SPORT ROUND-UP
Grammar star O’Connell gets an Irish call
Sligo Grammar School’s Diarmaid O’Connell is part of the Ireland U-18 men’s rugby squad for this weekend’s Six Nations Men’s U-18 Festival in Parma. O’Connell, who recently helped Sligo Grammar win a third successive Connacht Schools Senior
‘A’ Cup, is a member of Carrick-on-Shannon RFC.
Ireland play France this coming Saturday, March 30 (3.30pm). They take on hosts Italy on Wednesday next, April 3 (5.45pm), and will then face Portugal on Sunday week, April 7 (11am). All games will be livestreamed and available on irishrugby.ie and YouTube. The Irish squad has 26 players – the head coach is Neil Doak. Two of the 26 players were in the Ireland squad for last year’s tournament that took place in Dublin.
Success for two karate students from ATU Sligo
ATU Sligo students Lucas Thornton and Aaron McClout won team gold in the kumite category at the recent All-Ireland Karate Intervarsity competition, a tournament that was co-hosted by ATU Galway and University of Galway. Lucas Thornton, who is a sports scholar at ATU Sligo, and Aaron McClout were joined on the team by Kieran Dougall (Queen’s University Belfast).
Fallon takes charge of a semi-final
Sligo soccer referee Stephen Fallon took charge of the FAI Schools Tom Ticher National Junior Boys (Under 17, Large Schools) Cup semi-final at MacSharry Park, Sligo town, on Tuesday of last week. Westport’s Rice College, who featured in the last two national finals, defeated Abbey Vocational School 4-0.
SSRP receives funding for the year ahead
The Sligo Sport and Recreation Partnership (SSRP) is to receive a total of €457,821 in funding for 2024 – this comprises of €437,821 for core and programme funding, with €20,000 towards the Women in Sport initiatives. This funding is from Sport Ireland’s Local Sports Partnership Investment for 2024.
Overall, there is a €11.4 million investment for the country’s 29 Local Sports Partnerships and €17.3 million investment for 58 national governing bodies of sport. This is government funding – from the Department of Tourism,
SWIM EXPERIENCE: The County Sligo Swimming Club group that competed in the recent Swim Ireland Irish Open Long Course Masters Swimming Championships that took place at University of Limerick. Olivia Scanlon, Phil Newell, David Bartley, Tim Doran, Enda Eames, Elaina Sugrue, Cassie McVeigh, PJ Langton, Shane O’Doherty.
Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media – channelled through Sport Ireland. The funding was announced on Thursday of last week by Catherine Martin, TD, Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and Thomas Byrne, TD, Minister of State for Sport and Physical Education.
Conway wins CCFL title with Moate Celtic
Ronan Conway from Rathlee, Co. Sligo, has helped Westmeath’s Moate Celtic win the CCFL (Combined Counties Football League) Division Three title. West Sligo native Conway, a former Gaelic footballer with Easkey GAA Club, also plays GAA with Moate All Whites.
LGFA PPS ‘C’ final is played in Tubbercurry
Tubbercurry’s Kilcoyne Park hosted a national final on Wednesday of last week.
The south Sligo venue, home of Tubbercurry GAA, was the setting for the Lidl LGFA All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior ‘C’ Championship final between St Columba’s Comprehensive School (Glenties, Co. Donegal) and Connacht champions Dunmore Community School (Galway).
Ulster winners St Columba’s won by nine points, 5-8 to 1-11, having been 2-4 to 1-5 up at half-time, to become Donegal’s first-ever winners of a Lidl All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior ‘C’ title.
Well-known Sligo GAA and Sligo LGFA referee Gus Chapman took charge of this game.
Sligo women are wanted for Mini Marathon
Sligo participants are wanted for the 2024 Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon. Female walkers, joggers and runners from Sligo are encouraged to compete in the 42nd staging of an event that takes place on Sunday, June 2 (the June Bank Holiday weekend). The event, 10km route, gets under way from Dublin city centre. Over 20,000 women are expected to participate.
The first Women’s Mini Marathon was held in Dublin in 1983 and had 9,000 entrants. It has become the single biggest charity fundraising event in ireland – an estimated €226 million has been raised for chairty since its beginning in the early 1980s.
Registration is open at www. vhiwomensminimarathon.ie. Every participant will receive a Vhi Women’s Mini Marathon finishers’ medal and can opt in at registration to receive a Vhi Women’s
Mini Marathon t-shirt. Vhi members can claim back their entry fee via the Vhi app.
Rovers’ Power nominated for POTM prize
Sligo Rovers senior men’s team player Simon Power was among the six nominees for the SSE Airtricity-Soccer Writers Ireland Player of the Month award for February. The award went to Shelbourne captain Mark Coyle, who also won the League of Ireland Goal of the Month award
(for February) for his strike against Shamrock Rovers.
Also nominated for the February Player of the Month
award – a mixture of players from the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division and Men’s First Division – were Barry Baggley (Waterford FC), Thomas Considine (Treaty United), Mark Connolly (Derry City) and Jordan Flores (Bohemians).
Bit O’Red teen picked in ROI U-19 squad
Sligo Rovers senior women’s player Jodie Loughrey has been named in the Republic of Ireland women’s U-19 squad for three upcoming UEFA Women’s Under-19 European Championship qualifiers in Croatia.
Midfielder Loughrey, who hails from Buncrana, Co. Donegal, is one of 20 players selected by head coach Dave Connell for Group A2 games against Iceland (Wednesday, April 3, 11.30am), Austria (Saturday, April 6, 11.30am) and hosts Croatia (Tuesday, April 9, 11.30am).
Finishing top of this fourteam group will earn the Republic of Ireland a place in this summer’s finals tournament in Lithuania.
Fifteen members of the women’s U-19 panel have already featured in this season’s SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division. One of these is Jodie Loughrey, who is in her second season with Rovers.
Thriller hosted by Sligo town soccer venue
Sligo town venue MacSharry Park hosted a thrilling FAI Schools fixture on Thursday of last week. Ulster champions Scoil Mhuire (Buncrana) were
4-2 winners over the Connacht representatives, St Gerald’s College (Castlebar), in the FAI Schools Dr Tony O’Neill Senior Boys (U-19, Large Schools) National Cup semi-final.
Scoil Mhuire, who were a goal up at half-time, will face Dublin’s Belvedere College in the national final on Wednesday, April 10.
Big win for Sligo LGFA teenagers against Leitrim
Sligo LGFA’s U-16 county team recorded their second win in this year’s Connacht LGFA U-16 Championship last Saturday when they defeated Leitrim by 17 points, 3-9 to 0-1, in a round four fixture played in Mohill. Sligo led by seven points at the break, 1-4 to 0-0. Sligo, who had a ‘bye’ in round one, defeated Galway by three points in round two, 1-10 to 1-7, at Clonberne.
The Gerard Mullaney-managed Sligo were meant to play Roscommon on the Saturday before last at Fr Kevin Brehony Park, Keash, but that round three game was postponed and since rescheduled to take place yesterday, Wednesday evening at Curry GAA Club’s pitch. Sligo were LGFA All-Ireland U-16 Championship ‘B’ runners-up last year.
St Nathy’s star helps school win €50,000
The winning secondary school in the Lidl Plus LGFA Rewards Scheme, Ballyshannon’s Coláiste Cholmcille, has a Sligo connection. Coláiste Cholmcille received €50,000 to fund the development of Ladies Football and a set of team jerseys. The driving force behind the school’s eventual successful entry in the competition is St Nathy’s player Ann-Marie Coleman, a teacher at Coláiste Cholmcille and the Ladies Football team manager.
During the initial phase of the competition the school collected 1,158 stamps (193 booklets) through the Lidl
Plus LGFA Rewards Scheme – as the prize for collecting the most stamps in Ulster they received three sets of jerseys for the school’s Ladies Football teams.
They were then shortlisted, along with three other schools, for the overall prize of €50,000. To get to this part of the process they had to at least collect 50 booklets and then submit a letter to Lidl explaining why they would deserve to win €50,000 and how this would be used to develop Ladies Football and sport at the school.
Next up was a public voting through social media, with the four shortlisted entries posting a video about the importance of Ladies Football in their respective schools. Coláiste Cholmcille received the most votes. The other finalists each received €10,000.
Rovers’ goalie Walsh is with ROI U-19s
Sligo Rovers’ teenage goalkeeper Conor Walsh was part of the Republic of Ireland men’s U-19 squad for two recent international friendlies against Slovakia. Mayo man Walsh, one of three goalkeepers selected by head coach Tom Mohan, started the game against Slovakia on Saturday last – a 1-0 loss at the MOL Football Academy, Dunajska Streda.
Walsh, who is currently on loan from Rovers at SSE Airtricity Men’s First Division side Finn Harps, was an unused substitute for Tuesday’s game which was a 3-1 win for the Republic of Ireland.
Drogheda United’s Andrew Wogan started the second fixture and Louis Brady (West Bromwich Albion) came on after 63 minutes.
Six ATU Sligo players are ‘Rising Stars’
Six members of the ATU Sligo Ladies Football team that won the Ladies HEC Moynihan Cup earlier this month have been chosen on the
Ladies HEC Rising Stars XV.
ATU Sligo captain Róisín Rodgers is named at centre-back and another ATU Sligo defender, Ellen O’Donoghue, is picked at corner-back.
Niamh Boyle gets one of the midfield slots and there are three ATU Sligo players in attack – Dearbhaile Lynch, Orla Hennessy, who was named MVP (Most Valuable Player) in the Moynihan Cup final, and Rebecca Higgins.
The Gavin Cawley-managed