Sligo wilt in Portlaoise as Wexford win Shield final
Sligo never look like winning basement tier’s first ever Shield as daunting Mayo challenge looms ever closer
AFL Division 4 Shield Final Wexford
Sligo
T2-15 0-9
HIS WAS awful stuff. If Sligo losing by 12 points to Wexford wasn’t bad enough, at least there wasn’t actually something tangible at stake – unless one counts last Sunday’s Allianz Football League Division 4 Shield as a proper trophy.
What made this shrivelling display against a county known for its strawberries a worrying one was that it came a fortnight after the second-half collapse against Louth – a 10-point defeat – and almost two weeks before last year’s All-Ireland finalists Mayo come to Markievicz Park.
Sligo started with an intent to mirror that purposeful first-half in Louth – a prime example was Sean Carrabine’s stirring point inside the first minute – but they ended up replicating the sad second-half crumble against Mickey Harte’s side, a good display turned quite bad.
The concession of a 20th minute goal was the beginning of the end for Sligo at Portlaoise’s MW Hire O’Moore Park as Tony McEntee’s side already looked in significant trouble at halftime when they trailed by six points, 1-7 to 0-4.
Even the enforced departure of Wexford’s first-half goalscorer Ben Brosnan, who was injured in the act of scoring when he collided with outrushing netminder Eamonn Kilgannon, couldn’t give Sligo a fillip. If this was a shouting match Sligo were whispering for much of the contest, save for the promptings of Sean Carrabine and Niall Murphy, scorers of 0-3 and 0-4 respectively.
With bad luck seemingly Sligo’s companion since that one-point loss in Belfast last month, effervescent captain Keelan Cawley was escorted off the pitch with an injury – later confirmed by his manager as a concussion – after 33 minutes.
Having burst through Wexford’s cover, Cawley’s run was halted by a thunderous challenge from wing-back Michael Furlong, a challenge deemed a ‘fair’ shoulder by the referee.
This was the second time that Cawley, operating at wing-forward, had appeared in a goalscoring position. In the 10th minute, having got on the end of a move knitted by Peter Naughton, John F Carr and Niall Murphy, the Coolera-Strandhill couldn’t get a shot off and then didn’t get enough purchase on his fisted point attempt.
That attack came when it was level, 0-2 each, and Sligo looked involved and enthused.
The second-half could have been worse in terms of more Wexford goals.
Substitute Robbie Brooks’ blaster was deflected over the crossbar by Sligo goalkeeper Eamonn Kilgannon, while both John Tubritt (who kicked half a dozen points from play) and Kevin O’Grady opted not to go for goal when tempting situations suggested they should.
Sligo’s defenders also defused potential goalmouth bombs – a Darragh Cummins interception stopped Eoin Porter getting through and in the 70th minute substitute Karl McKenna mopped up obvious danger when Wexford’s Tom Byrne seemed certain to find the net.
After a few heroic clearances – and some desperate ones, too – it was ironic that Wexford’s second goal was