Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Defence won’t rest says Niall
Sligo 0-22 Antrim 3-7 All-ireland SFC Qualifiers Rnd 1A BY LIAM MALONEY SLIGO reignited their campaign with a six-point defeat of 14-man Antrim but manager Niall Carew says their defence must improve if they’re to progress any further. “We’d be very happy with our play going forward,” said Sligo boss Niall Carew at Markievicz Park, “but we’re disappointed with our defensive duties so we’ll have to brush up on that for the next game. “We always thought we could break them [Antrim] down in Markievicz Park and to be fair to Stephen Coen, he stepped up.” The home side scored 12 points without reply in 27 second-half minutes to turn a four-point deficit into an eight-point lead, 0-20 to 2-6. Forward Coen was the star with eight points in that second-half – four from frees and four from play – while Niall Murphy’s return and a five-point haul from Adrian Marren helped. But Antrim’s two goals early in the second-half from CJ Mcgourty, who converted a penalty, and Matthew Fitzpatrick, whose lob deceived Sligo goalkeeper Aidan Devaney, left the hosts floundering. But a 41st minute red card for Antrim sub Jack Dowling proved crucial and their only score after Sligo took over was a late goal scored by Paddy Mcbride. “Fair play to Sligo, they were the far better team on the day,” admitted Antrim joint-boss Frank Fitzsimons. SCORERS - SLIGO: S Coen (0-8, 4f), A Marren (0-5, 3f), P O’connor (0-2), N Murphy (0-2), P Hughes (0-2), K Mcdonnell (0-1), E Mchugh (0-1), M Breheny (0-1f) ANTRIM: CJ Mcgourty (1-2, 1-0 pen, 2f), P Mcbride (1-1), C Murray (0-3), M Fitzpatrick (1-0), T Mccann (0-1).