Sligo Club Football & Hurling

[SLIGONIAN]

What did you think mano, you were obviously there?

No i wasn't at it. After taking him to the cleaners last week i would have thought you could give him some credit for at least an improved performance on Saturday.

How did you know it was an improved performance so? It couldnt of been worse that what I witnessed in last week against michaels so improvement wasnt hard earned. I give credit when its earned. The man is guarnteed his place no matter how he performs which is poor management. Honestly Its hard for me to give him credit when you see so many terrible performances and then one decent one against a poor side. It had more to do with that than his value to our team. Harsh but true.

[Teeling Gael]

Pride of place to Shamrock Gaels this week who 10 days ago were odds on for relegation and now with a 1/4 final to look forward too. Excellent post there xwave and the stark reality of Ballymotes championship form as detailed is interesting reading. Expect Ballymote to beat Gaels in the last match and send Tourlestane to the B Championship. Feel a certain amount of sympathy for O Hara in that a married guy in his 30's may very well not be available every weekend either for work or personal reasons and O Hara would be entitled to think Tourlestrane would beat Shamrock Gaels in his absence. Harps and Coolera coasted through their section and my reading of the draw suggests that a defeat may even give a slightlier easier path to final in the last game. Fair play to Farnans who beat a Drumcliff side that looks on the way to Intermediate. For a club that looked as if it would take over Sligo football 10/15 years ago , its been a very disappointing few years for Drumcliff. Castleconnor win over Johns must have them thinking of glory and whilst they will be a match for most teams I cant see them winning it. Johns sojourn in division 3 has cost them dear. Marys/ Tubber is the only interesting match in the last round with the winner again likely to be fancying their chances of a run to final in a half including Coolera , Ballymote and Castleconnor which would give all side a fighting chance of making it to final with probably Harps, Curry and(if at all)Tourlestrane on the other side of the draw.

St Mholaise had an excellent win against Pats and may well kick on from there.Desparately disappointing performance from Pats who need a 10 point victory against Michaels to avoid relegation play offs. Ballisodare will probably draw Tourlestarne and survive but another very poor performance from them. Afraid Coolera look in trouble too unless they draw the aformentioned 2 teams. Rumour has it they have a very impressive young manager so hopefully the poor championship run wont effect his confidence. Marys had an excellent win over Cloonacool which signals that they are as competitive as ever at this level. We had an easy win over a very poor Tourlestrane team which to me proves that there must be serious injuries/unavailability in their 1st team as whats left about 2 of them would make our 1st team let alone Tourlestranes !! Half expected to see you back on duty Mano !!


There has been some criticism of CCC on this board re championship scheduling and the big gap now ahead. In fairness I feel they had no option and congratulate them on getting championship commenced in eraly June rather than squashing in into 6 weeks in August/Sept. Can only be of benefit to county lads as well to have such competitive games in advance of Mayo ( touchwood dont think there was any injuries). My only criticism of CCC is the 1 game in 7 weeks from 13 July to end of August in the heart of the summer (bar those teams fortunate enough for league finals). Cant reconcile that with matches starting in mid February and surely at the very leastthey should play the "pre season" competitions at that juncture and shorten the length of the season and thereby reduce the expense of training under lights and damage to pitches of playing games in mid February.

[Sligoper]

Kevin Langan just isn't good enough and to be honest from all reports the lad was dire in county trainin and i have a very very strong source.
Who's going to win?
I think its Harps to throw away with Coolera to play them in the final!

[Westie]

Stevo - It looks like there is a good chance of 4 teams from both div 1 and 2 in the quarters.  Barring Farnans all those teams are in the top half of their division.  They get a winning mentality. And in fairness to Farnans they had turned it around a good bit in the 2-3 games prior to championship.
I know from our experience we were always under severe pressure to try and stay up and with a small panel we seemed to peak aqt the wrong time as all games were championship.  In the last few years some team from div 2 always makes a good run of it, Bunnies and Coolera.
Sligoper - I know I will see him through biased vision and from what I heard he was going badly in training but since he pulled out he has been unbelieveable for us, 7 points at the weekend , 4 from play and responsible for getting 3 of our scored frees is a great return.

[Mano]

By the way Sligoniian how did your teammate who you heavily criticised last week perform at the weekend?

Performed a little better

How did you know it was an improved performance so? It couldnt of been worse that what I witnessed in last week against michaels so improvement wasnt hard earned. I give credit when its earned.

That would be how i know-i asked you and you replied and from your answer i surmise it was an improved performance.

We had an easy win over a very poor Tourlestrane team which to me proves that there must be serious injuries/unavailability in their 1st team as whats left about 2 of them would make our 1st team let alone Tourlestranes !! Half expected to see you back on duty Mano !!

Ha ha. If i was home the weekend no doubt i would have been collared to play. On the last 2 occasions i went to watch them in action i ended up playing-one of the games was an intermediate quarter final against Mary's

[stevo-08]

Stevo - It looks like there is a good chance of 4 teams from both div 1 and 2 in the quarters.  Barring Farnans all those teams are in the top half of their division.  They get a winning mentality. And in fairness to Farnans they had turned it around a good bit in the 2-3 games prior to championship.
I know from our experience we were always under severe pressure to try and stay up and with a small panel we seemed to peak aqt the wrong time as all games were championship.  In the last few years some team from div 2 always makes a good run of it, Bunnies and Coolera.

fair points westie. but it could also be 5 teams from div 1 and 3 teams from div 2 if Tubber come good. And before a ball was kicked, div 2 were guaranteed to have 2 teams in q-finals anyway, so it may turn out that Gaels are the only team to cause any real upset (granted Farnans beating Johns was a shock also). agree about teams getting a winning mentality in division 2, when you're involved in a relegation battle in div 1 sometimes it seems impossible to get a win.

[SLIGONIAN]

According to the SLIGO WEEKENDER Sligo play Roscommon in a challenege match in Boyle on June 12th Thursday at 8.00.

I think teeling gael makes some good points about playing 2 rounds of club championship will help the county team in terms of match fitness and hopefully we will reap the benefit come june22nd.

Interestingly according to Sligo weekender team sheets Noel McGuire played for Easkey which is great news but no sign of michael mcnamara for johns.

[Sligoper]

Im so bored without championship!! I realy dont like this long break! 8 to 9 weels is daft, and teams who have a bit of momentum behind them will be annoyed, especially smaller teams like shams and ballymote who will find their form very precious. Also Curry to some extent because they are starting to get a good run behind them but now there is a break. I really thinks Harps will walk this one and to be honest i didnt think the standard has been great so far!

[magpie seanie]

I understand what you are saying and it is a bit of a pain but overall I think its good. Clubs knew when championship was to be played this year for the first time in ages and that's welcome. The leagues will be finished before championship starts again so will not need to be played out in late October/November which is also good. As TG highlighted, the lack of games in late July/early August is regrettable although that's the price we pay in the GAA for the over emphasis on county teams.

So on balance I'd compliment the CCC on their scheduling - a really hard job done as well as possible.

Curry coming to Ransboro on Saturday evening for a Div 1 tie. No county players might hamper us a bit more than them but it should be a great contest with both clubs eager for the points. A late rally enabled us to bring home the 2 points earlier in the year and Curry will be out to rectify that.

[stevo-08]

Im so bored without championship!! I realy dont like this long break! 8 to 9 weels is daft, and teams who have a bit of momentum behind them will be annoyed, especially smaller teams like shams and ballymote who will find their form very precious. Also Curry to some extent because they are starting to get a good run behind them but now there is a break. I really thinks Harps will walk this one and to be honest i didnt think the standard has been great so far!

I think there's a game in Castlebar coming up which might be worth a look. 

[SLIGONIAN]

Im so bored without championship!! I realy dont like this long break! 8 to 9 weels is daft, and teams who have a bit of momentum behind them will be annoyed, especially smaller teams like shams and ballymote who will find their form very precious. Also Curry to some extent because they are starting to get a good run behind them but now there is a break. I really thinks Harps will walk this one and to be honest i didnt think the standard has been great so far!

I think there's a game in Castlebar coming up which might be worth a look. 

Dont forget the Connaght final after that and then all ireland qtr and who knows... .. obviously the CCC are planning for a great yr with the county. I always like an optimistic approach and its realisitic IMO.

[mumeister]

Ballymote's recent good form continues with a 2 point victory over Geevagh, leaving Tourlestrane all but out of the competiton - a point against Gaels will now see Ballymote through to the quarters. The worrying fact for me about recent games is Ballymote's tendency to sit back with fifteen men behind the ball for the last ten minutes - it cost them against Tourlestrane, and indeed nearly did the same thing against a battling Geevagh side who might feel slightly aggrieved. Had they not missed an open goal in the first half, things may have been very different.
Two great first half goals from McTiernan and McGowan had Ballymote leading at the interval - 2-06 to 0-8 points. However, a poor return of only four points in the second half let Geevagh back into the game, but Ballymote hung on to claim a 2-10 to 0-14 victory on the day - their first Championship win in 11 games... or five years. Perhaps this win will encourage the side to take games by the throat and finish off teams - rather than sitting back and letting them back into it.

Another interesting note was a minor fracas in the closing stages that nearly escalated into an all out brawl when a supporter from the Geevagh side became involved - throwing punches at one of the Ballymote lads. There was absolutely no need for this, and the referee dealt with it quite well, booking the two initial players - and throwing the supporter out.

Well said Xwave. I too was at the game. Good keenly contested game with Ballymote getting a deserved victory. Serious contenders for Owen B, mark my words. I thought the incident with a Geevagh supporter making his way onto the field and striking a Ballymote player repeatidly was disgraceful. This had the potential to escalate the situation into the stands as supporters from Ballymote became aggravated and rightly so. The situation was made all the more regrettable because of the extremely tight pair of white jeans the Geevagh supporter in question was sporting.

[Davitt Man]

Ballymote's recent good form continues with a 2 point victory over Geevagh, leaving Tourlestrane all but out of the competiton - a point against Gaels will now see Ballymote through to the quarters. The worrying fact for me about recent games is Ballymote's tendency to sit back with fifteen men behind the ball for the last ten minutes - it cost them against Tourlestrane, and indeed nearly did the same thing against a battling Geevagh side who might feel slightly aggrieved. Had they not missed an open goal in the first half, things may have been very different.
Two great first half goals from McTiernan and McGowan had Ballymote leading at the interval - 2-06 to 0-8 points. However, a poor return of only four points in the second half let Geevagh back into the game, but Ballymote hung on to claim a 2-10 to 0-14 victory on the day - their first Championship win in 11 games... or five years. Perhaps this win will encourage the side to take games by the throat and finish off teams - rather than sitting back and letting them back into it.

Another interesting note was a minor fracas in the closing stages that nearly escalated into an all out brawl when a supporter from the Geevagh side became involved - throwing punches at one of the Ballymote lads. There was absolutely no need for this, and the referee dealt with it quite well, booking the two initial players - and throwing the supporter out.

Well said Xwave. I too was at the game. Good keenly contested game with Ballymote getting a deserved victory. Serious contenders for Owen B, mark my words. I thought the incident with a Geevagh supporter making his way onto the field and striking a Ballymote player repeatidly was disgraceful. This had the potential to escalate the situation into the stands as supporters from Ballymote became aggravated and rightly so. The situation was made all the more regrettable because of the extremely tight pair of white jeans the Geevagh supporter in question was sporting.

Mumeister is there any truth in the rumour that The Stagmesiter a.k.a Jim Stagg is being flown home from Mexico for the must not lose game against Sham Gaels. He would be a great addition at right half back, add some muscle and physique to the small ballymote half back line

[xwave7000]

Can anyone confirm if the Sligo Mayo game is live on T.V as im afraid im out of the country and wont make it back for McHale Park. I have heard conflicting stories that it may be shown on RTE2.

[SLIGONIAN]

Can anyone confirm if the Sligo Mayo game is live on T.V as im afraid im out of the country and wont make it back for McHale Park. I have heard conflicting stories that it may be shown on RTE2.

Well its not on TV3 or RTE schedule of games. I emailed TV3 about it and they said they had choice on it but decided to show laois v wexford instead. Clowns.

Your only hope is RTE showing it on the net like down tyrone tonight. Try ocean fm online as a last resort.