McEntee left upbeat after home win
THIS was one of the better days for the Sligo senior Gaelic footballers. Beating Westmeath by six points, 1-14 to 0-11, meant that Sligo completed their Allianz Football League Division Three schedule on a high.
Tony McEntee’s men finished fourth in the standings, behind promoted sides Down and Westmeath and third-placed Clare, with a creditable return of four wins, one draw and two losses from seven fixtures.
Armagh man McEntee was pleased at how Sligo consolidated their Division Three status after winning last year’s Division Four title.
He stated: “I’m delighted with this performance [against Westmeath] considering the players who were missing. That is back-to-back good performances. Yes, we didn’t get the result we wanted against Offaly but we had a great performance.
“We felt that Westmeath needed a result – they had everything to fight for – because if Clare had beaten Down then it would have been Down and Clare going up, not Westmeath.
“We had nothing to play for but pride – but that’s 14 months since we were beaten here [Markievicz Park] and we wanted to maintain that record.”
McEntee continued: “This Westmeath team are at the level that we’re trying to get to – a team that can compete with the bigger boys. That was the challenge for us, could we compete with the likes of Westmeath.”
The manager acknowledged that Sligo won possession in the middle third, either cleanly or from breaks, with the players deployed there getting their hands on the ‘dirty’ ball.
“This can come with home advantage, fellas seem to push that bit more with the crowd there. We also had three or possibly four realistic goal chances.
“That aside, we made an endless amount of chances, we drove on right until the end and kept up the pressure.
“We had a lot of chances in the firsthalf and we missed quite a few – we were two points down at half-time but we were comfortable – we knew that if we created the same amount of opportunities in the second-half that we would put the ball over the bar.”
Two weeks separate Sligo’s Westmeath game and their Leitrim challenge, with Leitrim involved in a game this Saturday – an Allianz Football League Division Four decider against Laois at Croke Park (5pm).
“We have to get our focus right [for Leitrim]. That can be difficult, with games coming week after week, to change your focus. We have that opportunity now.”
McEntee isn’t one for mulling over regrets but he reckoned that had Sligo beaten Clare in the opening round – this was a onepoint loss in Ennis – then Sligo would have been looking at promotion rather than stability.
“In saying that, this result against Westmeath gave these lads hope that they can compete with good teams. We are after coming up from Division Four and there is always a step up to Division Three. I think we have been successful in that.
“This result and other results will give us the belief that we can continue to drive on next year.”
Several injury concerns are worrisome for McEntee – Luke Towey is set to miss the Leitrim game and there are doubts about the availability of Pat Spillane, Brian Cox and Patrick O’Connor.
Jack Lavin, the former Sligo U-20 captain, has also missed recent games because of injury. Alan Reilly and Conan Marren, meanwhile, have left the senior panel.
ALLIANZ FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION THREE 2024 ROUND ONE RESULTS
(Played on January 28)
Clare 0-9, Sligo 1-5; Offaly 0-10, Westmeath 1-11; Wicklow 0-13, Down 0-18; Limerick 2-7, Antrim 2-14.
ROUND TWO RESULTS
(Played on Saturday, February 3 and Sunday, February 4)
Down 3-16, Limerick 0-9; Sligo 2-10, Wicklow 1-11; Antrim 2-5, Offaly 1-7; Westmeath 1-11, Clare 0-13. ROUND THREE RESULTS
(Sunday, February 18)
Antrim 1-6, Down 1-15; Limerick 0-10, Sligo 1-12; Offaly 1-12, Clare 2-10; Wicklow 0-10, Westmeath 1-13.
ROUND FOUR RESULTS
(Saturday, February 24 and Sunday, February 25) (Saturday, March 2 and Sunday, March 3) (Saturday, March 16 and Sunday, March 17) (Sunday, March 24)