HEARTBREAK FOR MINORS IN FINAL
SLIGO’S bid for a first Connacht Minor football title since 1968 came to an unsuccessful conclusion in the driving wind and rain at the provincial Centre of Excellence at Bekan on St Stephen’s Day after they fell to Roscommon by three points.
Held scoreless for 55 minutes, Daragh Fallon’s charges battled gamely over the course of the first half playing into the teeth of the elements.
0-4 to 0-0 down at the break, it certainly looked like a retrievable deficit but the game’s third quarter saw Roscommon show their composure as Sligo struggled to gain any forward momentum.
Shane Walsh’s goal in this period was the game’s crucial score, and they withstood Sligo’s late rally to hold out for a 14th-ever provincial crown.
As Roscommon added another title, it is a third final loss for Sligo in the last six seasons.
2015, after a replay to Galway, and another loss to the Tribesmen in 2017, are the other final appearances that have ended without silverware in recent years.
Any analysis or assessment of this encounter has to be undertaken in the context of the horrendous weather at the Mayo venue.
Storm Bella, which battered the country on St Stephen’s Day, rendered conditions very close to unplayable - sheets of rain, backed by a gale force wind with a significant wind chill, meant it was largely a case of both teams trying to survive and make as few mistakes as possible.
The game, the date of which was moved twice to ensure it could be played due to the impending Covid-19 restrictions, was a war of attrition with both sides unable to really express themselves as they otherwise might have in more favourable conditions.
Playing into those elements in the first half, Sligo would have been quite content with their efforts at half-time.
They started brightly - controlling the first couple of minutes - and Roscommon, even with the conditions at their back, failed to make any real inroads in attempting to establish a lead.
Eoin Colleran, Oisín Cregg and Conor Hand (2) all raised white flags for the Rossies in the first half, but they never pushed too far out of Sligo’s sight.
That might have been different had Hand’s soccer-style effort at goal in the early exchanges not gone past the upright.
Sligo had reason to be pleased with the
scoreline at the break, and their first half performance suggested they had enough to, at the very least, move into a winning position in the second period.
Their situation - and team morale - may have been enhanced further had any of their three first half efforts at the posts gone over instead of wide.
Dylan Walsh had a couple of unsuccessful attempts from difficult frees but even still, trailing by just four points at halftime, with the wind advantage to come, was a satisfactory outcome.
The wind was so strong, however, that it was difficult to even play with it.
Sligo, still working ferociously, just never clicked going forward in the third quarter and squandered a couple of reasonable opportunities to get the scoreboard ticking, while Roscommon displayed composure well beyond their
years.
The winners kept the ball superbly, probed the Sligo defence when the opportunity arose and kept it simple.
When things eventually opened up for Shane Walsh, he found the net after a mazy run midway through the second half leaving Sligo seven points in arrears, 1-4 to 0-0.
Sligo, though in a difficult spot, never backed down.
They stuck to their task and eventually got off the mark in the 55th minute with an excellent score from Canice Mulligan, which was followed by another impressive effort from Simon McKeon.
A goal was needed to breathe life into the fightback, and Sligo got theirs on the stroke of the hour mark when Dylan Walsh’s long range free ricocheted off a collection of flailing arms into the roof of
the Roscommon net.
1-5 to 1-2 behind, Sligo attempted valiantly to get themselves back on level terms with another major, but Roscommon again displayed very effective game management in the three minutes of added time to clinch the honours.
SLIGO: J Lundy; L Casserly, R Kelly, J Kiernan; R Chambers, C O’Reilly, M Heraghty; D O’Boyle, B Byrne; D Foy, L Marren, C Mulligan (0-1); D Walsh (1-0), C Oates, A Gallagher. Subs used: S McKeon (0-1), B Duffy, C Mitchell, T Langan.
ROSCOMMON: D Farrell; M Sugrue, C Keogh, L Walsh; C Neary, A McManus, E Ward; O Cregg (0-1), J Greene; S Walsh (1-0), R Conlon, C Hand (0-3); A Shannon, E Colleran (0-1), D Gately. Subs used: T Lennon, B Nugent, D Coleman, D O’Beirne.
REFEREE: P Guckian (Leitrim).