Messages

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?

[Donovan]

Sligo v Mayo game now switched to Enniscrone

Sligo team.

Aidan Devaney
Mickey Gordon
Luke Nicholson
Eddie McGuinness
Keelan Cawley
Darragh Cummins
Gerard O'Kelly Lynch
James Clarke
Paul Kilcoyne
Neil Ewing
Finnian Cawley
Adrian Marren
Stephen Coen
Pat Hughes
Kyle Cawley

We seem to be dealing with a pretty small squad right now, more or less the same team for the majority of the FBD. A few of the older guys like Donovan, Harrison and Egan will come in later on in the season and a few other key players like Muphy and McDonnell will also come in but it looks like we will have a very fresh and revamped squad last year.

Clarke has been around the squad for years now, he looks like he will start the league campaign, I would have thought we have better midfield options in the county but he has a big chance now.

Our defence will be very inexperienced and I think we'll be doing well to survive the league.

What's the story with Cian Breheny? Injured?

Has Ross Donovan unretired for a second time? I think he's a great back but this is some Rocky Balboa shít at this stage.

On board for another year according to comments from Corey a couple of weeks back.

He didn't play for one year I think. No need to over exaggerate.

Yes, I'm only ever aware of him taking one year out of the county scene.

Any update of the Tourlestrane lads? I've heard they won't be committing this year - Kelly and McIntyre will be huge losses as they were arguably our best players last year.

3 players on the panel from Tourlestrane, Tubbercurry, Harps and Curry is a big change from the past 10 years

[Donovan]

Sligo v Mayo game now switched to Enniscrone

Sligo team.

Aidan Devaney
Mickey Gordon
Luke Nicholson
Eddie McGuinness
Keelan Cawley
Darragh Cummins
Gerard O'Kelly Lynch
James Clarke
Paul Kilcoyne
Neil Ewing
Finnian Cawley
Adrian Marren
Stephen Coen
Pat Hughes
Kyle Cawley

We seem to be dealing with a pretty small squad right now, more or less the same team for the majority of the FBD. A few of the older guys like Donovan, Harrison and Egan will come in later on in the season and a few other key players like Muphy and McDonnell will also come in but it looks like we will have a very fresh and revamped squad last year.

Clarke has been around the squad for years now, he looks like he will start the league campaign, I would have thought we have better midfield options in the county but he has a big chance now.

Our defence will be very inexperienced and I think we'll be doing well to survive the league.

What's the story with Cian Breheny? Injured?

Has Ross Donovan unretired for a second time? I think he's a great back but this is some Rocky Balboa shít at this stage.

On board for another year according to comments from Corey a couple of weeks back.

Sligo v Mayo game now switched to Enniscrone

Sligo team.

Aidan Devaney
Mickey Gordon
Luke Nicholson
Eddie McGuinness
Keelan Cawley
Darragh Cummins
Gerard O'Kelly Lynch
James Clarke
Paul Kilcoyne
Neil Ewing
Finnian Cawley
Adrian Marren
Stephen Coen
Pat Hughes
Kyle Cawley

We seem to be dealing with a pretty small squad right now, more or less the same team for the majority of the FBD. A few of the older guys like Donovan, Harrison and Egan will come in later on in the season and a few other key players like Muphy and McDonnell will also come in but it looks like we will have a very fresh and revamped squad last year.

Clarke has been around the squad for years now, he looks like he will start the league campaign, I would have thought we have better midfield options in the county but he has a big chance now.

Our defence will be very inexperienced and I think we'll be doing well to survive the league.

What's the story with Cian Breheny? Injured?

I didn't make the Sligo game during the week but good to see so many new faces getting introduced. The squad certainly needs a shake up. I noted that there were no Tourlestrane players involved at the weekend, I presume this was just a coincidence as they usually have the highest number of panelists and Kelly and McIntyre have established themselves as starters and were two of our best performers last year.

From talking to friend who was at the match, McGuinness had a great game at full back. I think he's had a few injury setbacks since minor but he definitely looked the long term solution to the full back role when he played at that grade. The other player who really stood out in defence for me on that minor side was Sean Power, does anyone know if he;s still involved.

I still have yet to see any sort of list published of players who earned a call up but it's good to see new faces in rather than the same old players who get the winter runout but are abandoned for the league and Championship. I would hope we will be looking at other options in the goalkeeping department and we can get some sort of injury-free run from Cian Breheny this year as he's a player who really has the athleticism and score taking ability for the modern game.

Also good to see lots of faces from West Sligo coming back into the squad and more of a representation of all clubs on the panel.

Poor game in Sligo today.

Tourlestrane deserving winners but made it tougher than they should have. The old guard are still carrying Harps but they do seem to have some good young players coming through, they'll really struggle when Donovan, Gallagher, Taylor and the Cryans pack it in though as they're carrying the team at present and all are well in their 30s now.

Think Tourlestrane could do 4 or 5 in a row at this rate and it's not even a vintage team for them, much weaker than the team they had 10-15 years ago.

What age is Shane O'Grady for Harps? Looks a decent prospect. Liam Gaughan has the ability but I think will need a few years of gym work before he's ready for county. Tourlestrane are a solid side but lack any real star quality to make any impact in Connacht. I can't see them causing Castlebar any problems who could score goals for fun if they saw the ease at which balls in on the square caused mayhem in the Tourlestrane defence today.

surely the LOI cannot last another 5 years and the "bitofred" will disappear into a myriad of revolving junior clubs.......

then perhaps city clubs will get the finger out and establish GAA as the premier sport in the most populated parts. west sligo like nost of rural Connacht is fucked population wise

Truth is there aren't any "city" clubs. Mary's, John's, Calry - all clubs based outside or on the edge of the town with very little traction the closer you go to the town centre. When a club was set up in the centre of the town they made it their business (some of them) to make things awkward for them and eventually it was shut down. At the very least we need one or more underage clubs set up in the centre of Sligo town. Soccer will always be number 1 in the centre of the town but not everyone can live the dream of making it at the Showgrounds  and certainly I think this should be an initiative lead and backed by the county board. In much the same way as Dublin got a coaching plan backed financially by Croke Park we should be able to come up with something to get us a foothold in our most populated area.

St Molaise Gaels should be acknowledged as a well run club. They've a big area but like Dublin no one cared about that when they were doing poorly. They're strong at all underage levels and have won a senior league. They're an example of what can be done.

Leaving it all up to the clubs is all good and well but you'll get the same results you've always got. We need some radical thinking and good plans, followed through with passion.

Molaise Gaels have a huge area. Amalgamations are a bandaid to a festering sore.

Sligo football would be benifitting much more if they had three clubs in this area all fielding teams. Ultimately amalgamations like Shamrock Gaels, Eastern Harps and Molaise Gaels fail Sligo football - they are pulled out of thin air because certain individuals are too big in their boots to suck up a few years in the lower levels and build their team up.

Look at the state Harps and Shamrock Gaels are in now. How much of a success are Molaise Gaels for a club of their size and cachement area?

I'm not too bothered about Carew going, I wouldn't be anywhere near as critical as some on here about his tenure - a Connacht final and retaining Div 3 status in a major transitional period for us is not bad all considered though the collapses against Mayo in 2015 and Roscommon in 2016 were humiliating at the time. I know our club men only had good things to say about him and that it was the most professional set up they had been involved with in Sligo.

What happens from here is now what matters, we're still in a major transitional stage and have quite a promising batch coming through. There are no real candidates in the county, O'Hara looks like the best choice internally but I'd have sever reservations about him being the main man.

If we can stay in Div 3 over the next two years and manage not to humiliate ourselves then we'll hopefully be able to aim a little higher when when the bulk of these young members currently on the panel have more experience and bulked up physically.

A manager can only deal with the hand he is dealt with, it's good to see the performances of our underage teams in recent years but having gone to see a few of the club championship games in recent weeks, it really would wipe any enthusiasm about Sligo football away from you. There are clubs with big picks currently there like Harps, Johns, Marys, Coolera/Strandhill and Molaise Gaels that should certainly be able to challenge for club honours in Connacht. We are absolutely miles behind other counties in terms of tactical and physical conditioning of our club footballers. The enormity of the step up between club football in Sligo and intercounty football is the biggest problem facing Sligo football right now.

Without meaning to be disrespectful of certain players but there are a few lads on the panel now who have been involved for the last 4/5 years who are nowhere near the level but the sad thing is they're probably the best of what's out there. The top senior club sides in Sligo are probably at about the same level as the top club junior sides in Galway and Mayo. Does any club in Sligo have their own proper S&C base?

I heard the same regarding professional and all that, I was pretty heavily involved in the last 6 yrs at club level and with u21 county, etc.. this professional stuff gets bandied about alot, being professional is the easiest part of managing imo anybody can do it, from planning training sessions, food, gameday bus timings, water, etc... but to be honest Ive seen very little little evidence of Managers who are good organisers/professional, good man managers, good tacticians before and ingames, etc.. ie the full package, Carew was not good man manager, he treated players very differently where committment was concerned, some players could come in half way through the year, others couldnt take a holiday early season, he was very poor on player positioning, tactics and gameplans, Its alright getting the admin stuff right and putting out cones etc.. but its even more important to get the other stuff right, 3 yrs he was there and the strength and conditioning of some players wasnt up to scratch imo, the 2015 collapse more should of been learned, he has to take responsibility for that,

I agree on O Hara, its too early but wonder why you have severe reservations?

Your absolutely spot on regards our club footballers and the physical conditioning. County board should be leading the way but our clubs are full of dinosaurs and poor coaches with no knowledge of any of this. Even our injury management seems to be so poor and rehab we seem to always get it wrong. We need a complete revamp of County Board but our clubs are too passive and dont seem to really care about the state of the game, some think its a nrs game and thats it, pats on the back all round.

I think O'Hara needs another few years before he's ready.

Only so much blame can be placed on the county board. The facilities clubs have in Sligo are pretty much appalling. Apart from Tourlestrane and perhaps Bunninadden, there are so few well run clubs in Sligo. Look at the likes of Johns and Harps, big clubs with big picks and they're so far off the scene now. Curry are an absolute rabble now as well. West Sligo has been in a state for years. It's grand blaming the county board for everything but clubs have to get up and take action themselves.

I have a lot of relatives up North and the effort clubs go to in order to obtain good facilities and infrastructure is a great credit to them. It seems to be a real community effort there, with the exception of Tourlestrane there is a real lack of clubs driving the community and sparking involvement. I think there is a great urgency for clubs to take it on themselves to make things happen, rather than wait for the county board to sort things out.

Sligo's biggest problem is the GAA is not the heart of our communities and I don't see that changing anytime soon. Have you ever seen such poor attendance of club games as Sligo? I agree on the facilities etc..

Do you not think as custodians of the game the County Board could do more?

Of course they could but clubs shouldn't be sitting around and waiting for other people to do things, they should be proactive and try and enforce the change itself. To a certain extent I'd disagree with that GAA is not at the heart of the community, the Sligo support is pretty decent, for the qualifiers this year we drew quite large crowds for the home game with Antrim and away game with Meath with little expectation. Maybe in North Sligo and the town, there's not as much appetite until the bandwagon rolls around but in the south and west of the country there would be every bit as much appetite for gaelic football than in the south of the county.

I think the problem with the clubs is more centred on lack of identity in the club. I remember in a former job I worked out in Finisklin, there were two lads from the Harps club - one who had played for them through the underage ranks and another who would have been 20 years or so older. They hadn't an idea who the other one was when they started working and when we were chatting at lunch one day they were saying they lived about a 25 minute drive apart despite both living in the club boundaries - this wouldn't be something that would be unique to Harps either, Shamrock Gaels, Molaise Gaels off the top of my head would also cover huge areas. If you look at Monaghan which would be a similar size to Sligo they have more than double the no of clubs if I'm thinking rightly.

For me the whole club structure in the county is rotten and at the hub of every failing of GAA in Sligo. The County Board can do little about this unless groups from these communities decide that it needs to change, I know there would have been a lot of bad blood about some of the amalgamations in the past.

I don't really see soccer as much of a deterrent any more to be honest. It exists fine with the GAA, the biggest problem seems to be retaining players when they leave underage - Johns are a team that has had so many standout underage players who have never made any real impact at senior level. Rugby has probably become more of a threat in the town with a few promising underage GAA players dabbling with the rugby club in Sligo in recent years.

I'm not too bothered about Carew going, I wouldn't be anywhere near as critical as some on here about his tenure - a Connacht final and retaining Div 3 status in a major transitional period for us is not bad all considered though the collapses against Mayo in 2015 and Roscommon in 2016 were humiliating at the time. I know our club men only had good things to say about him and that it was the most professional set up they had been involved with in Sligo.

What happens from here is now what matters, we're still in a major transitional stage and have quite a promising batch coming through. There are no real candidates in the county, O'Hara looks like the best choice internally but I'd have sever reservations about him being the main man.

If we can stay in Div 3 over the next two years and manage not to humiliate ourselves then we'll hopefully be able to aim a little higher when when the bulk of these young members currently on the panel have more experience and bulked up physically.

A manager can only deal with the hand he is dealt with, it's good to see the performances of our underage teams in recent years but having gone to see a few of the club championship games in recent weeks, it really would wipe any enthusiasm about Sligo football away from you. There are clubs with big picks currently there like Harps, Johns, Marys, Coolera/Strandhill and Molaise Gaels that should certainly be able to challenge for club honours in Connacht. We are absolutely miles behind other counties in terms of tactical and physical conditioning of our club footballers. The enormity of the step up between club football in Sligo and intercounty football is the biggest problem facing Sligo football right now.

Without meaning to be disrespectful of certain players but there are a few lads on the panel now who have been involved for the last 4/5 years who are nowhere near the level but the sad thing is they're probably the best of what's out there. The top senior club sides in Sligo are probably at about the same level as the top club junior sides in Galway and Mayo. Does any club in Sligo have their own proper S&C base?

I heard the same regarding professional and all that, I was pretty heavily involved in the last 6 yrs at club level and with u21 county, etc.. this professional stuff gets bandied about alot, being professional is the easiest part of managing imo anybody can do it, from planning training sessions, food, gameday bus timings, water, etc... but to be honest Ive seen very little little evidence of Managers who are good organisers/professional, good man managers, good tacticians before and ingames, etc.. ie the full package, Carew was not good man manager, he treated players very differently where committment was concerned, some players could come in half way through the year, others couldnt take a holiday early season, he was very poor on player positioning, tactics and gameplans, Its alright getting the admin stuff right and putting out cones etc.. but its even more important to get the other stuff right, 3 yrs he was there and the strength and conditioning of some players wasnt up to scratch imo, the 2015 collapse more should of been learned, he has to take responsibility for that,

I agree on O Hara, its too early but wonder why you have severe reservations?

Your absolutely spot on regards our club footballers and the physical conditioning. County board should be leading the way but our clubs are full of dinosaurs and poor coaches with no knowledge of any of this. Even our injury management seems to be so poor and rehab we seem to always get it wrong. We need a complete revamp of County Board but our clubs are too passive and dont seem to really care about the state of the game, some think its a nrs game and thats it, pats on the back all round.

I think O'Hara needs another few years before he's ready.

Only so much blame can be placed on the county board. The facilities clubs have in Sligo are pretty much appalling. Apart from Tourlestrane and perhaps Bunninadden, there are so few well run clubs in Sligo. Look at the likes of Johns and Harps, big clubs with big picks and they're so far off the scene now. Curry are an absolute rabble now as well. West Sligo has been in a state for years. It's grand blaming the county board for everything but clubs have to get up and take action themselves.

I have a lot of relatives up North and the effort clubs go to in order to obtain good facilities and infrastructure is a great credit to them. It seems to be a real community effort there, with the exception of Tourlestrane there is a real lack of clubs driving the community and sparking involvement. I think there is a great urgency for clubs to take it on themselves to make things happen, rather than wait for the county board to sort things out.

I'm not too bothered about Carew going, I wouldn't be anywhere near as critical as some on here about his tenure - a Connacht final and retaining Div 3 status in a major transitional period for us is not bad all considered though the collapses against Mayo in 2015 and Roscommon in 2016 were humiliating at the time. I know our club men only had good things to say about him and that it was the most professional set up they had been involved with in Sligo.

What happens from here is now what matters, we're still in a major transitional stage and have quite a promising batch coming through. There are no real candidates in the county, O'Hara looks like the best choice internally but I'd have sever reservations about him being the main man.

If we can stay in Div 3 over the next two years and manage not to humiliate ourselves then we'll hopefully be able to aim a little higher when when the bulk of these young members currently on the panel have more experience and bulked up physically.

A manager can only deal with the hand he is dealt with, it's good to see the performances of our underage teams in recent years but having gone to see a few of the club championship games in recent weeks, it really would wipe any enthusiasm about Sligo football away from you. There are clubs with big picks currently there like Harps, Johns, Marys, Coolera/Strandhill and Molaise Gaels that should certainly be able to challenge for club honours in Connacht. We are absolutely miles behind other counties in terms of tactical and physical conditioning of our club footballers. The enormity of the step up between club football in Sligo and intercounty football is the biggest problem facing Sligo football right now.

Without meaning to be disrespectful of certain players but there are a few lads on the panel now who have been involved for the last 4/5 years who are nowhere near the level but the sad thing is they're probably the best of what's out there. The top senior club sides in Sligo are probably at about the same level as the top club junior sides in Galway and Mayo. Does any club in Sligo have their own proper S&C base?

That was a game we really left behind yesterday. Can't fault the commitment of the players who gave it their all but the game plan we had yesterday was just clueless.

I could understand Carew maybe wanting to show faith in the side that beat New York for the Mayo game but I can't for the life of me understand how McDonnell was then left on the bench for the next two matches.

Devaney being the no. 1 keeper throughout his tenure is gone past a joke at the minute.

Yesterday was there for the taking for us as Meath were really that bad and we should have got that goal right at the end.

I would imagine that's the end of the road for Carew. Who are the likeliest candidates?

An ex player like O'Hara or Taylor?
Tommy Breheny back?
Or another outside manager?

If Pete McGrath was available I'd be happy for him to come in. We have some very promising players coming in now, O'Kelly Lynch had a brilliant game yesterday and with the likes of Cawley, O'Connor, Cummins, Breheny, McDonnell, Murphy etc there are some reasons to be a bit more optimistic in the future.

Both teams named for Sunday, or at least for the programme anyway 

Sligo:

Devaney
Donavan Harrison McHugh
Keelan Cawley B Egan J Kelly
O'Connor McIntyre
Ewing M Breheny Kyle Cawley
Coen Hughes Marren

Mayo:

Clarke;
Barrett Cafferkey Higgins;
Boyle Keegan Durcan;
S O'Shea Parsons;
Boland D O'Connor C O'Shea;
McLoughlin C O'Connor Moran

I can't see that being the starting team, Kevin McDonnell is too good to be warming the bench especially against a team of this calibre. 

Owenmore, you posted the team at the same time I had my questions above

They've just named the same team that started against New York. No chance that team will start. A lot will depend on who is available but if we had everyone fit I'd go with the following.

1. Devaney
2. Donovan 3. McDonnell 4. Harrison
5. Cawley 6. Egan 7. O'Kelly Lynch
8. McIntyre 9. O'Connor
10. Ewing 11. Murphy 12. C Breheny
13. Marren 14. Hughes 15. Kelly

Physicality is our weakness. I'd be worried if we start the likes of Johnny Kelly, Kyle Cawley and a few others right now, I've great faith in their ability but I don't think they'd be physically up to it just now. I'd also have worries about young O'Connor being thrown into midfield against a seasoned and proven pairing like Parsons and O'Shea but we're devoid of options here, Hughes is at his best in full forward but I think we may need him out around the middle to win some ball, not sure if he'll have the engine there but we'll need to alternate him in there with Murphy and O'Connor.

Hopefully Carew has been working on something to shore us up defensively and we can give a good showing on Sunday. What's the weather promised like?

How many points are mayo faxoured by

9 points according to Paddt Power. Mayo (-9) evens, Sligo (+9) 10/11, Handicap Draw (-9) 11/1.

thats a great beat i cant ee mayo winning by anymore than 8 points

We beat them by 9 by playing for 30 minutes in the second half and spotting them 8 points at the half. I know people on here have some sort of fetish for the poor mouth but if Mayo, a better team than us, want to they're fully able to beat Sligo by much more than 8 points.

Christ, their defense made AOS look like a forward the last time ye played..

A terrible shame for you that this superlative Roscommon side is only a little better than one of the poorest Sligo sides in decades. Is that the level you're striving for?

I think this is probably man-for-man one of the better Sligo squads in living memory. It's just some of them long since past their best. Sure they made two Connact finals since 2012, not many Sligo teams have done that. A chunk have even reached four and won one.

Roscommon doesn't worry much about Sligo, ever.

Glad to say that neither do Sligo worry about Roscommon much either. For the conceited outlook you display, your record against us in Championship isn't that great

The Sligo team over the last 3 or 4 years has been very poor, it's been made up of lads who are over the hill, some who are probably not up to the level required and some teenagers just in the door. We haven't really been expecting much but you have, it must hurt a lot more for you. Getting knocked out of the championship by underdogs in three straight years must hurt.

I hope we'll be back at a decent level in 3-4 years time though. Until then it's more or less damaged limitations for Sligo.

Disagree with Sligoman on Carew. He has done well to keep Sligo in divison 3 but he got very lucky this year in the Armagh game. Only for that point we could have been down. Tactically he is clueless highlighted by the heavy scores conceded against Mayo in final in 15, Roscommon second half last year. He doesn't seem to change his game plan depending upon the opposition.

Listen, they are certainly very valid criticisms of Carew and I agree with you on those.

What I don't like is what seems to be the constant sniping that Carew is somehow the root of all the wrongs in Sligo GAA. There are far bigger issues at play here and while tactical criticism of him is very valid, I think he has worked very well with overturning of nearly a full squad.

The Breheny/Walsh era had pretty much a nucleus of players at the heart of it who were around the same age - Johnny Davey, Mark Breheny, Alan Costello, Tony Taylor, Ross Donovan, Paul McGovern, Adrian Marren, Michael McNamara, Brendan Egan, Johnny Martyn, Brian Curran, Kenneth Sweeney, Philip Greene, Charlie Harrison and possibly a few others around that.

The best way to assess Carew is the shape he leaves the county team in for his successor and I think he has handled the introduction of new blood into the squad very well. Some of the collapses in games and our inability to turn the tide when it goes against us is very worrying but there were always going to be big problems with this team for whoever took the job. Right now I'm hoping we can avoid a trimming against Mayo and have a decent run in the qualifiers.

Get your facts straight before you start putting such bullshit on a message board. The area known as "Coolera" was always the entire peninsula and was always served by one club bar a period in the 70's when a second club was established in the village. The name change/extension was part of the reunification. It is not an amalgamation. In fact, St Mary's pitch is located in the historical area known as "Coolera" and they draw very few players from closer to O'Connell Street than that historical boundary. So there are two clubs in our area.

I never said Carew was to blame for everything. He has put no shape on the team and he should be doing better with the players he has and you're in a small minority if you think otherwise. His treatment of certain players leaves a lot to be desired too.

If you think politics is not a problem in Sligo you must be living on the moon. Politics and closed minds. Rubbish arguments about club sizes like you're putting up. What % of people in Monaghan actually hate GAA? Very low I'd say. It's extremely high in Sligo town, the major population centre of the county. Do Monaghan Town sign all the best young players up on "contracts" forbidding them from playing other sports? I'd have my doubts but that's the reality clubs in and around Sligo town are facing. There should be more GAA clubs in the town but huge areas are simply no go areas for GAA and when you have a club like City Gaels set up, with lads playing GAA who wouldn't normally do so, politics comes into it and they're shut down. Just in case they'd get a few players down the line that otherwise would play elsewhere.

Everyone knows we have big problems and that's precisely why bringing in and presumably paying an (at best mediocre) outside manager is such a waste of time. Spend the money on coaching, development squads etc. and let someone who knows the scene have a go. They'd probably do fine you know.

Pure baloney about the clubs there. It's nothing to do with hating the GAA. Johns and Marys have huge picks and while there is a big draw with soccer in the town, they usually have very good underage teams before they disband and a lot of them are lost for various reasons after underage. This is a big problem here. The club scene is the biggest problem in Sligo football at the minute, it's a pathetic standard, we have few clubs as they take the easy route out and join forces rather than put the effort in at grassroots level. Even with other sports, there is enough of a pick for those clubs to compete on a national level if they get their house in order. Marys really seem to have got their act together in recent years but Johns look to be a complete mess, a club of their size down in intermediate is a joke. They seem to have fallen completely by the wayside in recent years.

If you read back through my post you'll realise I never mentioned anything about Coolera/Strandhill being an amalgamated club so you should get your facts right. I did say that Coolera Strandhill are one of a number of GAA clubs in Sligo that have a big enough cachement area to be able to have two clubs within that area stand by itself. I think given the size of these clubs and the playing numbers available to them they do a shocking job, the club championship is an embarrassing, I'd say it's easily one of the worst if not the worst in the whole of Ireland.

If Monaghan can sustain 50 clubs then there is no reason Sligo can't.

Drumcliffe
Rosses Point
Cliffoney
Grange
Keash
Gurteen
Strandhill
Ransboro
Riverstown
Sooey


That's an example of 10 clubs who could replace an existing 5 there and I'm sure there are other examples as well.

The town is a side issue, we could be doing better from there for sure and Johns collapse is very worrying but it's a widespread issue at the minute - basically the only decent showings in Sligo football at the minute is South Sligo and in and around the town. Look at the senior Championship this year, no clubs from West Sligo, 1 club from East Sligo in Harps who are on life support as regarding senior status when the likes of Donovan, McGovern and Tony Taylor call it quits.


If a club like Bunnanadden can win a senior championship and remain competitive at senior level for a long period of time then there's no reasons why any of those clubs on their shouldn't be able to do that on their own.

The outlook for clubs in Sligo is that when things aren't going great for a few years then they look at joining with a struggling neighbour as a quick fix. It's detrimental to the game in Sligo.