All-Stars are at home this Saturday
St John’s U-16s progress in SFAI competition
St John’s FC are through to the quarter-finals of the SFAI Boys U-16 National Trophy following the 7-1 defeat of Corkbeg AFC (Cork) at Ballisodare United’s astroturf pitch last Saturday. There were five players on target for the Sligo-Leitrim Schoolboys and Schoolgirls League outfit – Jack Nicholson and Ben Bannigan each scored two goals, with Adrian Targosinski, Ashton Conlon and Adam Feeney also scoring. The first-half was well-contested but St John’s cut loose in the second-half as the day’s journey took its toll on the visitors. The quarter-finals are scheduled for the weekend of March 23-24.
EJ Sligo All-Stars are at home this Saturday for another important game in the Basketball Ireland InsureMyVan.ie Men’s Super League – they host Templeogue at the Mercy College gym (tip-off 7.30pm). The team guided by head coach Shane O’Meara and his assistant, Glen Monaghan, are on course to make the Super League playoffs for the second successive season.
EJ Sligo All-Stars are fourth in the North Conference – which is the final play-off place – and they are six points ahead of their next opponents, fifthplaced Templeogue.
When EJ Sligo All-Stars played Templeogue earlier this season – a round seven meeting in Dublin on November
25 – Templeogue won by five points, 95-90.
The Sligo club’s overall record after 16 games is seven wins and nine losses. Belfast Star, who lead the North Conference, have lost just once in 16 outings. Saturday’s fixture is the first of three successive home games for EJ Sligo All-Stars, who also take on Energywise Ireland Neptune (March 9) and Ulster University (March 16).
National GAA roles for John and Bernardine
Two well-known figures in Sligo GAA, John Murphy and Bernardine McGauran, were elected to national roles at last weekend’s GAA Annual Congress in Newry. Murphy won a vote – beating Tom Reilly of Cavan, 147-118 – to get the position of Representative of Congress (GAA trustee). The Tubbercurry man, who played for Sligo, is a former Sligo GAA chairman and Connacht GAA president. Bernardine McGauran, Calry-St Joseph’s, is now part of the GAA’s Central Competitions Control Committee – she was appointed by incoming GAA president Jarlath Burns, who has started his tenure. McGauran served on the Sligo GAA Executive Committee as cultural officer, assistant secretary and then secretary. She was the first woman to fulfill that role and is now a flag bearer for Sligo at a national level.
New record set by Travers in Cloonacool 5k
who has represented Ireland in the past, clocked 14:52 for the out and back course in south Sligo, breaking the previous record for a male runner of 15:07.
The race winner finished well ahead of Shane Hayes, who was second on 16:20, with Seamus Somers take third spot with a time of 17:18. The top five was completed by David Ahern (17:36) and Gerard Carty (18:01).
The first female across the line was Sinead Fowley, who was eighth overall. Fowley’s time was 18:53. Cloonacool’s own Mari Johnston was the second female home in 13th position – she posted a time of 19:32 – and the third female was Ciara Regan (18th, 19:55). Travers’ prize for breaking the course record is €100. The female course record, 17:13, remains for another year.
SPORTING GENERATIONS: Sligo Rovers legend Harry McLoughlin congratulates his grandchildren, Glen Carty and Ciara Scanlon, after their success in the U-14 age group at last weekend’s Connacht Athletics Indoor Championships. Glen (Sligo AC) and Ciara (South Sligo AC) now progress to the national competitions.