titles. You talk about underage, we have been more than competitive for years now, the schools success, what has come through from the David maye underage teams years ago, the niall murphy u21 side was good, etc... how did we f**k that up, look at all the managers you named, none of them were any good. The point is whatever the state of the club scene the teams we have had the last few years we should be in a hell of alot better position than we are now.

Saying we don't have the players is is a cop out, purely designed to take the heat off Taylor and CB, do you think all those retirees saw the manager selection, why is Kyle Cawley not involved, why isnt Cian at home,  what happened the minors of 2015, u21s of 2017, what did we do to develop them, what have we learned. The key bit we could change is at least select a manager with pedigree and experience o developing players. We seem blind and head in the sand in this regard.

Picking consistently poor managers is not doing us any favours. But for sure for me the CB are more accountable.  Taylor has no clue or experience in developing players. He has no clue how to get this team to learn. He cant even get them to translate great training apparently to on the field. He cant communicate without waffling.

Win or learn. We are not learning. Give me one example how we learned from Mayo connacht final in 2015. 4 yrs later and we are conceding 5 goals to Louth. The CB have picked a rookie inexperienced manager, even less experienced than flanagan, carew, corey. No lessons learned there. What have we learned in terms of developing players.

Sligoman you refer to 1 hamnmering our u21s got, we got to a u21 final which we could of won in ealry 2010s, our minors ran Galway close in those years when they were winning AIs, mentioning mcdonnell tells me your completely out of touch.

CK direct question, what on earth tells you Taylor can develop players compared with other previous managers? Give me one example that makes you think we are learning? Our CB aren't by the looks of things.

Again, I think an awful lot of that is completely unrealistic.

We didn't have great minor teams for a long time, the minor side with Maye was not a great side - Maye was hailed as the next big thing in Sligo football and was a very big talent but he left Ireland at around 22/23 right after the Connacht final in 2012 I think (he may have played another year) and unfortunately we lost a big talent that a county like us couldn't really afford. There was a huge gap of talent that came through underage in those years and I don't see how Carew, Corey, Flanagan and Taylor should be burdened with taking the flak for county board incompetence.

Regarding the club scene, it's absolutely paramount. The club scene has fallen off a cliff in recent seasons. The Sligo Championship used to be competitive, the senior champions like Harps, Tourlestrane, Curry used to be consistently competitive at Connacht level - Curry and Harps made finals in 00s and they had wins over Galway, Roscommon, Mayo champions in that time and plenty of narrow defeats. Now it's an absolute procession for Tourlestrane who are probably not as good a club side as they were 10/15 years and they have failed badly in Connacht although they performed a little better this year.

A good club scene reflects a good county scene. We've had squad panelists in the past few years that were playing club football in Dublin and not even get a game with those clubs - what does that tell you in turn about club football in Sligo when we don't have guys playing regularly for their clubs who can offer more? For players outside the county scene, the club should be a driver for players to develop and push themselves on - you won't get that in Sligo. Pretty much any player in Sligo football who does not progress instantly from an underage squad to the senior squad now has absolutely no hope of making it in county football with Sligo and the reason is because the club football is so bad. Historically Sligo has also been able to bring lads in at 23/24 for their first senior call up and they've been able to make a good impact at county level because we had a decent club scene back then. I go to club games in Sligo, some of the tops senior clubs would look out of their depth in the junior ranks of the top footballing counties. Until such time as the club scene improves, we won't be making any notable impact. An ordinary enough Tourlestrane side are absolute certs for 4 in a row this year - nobody has done that in 60 odd years.

The intermediate and junior ranks are getting worse in anything. Well done to Easkey this year but they were not a junior club to begin with.

Saying we don't have the players is reality. I think he probably did, I think those retirements were well overdue and were holding us back. I say that with the utmost respect for guys like Harrison, Breheny, Donovan etc too - they have played on when it was much easier to walk away and without them we would have been down 2 years ago but that probably wouldn't have been a bad thing. We should have just sucked it up and press the reset button then.

Kyle Cawley? Cian Breheny? I think they have taken a look at Sligo football and the current state of it and said it doesn't matter who is in this year, we're going nowhere. Both play club football in Sligo and both have intercounty experience - that's enough to let you have a good gauge on whether the players are there and they are not. The minors of 2015 and u21s of 2017? Sure they squad is pretty much completely backboned by those teams, Taylor is currently building a team around those players. The fact is though that is probably not a county in the whole country right now who have as young, inexperienced and physically lacking a squad as Sligo have and if you can't come to your senses and see that I don't know what to say.

Nothing gets more at me than just aimlessly blaming managers. Taylor might have his failings, Carew, Corey and Flanagan too but the reality is that it didn't matter what players they had - no manager was going to do much better.

I think you overrate the level of football in Sligo, if you go club games it's a real eye opener and Sligo is one of the counties with the smallest number of clubs so it's not as if the sample size might be misleading - that's the reason we don't impact at county level. You mention the schools which is fine but both Summerhill and Attractas have the pick of Sligo at their disposal - look at the failings of all the other schools in the county. They don't overachieve in Connacht either, they go up against similarly sized schools and compete with them - it's not as what they are doing is a remarkable achievement.

Since the Mayo defeat in 2015, we have had 3 different managers. You just need to accept that this year, next year and probably the year after that is all going to be about player development. These lads right now are young, inexperienced and miles off the strength and conditioning needed for intercounty level. Until such time as they get up to that level there are going to be embarrassing results.

Taylor is a low cost, low expectation appointment. Nobody else wanted the job for a start, he has came in and to his credit, whether by choice or without choice he has had to completely overhaul the playing squad. It's good to see new faces in there, young guys with plenty of potential and I am fully realistic that what we have right now is nowhere near what is required but I'm optimistic in a few years time when these lads develop we can have a decent team again.

I think you're being completely delusional about the level of footballer currently available in Sligo and that is something Taylor or his predecessors have had no control over - they can only pick from the pool of players available to them and now and over the past 5 years that pool has been at a very low ebb and is probably at its lowest right now.

McGuinness hasn't really progressed as I'd hoped since he was minor. He looked a big prospect then.

Hiring Taylor fast tracked retirements not that, that was a bad thing. If OHara knew writing was on the wall why did he even bother going for the job?

I think with a better manager we could of stayed up, Beat Down and offaly, and who knows. So much self defeatist jargon coming out.

The experience the younger players are getting now, is a losing mentality. Losing consistently is not good experience. Are we learning, I don't think so. It is very unlikely mcdonnell ever plays for us again, and Cian is showing no signs of going home here.

Do you honestly think Taylor is the man to develop the young players? When do results matter where Taylor is concerned?

I have to disagree there, we have a bunch of kids, the club scene in the county must be one of the worst in the country and as for fast tracking retirements, it had to be done whether voluntary or forced. Guys like Egan, Breheny, Harrison and Donovan have been terrific servants to the county and stayed on the last few years to help the side out when it would have been much easier to walk away - but we had to turn a new page at some point and while the short term they may have helped us this year, the bottom line is other players are getting the opportunity.

Losing experience is experience, I think we would have been far better suited in Division 4 this year. Next year we start at the level that football in Sligo is currently at, that's where we are at in the present. The good thing is the squad is young, they will improve and get acclimatised to the demands of senior football.

It will be 3 or 4 years before Sligo have realistic ambitions of getting back to a decent level, who the best man is to bring that on we will see but I think you need to be realistic. It's been the same moans with Flanagan, Carew, Corey and now Taylor, the players aren't there. We've been relying on veterans who have been well past their best to carry this team on their back in recent years. You look at when Kevin Walsh left - how many decent players are in Sligo from the ages of 23-29 right now? Murphy, McDonnell, possibly Cian Breheny? That is it, Sligo football has been an utter embarrassment for years. We seemed to have turned a corner at underage in recent years but for about 7 or 8 years before that we endured hammerings after hammerings.

I remember McDonnell and Breheny playing in an u21 Connacht Championship game a few years back where they lost to Roscommon by about 30 points. The results of the senior teams are the results of years of ineptitude at county board level - a manager can't fix problems that are that deep rooted. We have the young players coming through now, it will take them time but there is reason for optimism down the line but I could have down you 5 years ago to write off the next few years.

We should be looking at the likes of Derry who look to have used a terrible year last year to press the reset button and build to the future, I don't see what changing the manager will accomplish when the manager hasn't been the problem for the past 5 odd years.

Out of interest, what players that are playing for Sligo right now would you say are at the right level? I'd say we have about 5 players in our squad capable of holding their own at Div 2 level, many of them are very green and will develop and grow but right now that's about it.

Offaly and Sligo in potentially the same hurling cup is honestly a crazy thought. 

As for the footballers, this year is write off for me, some in Sligo are giving Taylor a free pass, and no doubt in my mind will continue to do so even if he doesn't win a game for a few years, what will happen and is already happening is some of our top players are not committing or leaving. We have some very good underage teams coming through but Sligo people say we don't have the players and will continue to say that for a few years. It just excuses their lack of football knowledge and if there involved it excuses themselves.

For me if we lose or underperform on Sunday Taylor should resign or be told to resign, tbh I would be letting him go regardless at the end of year. Its a huge game for him anyway despite what his supporters say. I am far from alone in my thoughts. Taylor is a nice guy but tactically poor, player selection poor, in game management poor, communication poor, gives mixed messages, hasn't addressed our goal conceding issues etc...has not had the experience at management required and why should Sligo seniors be his guinea pigs.

We need an experienced manager with a record of developing younger players.

I know in the league it was tight but several sources told me Offaly missed 3/4 goal chances 1 being an open goal, they look very fit and sharp as expected under maughan and if they run at us in isolation, good night.

This year is a write off, we've shed a lot of experienced players this year and we've a lot of new blood in the squad. I think it's a poisoned chalice for Taylor, the reason he is in the job in the first place is because nobody else wanted it and you could see why. It was there for O'Hara last year if he wanted it but he saw the writing on the wall and by all accounts Taylor had to be convinced into taking it in the first place.

To me it's all about the future, it's all about having these players get experience, I'd imagine we have by far the youngest squad across the entire country right now, we've done reasonably well underage the past few years but if you watch club football in Sligo then you will know how low an ebb things are at.

In 3/4 years I'm hopeful we can be up competing for promotion to Div 2 and trying to stay there. It will be important to get the likes of Cawley, Breheny and McDonnell back in the fold and hopefully with a bit of luck we will have Red Og back too and his stint in Autralia will have fast tracked his physical development. Did Towey every sign a deal with the AFL club?

Whether Taylor is there next year will generally depend on what calibre of candidate we can attract. Like Corey last year he was given a poisoned chalice, Corey decided to put instant results ahead of the long term development of the side and while it kept us in Div 3 it did us no good in the long term. Taylor has decided to start anew this year and I don't care who was coming into the job, with that squad there was only one way we were going in the league and that was down.

They are a bunch of kids and while the results were very poor it was at least good to see fresh faces there than can hopefully grow and offer us a lot in the future. There were no alternatives to Taylor last year so I think he deserves the chance to see how the team come on next year.

Have you ever considered that it may not be the managers fault?

For me this is the crux of the matter. We have Div 4 players heading for Div 4 and it's been coming for 2 or 3 years at least.

We've had a few great servants for the county hanging on the last few years who are well, well past their best and they stayed on because we needed them. The likes of Harrison, Egan, Donovan, Marren, Breheny and a few others hung on in there when they were getting nothing out of it and well past their best but they were still invaluable to us staying up.

This year they have all parted ways with the exception of Marren, not sure if Donovan is still involved but he had a bad knee injury last year so he may have had no choice. It's probably something we should have done a few years back and we might have been further down the rebuilding process..

The result Sunday was humiliating but I can't see where this talk is coming about how we should be doing so much better, for me the results tie in with the level of players available to us. On here the past few years, we've seen the criticism the likes of Carew and Corey came under, they kept us in Div 3 with a mix of ageing players past their best and young inexperienced players. David Kelly has not committed now in the past 3 seasons under the last 3 managers, this year as well as the experienced players walking away we are also without the likes of McDonnell, Cian Breheny and Kyle Cawley who would be 3 of our more experienced players now despite being quite young themselves.

There's only about 5 or 6 players of the 20 involved against Louth who would have more than 5 Championship appearances and one is a very flawed keeper who has somehow kept goal for the past 5 seasons under 3 different managers.

For me, this season has been coming for some time and the woes of Sligo in the past few seasons have little to do with management but a complete lack of talent that has come through Sligo football in the past decade. Sligo club football is as low as I can ever remember it and if that is the case how can we expect a manager to come in and achieve something with the playing resources available to him. Hopefully the county board have learned their lesson and we can build towards the future.

That hit from Small from McHugh was as bad as the Shanahan one last week.

The GAA need to be coming down hard with three or 4 games bans for those type of thuggish hits.

I thought the challenge last week on Regan was one of the worst I have seen in recent years, it was thuggish and should have been dealt with a straight red at the time.

Fitzmaurice is a very hard man to take to, he talks out of both sides of his mouth and I don't like the undue pressure he applies to referees in a rather underhand manner.

I really enjoyed today and it was a pretty good win. Yes there's lots to work on but there were loads of positives for me. It was much better than I expected. I think having Ross in the FB was absolutely crucial. Even if he's not fully up to speed he's just so good and a true leader.....he continues to do amazing things. We were physically much smaller in the middle of the field but worked hard to overcome that disadvantage. I liked that lads role their sleeves up and were happy to do the dirty work which often goes unnoticed. That's crucial. Defensively we mostly had a good shape when we got set up but if Wexford got forward quickly we were a little porous. Also at times in the second half when we were well set we seemed to let them in too easily for scores. I saw enough though to suggest this is a work in progress and will get better as we go along. Certainly looked better than anything I saw in the last few years....lads clearly knew their roles.

In attack we did some good work but some of the players mentioned were disappointing. Coen had an excellent game and will be very important for us as the year progresses. Murf started well spraying a lot of good ball into the FF line and got a cracking goal but as the game went on he made a few uncharacteristic mistakes. I feel he's not being helped by being moved around the formation so much. Personally I feel he should be left inside.....he's at his most effective in there relative to who'd replace him. I certainly think he put in a decent shift all told though. Wouldn't say he was poor by any means. Hughes didn't have one of his better days, strangely losing his footing very often when getting set to challenge for high balls. Marren got on a lot of ball but with the exception of one really excellent quick transfer to Carrabine seemed intent on going for his own score or coming back out to where the pass came from. I suppose he has learned the lesson that points after your name makes it hard for you to be dropped!

The two wing forwards as mentioned and Luke Nicholson were notable performers for me. Also one of Eoin McHugh's better games, still has a lot to offer. Ewing has really developed into a first class player for us, he's just a lynchpin. To be fair though it was decent all over. Lots to build on. We'll need to improve for tougher tests ahead but I'm encouraged.

Would agree with a lot of this.

A good confidence booster for the young lads and you can see there is a lot of potential there when they get used to the physicality of the senior game.

McGuinness and Nicholson certainly look like they will be mainstays for the future, how ready they are now is debatable but I think it's fair to say they would still be the best options available in the county at present in those positions.

I was very impressed with Carrabine and he could have a lot to offer. Watching Sligo in recent years you can see new players have been tried out but they haven't been good enough by and large, we've got a very talented batch of young players coming through now, it may take time for them to adapt but for the first while in a long time the future is beginning to look up.

Ross was brilliant and even at his age he still has a lot to offer. Credit to the likes of Donovan, Harrison, Marren, Egan etc - they could easily have thrown the towel in, playing for Sligo over the past few years was never going to be rewarding but I think they have helped the young players settle in and this could be vital for the future of the team.

As regards Murphy, it would probably suit his game playing inside more but the problem is we can't afford to play him inside, we have other good options inside but we are really lacking players around the middle of the field.

Hopefully McDonnell returns soon and Cian Breheny can stay fit.

Sligo team selection was in some ways hard to believe. 6 or 7 debuts.......far too many at the one time. We're heading for Division 4 I think. We have some good young lads coming in but throwing them to the wolves like this is exactly what is not needed. Could be a long year.

What other options have we Seanie?

The only player with experience on the bench today was Donovan, who made his first appearance of the season as a late sub last week, is now 35 and probably short on match fitness as I believe he had a minor knee surgery not long before Christmas.

Cian Breheny has hardly played in the past two season with injuries. Egan is injured at present, Kelly and McIntyre have not committed, Harrison doesn't seem to be available yet, Mark Breheny has retired, Kevin McDonnell must be carrying an injury at present. David Kelly has also not committed. There aren't any other options there. Eoin McHugh might be experienced in terms of age but he's only played about 4 or 5 times in Championship for Sligo.

Sadly that's as good as it is. Carew got a lot of stick for apparently not breeding enough new blood into the squad, now Corey is getting it for breeding too many new players. Right now we're in a very sticky period of transition and it'll likely get worse before it gets better. O'Hara said a few weeks back that he hopes Corey goes with new players even it means relegation to Div 4 and I think he's right. The Armagh game is our most difficult match on paper so hopefully these lads are quick learners.

Who would you have had starting today that was available to start?

There are plenty of lads who were in and around the panel, most who got very little game time in Carew's tenure, who are worth a shot. One lad from my own club is among them. I'd be biased obviously but I was at games last year and people from other clubs were asking why he wasn't getting a run. I suppose at least he was making the bench at times last year. However, the policy now seems to be to go from one extreme to the other and this probably explains why a lot of lads have opted out. I just hope it works out. It's not a way to do things in my view....putting so many young lads in at once. I just find it very, very odd and it doesn't help those guys.

I've savage admiration for EOH and always have had but I don't understand his statement. It's most unlike him. I think we're good enough to survive in Div3 but things will need to improve a serious amount.

I presume that's Laffey you're referring to?

At this level, he is no more experienced than the lads that started today. We have little choice, Breheny  has retired, McIntyre and Kelly have not committed for whatever reason and David Kelly has opted out like he has done for pretty much the last two years - that is really it. I don't think there is much point in persisting with guys who have been given chances in the past few years and just aren't up to it.

It's not ideal we have had to blood so many new players together but I don't think its like Corey had a choice. I hope he is given plenty of time and patience, the rebuilding process has been long overdue and it may take time.