Sligo V Down Rd 4 Qualifier

[Shrewdness]

Maybe the Connacht Council are culpable re the 6 day turnaround or is it Croke Park that gives the final say on dates for provincial finals.

After all, there were only 7 games in this years Connacht Championship, yet it took 2 months to run it off.
Other years there would only be 6 games, barring replays.

This time schedule meant months ago, that whoever lost the Connacht Final would have one hand tied behind their back in the qualifiers.

[ross4life]

The last time Sligo lost a connacht final was in 2002 that game was played 30th June, then they didn't play round 4 game until 21st of July & that day they beat Tyrone by 5pts 

[magpie seanie]

Found it very hard to gather my thoughts and post (as well as get time to do it) over the last couple of weeks but think I can now.

Last things first - congrats to Down and their supporters. They have improved a significant bit this year and will give Kerry a good test.

Now to our lads and the season we've had. I disagree with the notion that the players gave up or didn't try hard enough against Down or Roscommon. I didn't see any evidence of that. I just think mental and physical fatigue caught up with the team and yes - maybe the team wasn't as good as we thought they were a month ago. To support my contention I would look back to the league. After Wexford we had to win basically every game to get promoted. This we did but we got a little lucky on the way. I missed several of those games but key opposition players getting injured as well as very understrength sides (Fermanagh/Roscommon) helped us get going on a winning run. The Antrim performance was excellent with the wide open spaces suiting our forwards to a tee. Confidence was high meeting a poor Mayo and despite a nervy start we won comfortably and but for Jimmy White the scoreline would have reflected this superiority. In hindsight though, Mayo were a shambles and could actually have been the worst team in Connacht this year. Galway were next up and suited us well as they have a really poor midfield and only one good scoring forward. The defensive frailties of our backs were not completely exploited and our midfield was able to garner enough possession to win out the second day. The big gaps where we were getting cleaned in midfield both days were ominous though. I think the physical and mental fatigue of having 12-13 lads having played "must win" games since March began to hit during the Galway games. For the final against Roscommon we fatally started two injured players. This directly contributed to the great start Finneran in particular and Roscommon's middle third in general got. From this point things only got better for Ros as they executed their game plan to a tee. However, we did show some composure and eventually things turned and we got back level. The house should have been about to fall for Ros but crucially at his point it was Sligo who visibly panicked and the rest is history. The Down game - well evrything that could go wrong did but I don't think we would have won in any case. It looked tome like out lads were trying their guts out but the Down lads were simply faster and stronger. On top of that the thing mentioned earlier in the thread about Down's strengths lying where we were weak was borne out.

Overall though I'm not pessimistic. This team can and will improve. Key positions need to be addressed but with the right personnel and effort we can plug a few gaps. I don't like to hear of retirements. Guys don't have to be starters to be a valuable member of the panel. What we would have given for a Kieran Quinn, Brendan Egan, Brian Curran or John McPartland to throw into the mix against Roscommon. Hopefully some can be brought back into the fold along with blooding some new talents.

The management team have done fairly well but have made mistakes - I'm sure they'd be the first to accept that. How they learn from them and not repeat the same mistakes is important as they, like the team, must improve. I'm confident both can and will happen. I thank the players and management for the joy they have given as well as the woe. Following Sligo is about it all and the bad makes the good een better. The people who don't leave 20 minutes before the end and throw their flag onto the pitch appreciate them and know how much it means to them which often gets forgotten. Even in the midst of such carnage the other evening O'Hara's heroism with a broken hand I believe warmed the heart. I hope its not the last time I see him playing for Sligo. We still need him if he's able to give any more and will of course understand if he can't.

[SLIGONIAN]

Found it very hard to gather my thoughts and post (as well as get time to do it) over the last couple of weeks but think I can now.

Last things first - congrats to Down and their supporters. They have improved a significant bit this year and will give Kerry a good test.

Now to our lads and the season we've had. I disagree with the notion that the players gave up or didn't try hard enough against Down or Roscommon. I didn't see any evidence of that. I just think mental and physical fatigue caught up with the team and yes - maybe the team wasn't as good as we thought they were a month ago. To support my contention I would look back to the league. After Wexford we had to win basically every game to get promoted. This we did but we got a little lucky on the way. I missed several of those games but key opposition players getting injured as well as very understrength sides (Fermanagh/Roscommon) helped us get going on a winning run. The Antrim performance was excellent with the wide open spaces suiting our forwards to a tee. Confidence was high meeting a poor Mayo and despite a nervy start we won comfortably and but for Jimmy White the scoreline would have reflected this superiority. In hindsight though, Mayo were a shambles and could actually have been the worst team in Connacht this year. Galway were next up and suited us well as they have a really poor midfield and only one good scoring forward. The defensive frailties of our backs were not completely exploited and our midfield was able to garner enough possession to win out the second day. The big gaps where we were getting cleaned in midfield both days were ominous though. I think the physical and mental fatigue of having 12-13 lads having played "must win" games since March began to hit during the Galway games. For the final against Roscommon we fatally started two injured players. This directly contributed to the great start Finneran in particular and Roscommon's middle third in general got. From this point things only got better for Ros as they executed their game plan to a tee. However, we did show some composure and eventually things turned and we got back level. The house should have been about to fall for Ros but crucially at his point it was Sligo who visibly panicked and the rest is history. The Down game - well evrything that could go wrong did but I don't think we would have won in any case. It looked tome like out lads were trying their guts out but the Down lads were simply faster and stronger. On top of that the thing mentioned earlier in the thread about Down's strengths lying where we were weak was borne out.

Overall though I'm not pessimistic. This team can and will improve. Key positions need to be addressed but with the right personnel and effort we can plug a few gaps. I don't like to hear of retirements. Guys don't have to be starters to be a valuable member of the panel. What we would have given for a Kieran Quinn, Brendan Egan, Brian Curran or John McPartland to throw into the mix against Roscommon. Hopefully some can be brought back into the fold along with blooding some new talents.

The management team have done fairly well but have made mistakes - I'm sure they'd be the first to accept that. How they learn from them and not repeat the same mistakes is important as they, like the team, must improve. I'm confident both can and will happen. I thank the players and management for the joy they have given as well as the woe. Following Sligo is about it all and the bad makes the good een better. The people who don't leave 20 minutes before the end and throw their flag onto the pitch appreciate them and know how much it means to them which often gets forgotten. Even in the midst of such carnage the other evening O'Hara's heroism with a broken hand I believe warmed the heart. I hope its not the last time I see him playing for Sligo. We still need him if he's able to give any more and will of course understand if he can't.

Following on from the above, how do you solve the mental and physical fatigue issue? Im worried for next yr, we will have to peak alot more to stay in div2 than win div3 imo. We could get another tough draw in Connacht, and if this yr is anything to go by we wont be able to sustain the performance level to win anything.. It looks to me we have to sacrifice the league and just peak in may/june/july. We went for the fitness advantage you can go for in the NFL but your saying that caught up with us which maybe accurate, therefore lets not train as hard early on. I prefer to be in Roscommons position, they clearly forfeited the league and peaked for 1 game. IMO they have alot more to show for it than us, and we probably put in more effort when it really didnt matter. Were probably guilty of taking the league far too serious.

[GalwayBayBoy]

Galway were next up and suited us well as they have a really poor midfield and only one good scoring forward.

In fairness two scoring forwards were injured while another sat on the bench until half-time against Wexford. Granted Meehan made an appearance but in body only as he wasn't fit.