Sligo V Antrim Division 3 Final

[SLIGONIAN]

Any thoughts lads?

Im fairly confident of a win, but we are missing McGee and Marren only has a slight chance of making bench.

Im guessing it will be Greene, Donovan, McGuire, Harrison, J Davey, Quinn, Cawley, Taylor, Gilmartin, Costello, Brehony, Gaughan, Coen, Sweeney, Kelly.

Its a fast team with plenty of pace and Croke Park should suit us. I didnt see Antrim in the NFL. Cunningham will punish us from frees so we need to stay disciplined. Looking forward to it.

Its only the lower hogan open as expected. Hope a good crowd from Sligo travel but wont hold my breath. Hopefully we will keep the momentum going, and as far as im concerned this game will be a way more acccurate barometer of where we are at than any of the League games i was at as the opposition was poor except for Cavan.

[A Quinn Martin Production]

Any thoughts lads?

Im fairly confident of a win, but we are missing McGee and Marren only has a slight chance of making bench.

Im guessing it will be Greene, Donovan, McGuire, Harrison, J Davey, Quinn, Cawley, Taylor, Gilmartin, Costello, Brehony, Gaughan, Coen, Sweeney, Kelly.

Its a fast team with plenty of pace and Croke Park should suit us. I didnt see Antrim in the NFL. Cunningham will punish us from frees so we need to stay disciplined. Looking forward to it.

Its only the lower hogan open as expected. Hope a good crowd from Sligo travel but wont hold my breath. Hopefully we will keep the momentum going, and as far as im concerned this game will be a way more acccurate barometer of where we are at than any of the League games i was at as the opposition was poor except for Cavan.

Same here...

[SambaSaffron]

And here. Magill should be back which is a fairly big bonus for us.

[A Quinn Martin Production]

Ladbrokes have Antrim 4/5, Sligo 5/4 and 15/2 the draw.

[ross4life]

Should be a interesting battle between two well matched teams! Great Day/night out for both supporters Croke park under lights is a great experience

[SLIGONIAN]

Should be a interesting battle between two well matched teams! Great Day/night out for both supporters Croke park under lights is a great experience

I reckon there wont be a need for lights with evenings getting longer?

[RedandGreenSniper]

Ladbrokes have Antrim 4/5, Sligo 5/4 and 15/2 the draw.

Powers have Antrim 11/10 and Sligo 10/11 so good value if you shop around, whichever side you want to back. Personally I think 11/10 about Antrim is a great price. So too is 33/1 about them to win the Ulster title.

[ross4life]

Should be a interesting battle between two well matched teams! Great Day/night out for both supporters Croke park under lights is a great experience

I reckon there wont be a need for lights with evenings getting longer?

I was at the Cavan V Roscommon Game on 21 of April 2007 was a need for lights back then (7pm throw in) & lights were needed in Cavan last week but not till the 2nd half

[boro]

I watched both of ye play us down in Wexford Park and based on those games I'd make Antrim favourites. Very fast and slick side, if a bit small at midfield. 

[drici]

Walsh targets another win

NOW that they've happily gotten accustomed to winning, the reborn Sligo want to keep it that way.

Into the National Football League Division Two realm for 2011 and qualified for this year's Division Three decider against Antrim, who Sligo stuffed in the 2009 Division Four final, the former Connacht champions have developed a taste for gleaning victories.

"Any final you get to, you want to try to win it," said Kevin Walsh, the Sligo Senior team manager, ahead of Saturday's Croke Park showdown against Antrim, last year's Ulster finalists (throw-in 7pm).

"The last four games we've played [in Division Three] have been like championship games and we want to keep that edge."

That they have the opportunity to complete their National League duties on a high is, according to Walsh, an unexpected but most welcome side-effect of a progressive series that yielded five wins from seven games.

"We said that when we had got promoted we wanted to stay up [in Division Three] and make sure we didn't go down again. We set out to get 10 points and then get promoted."

Walsh maintained all along that in the topsy-turvy world of Division Three that those teams displaying the most consistency would prosper.

Indeed, Division Three is not entirely removed from the lowest tier in terms of participants being able to make errors (and get away with it) and the fact that a team could be, say, five or six points ahead (or behind) and still not be sure of a game's outcome.

When Sligo lost two of their opening three games – against Antrim and Wexford – few would have envisaged that Walsh's charges would end up as one of the two promoted sides.

The circumstances that led to a repeat of last year's Division Four final, this time in the higher section, left Wexford marginalised.

"Look at Antrim, they lost their last three games and got through. Wexford beat both ourselves and Antrim and still didn't go up," Walsh observed.

If expanding his selection options and maintaining Sligo's Division Three status were among Walsh's original targets then the Galway native and his selectors, Dessie Sloyan, Paul Taylor and Paul Durcan, has overachieved, much to the delight of Sligo fans who, in recent weeks, have watched the county's U-21 team contest a provincial decider and St Attracta's Community School feature in an All-Ireland Colleges final at Senior 'B' level.

Although expected to select a team similar to the line-ups of recent games, Walsh has no problem introducing new faces according to how players have performed in training sessions since the cohesive win over Roscommon at Markievicz Park on the Sunday before last.

Another feature of this year's campaign is the reaction of those players who have been substituted or dropped – they've usually bounced back with renewed appetite.

For Saturday's game in Dublin (Sligo's first in the capital since their loss to Cork in a GAA Football All-Ireland Senior Championship quarter-final in August 2007) forwards Colm McGee and Adrian Marren, who both missed the Roscommon game, are expected to be available for selection with midfielder Eugene Mullen the sole absentee through injury.

Kevin Bradley's Antrim are still without one of their leading forwards, Kevin Niblock, with their attacking hopes pinned on the form of, among others, Paddy Cunningham.

With June's Connacht Senior Championship clash with Mayo – the Division One finalists – beginning to crop up in conversations, Sligo can go into their preparation phase for that game with, ideally, another win registered.

SLIGO OVERVIEW

Defence
THE old reliables of Sligo's rearguard – Philip Greene, Charlie Harrison, Noel McGuire, Ross Donovan and Johnny Davey – started all seven Division Three games with Harrison and Davey proving the most consistent and Brian Kennedy, with one appearance thus far, emerging as an option.
Mark Quinn has settled into the No.6 role by doing the simple things well and Keelan Cawley, on current form, has edged ahead of Neil Ewing and Donal McLynn for one of the wingback berths.

Midfield
THE Eugene Mullen-Tony Taylor partnership, which worked throughout last year's successful Division Four campaign, was broken up when Mullen unfortunately got injured against Wexford. Stephen Gilmartin has since stepped in and has improved alongside Taylor, who has been outstanding in recent games. Kevin Walsh will worry if anything should happen to Taylor, with the obvious replacements either Sean Davey, Eamon O'Hara or, indeed, Shane Stenson.

Attack
FREE-taker Mark Breheny's prowess – 19 converted frees and 29 points in total – has underpinned the bulk of Sligo's scores with Alan Costello, Adrian Marren, Colm McGee and David Kelly also figuring prominently on the scoring charts. The absence of Adrian Marren, who missed four games through suspension and one through injury, was compensated somewhat with the emergence of Colm McGee.
If top scorer Breheny and Kelly have been Sligo's outstanding forwards, Kelly particularly as a fulcrum, full-forward Kenneth Sweeney's importance cannot be overstated either.

[A Quinn Martin Production]

So Sligo stuffed Antrim in the Div 4 final...Antrim lost their last three league games and were promoted...Antrim's manager is called Kevin Bradley   You can't beat journalistic accuracy

[SLIGONIAN]

I watched both of ye play us down in Wexford Park and based on those games I'd make Antrim favourites. Very fast and slick side, if a bit small at midfield.

That game was not a true reflection of Sligo in fairness, we looked like a junior side and london and KK would of ran us close that day. Weve won 5 since and are totally different proposition than that game shows. But I do respect it was impossible for you to see us in other games.

The above report is fairly accurate from a Sligo perspective, was hoping McGee would still be under everyones radar but seems not. Im told that McGee is out for this game and marren may make bench from a source on the panel. All the better if there back though.

Ross4life your probably right, was at the tyrone v dub lights match a while back and it looked great so should add to the experience.

[SambaSaffron]

So Sligo stuffed Antrim in the Div 4 final...Antrim lost their last three league games and were promoted...Antrim's manager is called Kevin Bradley   You can't beat journalistic accuracy

Was thinking the same, not a lot of respect shown to us there.

[A Quinn Martin Production]

Is it only the lower deck Hogan that will be open??

[SLIGONIAN]

Is it only the lower deck Hogan that will be open??

Correct,

Ticket sales on Match day:There will be tickets on sale from 3.00pm in Gills on North Circular Road and Clonliffe Road (Clonliffe College Gates in Van)

Sligo team named, 1.Philip Greene 2. Charles Harrison 3. Noel McGuire 4. Ross Donovan 5. Keelan Cawley 6. Mark Quinn 7. Jonathan Davey 8. Tony Taylor 9. Stephen Gilmartin 10. Alan Costello 11. Mark Breheny 12.  Francis Quinn 13. Colm McGee
14.   Kenneth Sweeney 15.   David Kelly

Subs:
16.   Jason Farrell
17.   Neil Ewing
18.   Brian Kennedy
19.   Brendan Phillips
20.   Stephen Coen
21.   Sean Davey
22.   Gary Gaughan
23.   Eamonn O'Hara
24.   Shane Stenson

Strong Sligo side, with Marren the only injury, i see McGlynn missing aswell, must be injured aswell as Id have him ahead of ewing, kennedy and phillips. Francis Quinn is a suprise to get nod ahead of gaughan but since Cavan gaughan struglled for form, and quinn must be showing well at training. Wouldnt mind another look at him. My source who should know got McGee wrong and he is back a fit so glad to see that to be honest.