Sligo prepare for the fierce Leitrim test

The Avant Money Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada cauldron awaits McEntee’s men on Sunday

IT’S ONLY Leitrim. Only the most foolhardy of Sligo fans would utter these three words. Sligo and Leitrim are this province’s underachievers at senior level, with only five Nestor Cups between them (Sligo have three titles and Leitrim two).

Despite this reality and despite the strides that each county is making, there are still some Sligo folk who believe that however bad things are going for the county’s senior team, Leitrim should always be beaten. This is a rather silly outlook.

Take the counties’ most recent clashes, both narrowly won by Sligo, as evidence of just how unpredictable games between these provincial neighbours can be. Their Tailteann Cup quarter-final in 2022 went to penalties and extratime, while last year’s Allianz Football League Division Four meeting ended with just a point as the difference on the scoreboard.

The odds are that Sunday’s Connacht GAA Senior Football Championship quarter-final in Carrick-on-Shannon will be absorbing, close and full of brutally tense twists and turns.

This will be the first meeting between Sligo and Leitrim in the provincial area since a 2011 fixture at Markievicz Park that Leitrim won by three points, 1-10 to 0-10, with Sligo firm favourites for that fixture (they were Connacht runners-up in 2010). Leitrim also triumphed when the counties met in a quarter-final in 2005 in Carrick-on-Shannon.

It is clear, therefore, that Leitrim almost always raise their game when facing Sligo – probably thinking that Sligo aren’t world-beaters either.

Furthermore, when the green and gold are in Carrick-on-Shannon’s Avant Money Páirc Seán Mac Diarmada, with the stand brimming and the terraces heaving, Leitrim will fancy their chances against anyone.

The reward for Sunday’s winners is a place in the semi-final (against either Galway or London), a step closer to the prize of

The number of times that Sligo (3) and Leitrim (2) have won the province’s Nestor Cup. a Connacht final appearance that would guarantee participation in this year’s Sam Maguire Cup. Should Sligo and Leitrim fail to reach the provincial final then it is a summer in the second tier championship – the Tailteann Cup.

Sligo would like to think that their Allianz Football League Division Three status should stand to them when facing a county that was in Division Four this year. But Leitrim secured promotion – without dynamic scorer Keith Beirne – and, putting aside their 14-point loss (3-14 to 0-9) to Laois in last Saturday’s Division Four final at Croke Park, Andy Moran’s charges have been on the up.

Leitrim – who have yet to win a game at Croke Park – won five of their seven games during the round-robin phase and that includes a onepoint away defeat of Laois on March 16 (the same day that Sligo were struggling against and