A rollercoaster that enthralled Sligo’s fans
Mark Breheny and Dessie Sloyan – who were the county’s three leading scorers from the Qualifiers – added to their reputations, while talisman Eamonn O’Hara and dependable Noel McGuire grew in stature.
Even the Qualifiers lost its way and the GAA’s Super 8 stage, played for in 2018 and 2019, was an attempt to freshen up things for the eventual quarter-finalists.
MEANWHILE, there was a link between Sligo’s first Qualifiers game two decades ago and their last such fixture, played in 2019.
For starters, both games took place on June 23 – Sligo were away to Carlow on this date in 2001 and it was also June 23 when Sligo were up against Offaly at O’Connor Park, Tullamore 18 years later.
Paul Taylor started at centre-forward against Carlow and would score four points at Dr Cullen Park, while fellow attacker John McPartland Jnr notched a point and was one of eight Sligo scorers on the day.
Fast forward to 2019. Taylor was Sligo’s boss for their Qualifiers game in Offaly and McPartland was part of Taylor’s backroom team as a selector. Sligo, though, lost to Offaly by 11 points, 3-17 to 0-15, in what was a 10th competitive defeat for Taylor in his first year at the helm.
Whatever new system the GAA adopts for the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the revamped competition will do well to replicate the energy, excitement and variety that the Qualifiers yielded for Sligo, a rollercoaster that brought the county and its fans to new heights.
In the pipeline are two options for a restructured inter-county championship – a league-based All-Ireland series with a separate provincial championship or a provincial championship structure comprising four groups of eight teams (with the National Football League to remain as is). Whichever of these altered formats are chosen, a sign of its success will be if we look back on it with the same degree of sepia-tinted nostalgia as when recalling the Qualifiers.