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[My club, Coolera/Strandhill represented Sligo in 1989 (lost Sligo final to Owenmore Gaels but they didn't go for some reason), 1990 and 1991 and won our section in 1990.]

My club, Coolera/Strandhill represented Sligo in 1989 (lost Sligo final to Owenmore Gaels but they didn't go for some reason), 1990 and 1991 and won our section in 1990.

Sadly the demise of Owenmore Gaels in the 90's could be traced back to that incident. No adult in the club was wiling to travel with us. Were you involved with any of those Coolera teams, Seanie ??

You have launched a stoic defence of your club, Seanie ,as I would expect, but I didn't intend my comments as a personal attack on Coolera. On a few substantive points we have very diverse viewpoints here.

In reality it's 2 matches on one day in that sequence that caused your walkover not the 6 county players (you have fielded teams without your 6 county players in practically every other round). What I agree with you on is that once you have been accepted into the competition it is unfair to ask a second team to play before a first team particularly when that first team isn't allowed all its players due to county commitments.

I agree that there should be a competition whereby big successful clubs can enter a second team to give guys football who are simply not good enough, no longer good enough or who can't give the commitment for senior football and also to introduce young players to adult football away from the pressures of senior football. I disagree on the way this is done. I believe in a reserve league played after each senior match in a double header. You tell me that historically doesn't work. You believe in the current system. I contend that this isn't working witness the walkovers and also the integrity of the league when teams like Coolera/Harps have wildly different quality of teams out depending on external circumstance outside of that league.

You contend that it is not within your notion of fair play if you were disqualified from
2A for giving 2 walkovers (if indeed such a rule exists??). I contend that unless rules are enforced you have anarchy. (We lost 2 points over not playing a match because of a death within our club and that certainly wasn't fair play).

I disagree with your view that it is up to weaker clubs themselves to sort themselves out. The county board has to create an environment in which these clubs can improve. An environment whereby a Coolera player can play over 20 competitive matches to date and a Cloonacool player half that is not that environment. Owenmore Gaels were the weakest club in Sligo (Ireland ??)  and indeed a laughing stock in the 90's. In my view the county board should have appointed outside liaison officers , whatever it took to help turn the club around. On the Sligo minor team of 1993 amongst O Hara, Taylor , Clancy ,Sloyane, Carew to name but few was an Owenmore Gaels player who didn't look out of place in that company. As Owenmore Gaels drifted into a deep dark hole, that player walked away from football. We all walked out of Navan after the Armagh game in 2003 and wondered who or what might have given us the edge. Now I am not naive enough to say it was that Owenmore Gaels player but if the county board had looked after the weakest club in the 90's, maybe, just maybe he might have had a chance to make it like his peers. In a long winded way, what I am saying is that the strong clubs will look after themselves and that it is partly the function of the county board to help the weaker clubs and I don't think the current league system is doing that.

Sadly I better go and do some work here. Unless you call be a boll*x , I wouldn't be able to reply until tomorrow !!!!

Funny I thought we were relatively well beaten against Harps but quite a few of our guys thought we were unlucky. My understanding Seanie was that there was a 2 walkover and you are out rule. Am I mistaken ?? What this weekend tells me is that second teams isn't working and needs to be changed ASAP. It is obvious that clubs are using the same pool of players for their second team and for first team panel. Is it of benefit to Sligo football that this weekend our two weakest Clubs Ballisodare and Cloonacool have no game , that next week they could be playing a team half of whom had a warm up the night before and the previous weekend playing Senior football Some footballers from Coolera , Harps, Curry, Michaels and Farnans have played over 20 adult games this year and yet a committed footballer from Cloonacool Has barely played 10 !!! For all we know the footballer who might in time make the difference to Sligo actually winning something is playing U12 in Ballisodare or Cloonacool. If this continues then sure as anything he'll be playing soccer when he's 18 and could you blame him

Delighted there to see some clarity on the fixtures for the club championship on sligogaa.ie. It all makes perfect sense. My only quibble is starting the championship at all before the leagues are over. At this stage the  leagues would be over by end of July if given a clear run at them and 11 august is plenty of time to start the championship. Of course the agrument against this, is that if you dont have a round of the championship in July then if Sligo win an All Ireland quarter final then the championship would be in chaos but that would be a small price to pay for such glory !!!   

Would be slightly wary of your semi final alright Seanie. West Sligo teams have a great tradition in recent years in the junior and when they smell the sweet smell of success they pull out all the stops. Still if ye are at full strength, helped by the county minors losing, I'd expect ye to win. I expect Ballymote to win the other semifinal.                             

To add to your woes Seanie, according to the champion, the east division final was on Wednesday night so Michaels should be well rested !! ( No idea of the result though).  Its having the second team play before the first is the real killer on weekends like this. Meant to ask you since our match will the prodigal son fresh from his Coolera Rovers exploits committ to playing with your seniors this summer or is he concentrating on intermediates/ juniors ?? Agree that when ye are at full strength ye would have been competitive in this division ands on a par with the likes of Owenmore Gaels. With a junior semifinal next weekend can't see ye been in any better shape then either so that would be curtains. Have a funny feeling though that if the right team doesn't get relegated with ye,  I can't see Pats , Coolaney or Michaels ( be some game between their 1st and 2nd team all the same !!) not using their powers to get 2A and 2B redrawn in 2008.

On an aside I see the minor team named on a recently much improved sligogaa.ie. To be honest have only seen J Keaney and K Cawley at first hand. Our guy must be one of the smallest no. 6' s to play at this level for Sligo but he is a top quality footballer. Presumably Cawley is one of the stars of this team based on anything I've seen. The striking thing I notice is that St Pats have 3 starters and 6 on the panel which is some achievement for a club that hasn't been competitive at even grade B for the last few years at minor. Hopefully its the start of a resurguence in Skreen/Dromard adult football . The other striking thing is that from reputations Gilsenan from Grange , Clarke from enniscrone and particuliarily Maye from Marys and Harris from Johns were marque players at the start of the year and all have to settle for places on the bench. For all I know these guys could be recovering from injuries etc but at least it appears that the outside manager seems to have started with a blank sheet of paper and that can only be good for Sligo football.

I wasn't looking forward to TV3's coverage either but in fairness they have recruited a way higher calibre of person than for their soccer coverage. Matt Cooper is a seasoned professional journalist used to live broadcasting as is Conor mac Namara. Paul Wallace is an excellent analyst again with alot of experience with Sky and Today FM. Disagree with alot of Glennons articles but in fairness at least he is articulate. Looking forward to Cheika and Williams. Think Costello is way better at analysing than playing and Brennan is the novelty act than may or may not work. All in all this is incomparable to their soccer coverage whereby most of those been paid are neither professional , articulate nor at all interesting.           

Your return to 1A is looking fairly certain now. Were any of the other county panellist allowed play ??

Dont know anything about Fergal Henrys replacement but to have had a Fixtures committee working without email for 2 months of the season is laughable these days and of course "glitches" will happen.             

The East Division final between Ballymote and Michaels has yet to be played I think. Enniscrone seems to have won West against Castleconnor which to me is a surprise. Cant understand how Farnans didn't win this -- infact it appears they didn't even enter it. No idea on who won South ( if played yet ?? ) but obviously it was either Bunninadden or Tubbercurry. Who are ye playing in Semis Seanie ??

On yo-yoing teams , I think I am correct in saying that the 6 teams relegated last season are currently all in the promotion positions back up again which surely is a bad sign of the league structure. I'd scrape league finals (obviously the team that tops the league will get the cup) and introduce a play off between the second from bottom team and the second from top team in lower division.

Any word on availability of county players this weekend ?? Your second team has a most win game Saturday against Michaels. Realistically anything less than a win and ye are relegated. With some of Michaels players busy schedule at the moment perhaps they may be fatigued !!!

Agree with everything you say Mano re O Hara and Davey but genuinely think it is an exercise in muddying the waters and O Hara will end up there within 15 minutes. Am concerned about the size of our forward line particuliarily on a wet day and also that apart from Davey and Brehony cant see anyone else scoring consistently. It worrys me greatly to be relying on the gloriously inconsistent S Davey and consequentially the pressure that will be on tightly marked Brehony

how did your match with Harps in 2A go last night Seanie ??

What irks me greatly about the St Michaels situation is that they are encouraged by the county board. look at next weekend fixtures for example. How come Coolera , Marys , Curry , Easkey , Farnans and Harps second teams are playing before their first team which naturally enough will stretch the 2nd team considerably yet Michaels is the other way around

Tourlestrane and Harps are continuing to set the pace in 1A. On paper anyhow the result against Curry looked comfortable for Tourlestrane and they are motoring along very nicely. Despite Marys horrific start to the season , they can still avoid relegation.

Coolera look good in 1B where the big story is Johns collapse. After losing their manager last week , they get another thrashing this week and look to be staring relegation in the face. Enniscrone are also struggling badly and the run of defeats seem to be hitting morale as its seldom one sees senior teams giving walkovers. In lots of ways relegation may do them no harm as in 2A next year a run of wins could turn the team around.

The big 3 of harps , Mholaises and Geevagh continue to blaze a trail in 2A. Coolera need to win at least 4 out of their 6 remaining games and whilst judging their performmance against us on bank holiday Monday its possible, the distraction of the Junior will count against them. We had a good win against Coolaney yesterday who have some of the best players in the division but the stength of the overall panel is letting them down. Tactically some of the positioning of their stronger players is to say the least confusing.
Cloonacool and Curry look to be going straight back to 2A with surprise package St Michaels their closest rivals. From reading their club notes recently some of Michaels better intermediate players seem to be double jobbing but each club to their own. Ballisodare  are very disappointing all year and after last seasons promise seem to have gone backwards whilst the demise of St Marys was totally unexpected

In essence I see Sligo's main problems are in the forward line. Most Counties have bigger minor full forward lines than Kelly , Gallagher and Mc Gowan and we certainly will not beat Roscommon with that line. In all likelihood , Mc Gowan will be replaced by Marren or Sweeney both of whom have also flattered to deceive at intercounty football with one good performance followed by 2/3 average ones. Curran is a worker and isn't on the team to score so that leaves Brehony and Davey. Davey as we all know is gloriously inconsistent and I worry that we are so reliant on him. Despite the rave reviews he is getting on the wing , the team is better balanced when he is full forward and I can't get Noel O Leary out of my head when thinking of Davey as a wing forward. Brehony has improved dramcatically as an intercounty player since his introduction in 01/02 but tends to struggle in the Connaught Championship. We need a massive performance from him. Mc Partland in my mind should be at 12 with Davey full forward. Mc partland shouldn't be full forward as he doesn't have the game for it at this level but he has the bulk , experience and point scoring ability in the half forward line. Doohan hasn't played enough football to be considered at midfield and with O Hara would be too small a partnership at this level. Quinn easily gets my vote as well. Think Martyn or a reputably flying Phillips would be better options at 6 than Mc Namara but apart from that cant over argue with the backs that played in NY. In fairness in Doohan , Martyn , Phillips and also in O neill we have decent cover in the half back . Worry slightly that the bulk of Mannion and Heneghan will cause our full back line some difficulties ala M Meehan last year but they will be very competitive on low ball. Finally we shouldn't understate the loss of B Egan if as a Mano suggests he isn't fully fit.Despite an average league presumably down to injuries he is one of our best players.

Seen Fenton at a tag rugby event last Thursday night and he still looks in good shape though. The couple of minors ye had last year made a big difference to your intermediate team so they are undoubted losses. How is C brennans injury ??

You have confirmed what I suspected about county players. From my calculations they will be absent for minimum 5 out of the next 6 rounds of the league. Dont know if 1 competitive match with your club in the six weeks between Connaught Championship matches is adequate.

Mc Garty due to his travels has often been eligible for Junior and has played , so T Brehony is the only man who guarantees you Mc Namaras absence !!

Hard to see your Intermediate team avoiding relegation Seanie if ye dont beat us on Monday ( 6pm ??) as i reckon you would need minimun 10 points to avoid relegation in that division. In fairness despite all our meetings, there hasn't developed any animosity between the teams and it should be an open game. Best of luck on Friday night against Johns. Ye deserve it after the major injustice of last years intermediate championship but  with a combination of regrading and senior players been away or injured in previous summer there always is some club waiting in the long grass in the junior championship.

Have the senior county players been given the go ahead to play club football this weekend ??