Sligo at home to Armagh in next round of the Qualifiers on June 23rd
THE draw for the next round of the Qualifiers was made yesterday morning and Sligo have a home game with Armagh on Saturday evening, June 23rd.
It is the same day that Sligo hurlers are in the Lory Meagher final in Croke Park in what will be a busy weekend for the Yeats men.
Sligo are sweating on the fitness of Kyle Cawley, Eoin McHugh and Tubbercurry’s Eddie McGuinness, while dual start Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch is also a doubt should he be selected, having picked up a hand injury in Sligo’s defeat to Cavan in the Lory Meagher Cup on Saturday in Markievicz Park.
Sligo senior football manager Cathal Corey had admitted that next weekend’s All-Ireland Football Championship qualifier meeting with Armagh will provide his side with a tough challenge.
“There’s no easy draw is is there?”, Corey told the Sligo Champion following yesterday morning’s draw. “But it’s a home draw and that’s what you’re looking for but there was never going to be an easy one.
“You look at the likes of Mayo, Tyrone and you hear them coming out at the first bit of the draw so we’re happy enough to avoid them.”
Sligo have already suffered defeat to the Orchard County this year, having been beaten by 14 points on the opening day of this year’s Allianz League. Corey is well aware of Armagh’s strengths and says he and his management team will get together early this week and come up with a game plan to beat the Ulster men.
“Armagh will be a test but we know them. They’re strong, physical and mobile.
“We had a lot of new players that day and they all did very well. But it’s in Markievicz so we know we’ll get a big crowd behind us. We were disappointed against Galway because we were caught out by a savage team.
“So now we’ll sit down tonight and tomorrow night and we’ll discuss and analyse Armagh and try to come up with a game plan.”
The other draws are as follows; Tipperary v Mayo; Waterford v Monaghan; Cavan v Down; Carlow v Tyrone; Offaly v Clare; Longford v Kildare and Leitrim v Louth.
Sligo play Armagh in Markievicz Park at 6pm on Saturday, June 23rd.