SPORT ROUND-UP

Mixed results for handballers in Connacht

Sligo handballers have experienced mixed fortunes at provincial level in recent weeks.

At masters level, there were Connacht final losses for Michael Murphy (Castleconnor Handball Club) and Clive Slevin (Drumcliffe Handball Club).

But there was success for the Ballymote Handball Club pairing of Grace Hegarty and Aoife Walsh, who won a Connacht doubles title in the Girls U-15 ‘B’ grade. They were successful at Newport, Co. Mayo, against a Mayo pairing. Michael Jones and Lorcan Foody (Castleconnor Handball Club) were beaten finalists in the Boys U-11 ‘B’ doubles competition.

Meanwhile, Ballymote’s Laura Finn was a beaten quarter-finalist in the Ladies Junior Singles category of the GAA Handball 4-Wall All-Ireland Championships.

Good times and great running in Carney event

The recent Carney 10k and Sligo Half Marathon, which took place on Easter Monday, April 1, had almost 600 participants. Seamus Somers, a Male 50 competitor, won the 10k with a time of 33:59. He finished ahead of Shane Hayes, also of Sligo AC, who clocked 34:46. Hayes was first in the Male 40 section.

Third home was Alan Dunne, who posted a time of 35:00. The top five was completed by Evan O’Rourke (fourth, 35:13) and Brian Kinsella (fifth, 37:09).

Cora Regan, a Junior female runner, was the first female finisher – she was 11th overall on a time of 39:08. The second female to cross the line was Bernadette Boyle (19th, 40:21) and Maeve Haigney (26th, 41:07) was the third female to complete the 10,000 metres course.

There were 253 runners for the 10k and 232 for the half-marathon. Ross Neill took the honours in the 13.1 miles race. His time was 1:16:17. Approximately 90 seconds behind in second place was North Sligo AC’s Donal Egan, who posted a time of 1:17:44.

The female winner of the half-marathon was Aela Stewart, who completed the distance in 1:25:51. She was placed 12th.

New format for Sports Direct Men’s FAI Cup

The FAI has adjusted the format of the Sports Direct Men’s FAI Cup. The competition’s preliminary round, which was previously held prior to the first round, will now be held as the first round.

The 20 clubs competing in this season’s first round will consist of the last 16 teams from the 2023-24 FAI Men’s Intermediate Cup and the semi-finalists in the FAI Men’s Junior Cup for 2023-24.

League of Ireland clubs, including Sligo Rovers, will enter the second round following completion of the first round.

Sligo Rovers last won the Men’s FAI Cup in 2013 – this was their fifth time to win the competition and also their last time to contest a final. They reached three successive finals in 2009, 2010 and 2011, winning two (2010 and 2011, both penalty shoot-out victories).

Cadden and O’Donnell are selected

Sligo AC’s Lauren Cadden has been selected on the Athletics Ireland women’s 4x400 metres relay squad for the World Athletics Relays that are taking place next month (May 4-5) at the Thomas A. Robinson Stadium, Nassau, Bahamas. Olympian Christopher O’Donnell, North Sligo AC, is a travelling reserve for the Irish mixed 4x400 metres relay squad.

Cadden, 23, who is coached by Dermot McDermott, recently set a new record in the women’s 400 metres final when winning gold for ATU Sligo at the IUAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Belfast.

The west Sligo native was also part of the Athletics Ireland women’s 4x400 metres relay selection (but didn’t compete) for last month’s World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.

O’Donnell, meanwhile, is a regular competitor on the Irish mixed 4x400 metres relay team, representing Ireland at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the World Athletics Championships. He turns 26 next month.

Both the Irish mixed 4x400 metres relay team and the Irish women’s 4x400 metres team were automatically selected for the World Athletics Relays because they finished in the top eight of their respective events at last summer’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest.

McSharry wins medals for UT at NCAA finals

Grange Olympian Mona McSharry was a medallist at the recent NCAA Division One Women’s Swimming and Diving Championships that took place at Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatics Centre in Washington.

International swimmer McSharry, 23, who was representing the University of Tennessee, won silver in the women’s 100 yards breastroke for the second successive year. She also posted the fastest time for this event, 56.64 seconds, in the history of the

PROVINCIAL MEDALLISTS: Grace Hegarty and Aoife Walsh (Ballymote Handball Club) were recent winners of a Connacht Handball Girls U-15 ‘B’ doubles title.

Southeastern Conference (SEC).

McSharry – who has won four individual medals at the NCAA finals in her collegiate career stateside – also helped University of Tennessee take bronze in the 400 yards medley yards. Her teammates were Josephine Fuller, Sara Stotler and Camille Spink. This was UT’s best finish in this event since they won the national title in 2013.

FAIS decider held is at The Showgrounds

The Showgrounds, home of Sligo Rovers FC, hosted an All-Ireland final on Wednesday last. The FAI Schools Dr Tony O’Neill National Cup final (Boys U-19, large schools) was held on the venue’s main grass pitch as Buncrana’s

Scoil Mhuire defeated Dublin’s Belvedere College 2-0.

The Ulster champions, who played against the wind in the first-half, scored twice in the second-half at the Sligo town venue. The winners’ goals came from Shaunie Bradley (a Finn Harps first team player) and Conor Graham. This was a first-ever All-Ireland boys soccer title in the ‘A’ grade for the Inishowen secondary school.

Sligo-Leitrim AGM is on next week

The Sligo-Leitrim and District Soccer League’s annual general meeting is scheduled for Tuesday next, April

23, at the Sligo Southern Hotel. According to

TEEN LEADERS: Sligo LGFA Minor team vice-captain Jade Gabbidon (Geevagh) and team captain Ciara Walsh (Tourlestrane).

a statement from the SLDSL, “all clubs in good standing” are entitled to have two delegates present. The AGM starts at 8pm, with clubs asked to sign in from 7.30pm onwards.

LGFA teens start season with a win

The Sligo LGFA Minor team began their provinial campaign with a 39-point defeat of Leitrim, 8-20 to 1-2, at Curry on Wednesday evening last. In last week’s other round one fixture, Mayo beat Roscommon by 12 points, 2-16 to 1-7.

Sligo, again managed by Keith McLoughlin, had a round two fixture against Galway this week – this game was scheduled to take place yesterday, Wednesday, at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence, Bekan. Leitrim played Mayo.

Round three takes place on Wednesday next, April

24, but Sligo have a ‘bye’.

They are back in action in

round four on Wednesday,

May 1, when they are away to Mayo. Sligo’s round five game is also an away assignment – against Roscommon. Ciara Walsh (Tourlestrane) captains the Sligo LGFA Minor team for 2024 and Geevagh’s Jade Gabbidon is the vice-captain. Walsh helped St Attracta’s Community School, Tubbercurry, win the Lidl All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior ‘B’ Championship title last month. Sligo won the Connacht LGFA Minor Championship ‘B’ title last year and were also All-Ireland ‘B’ finalists.

The Connacht LGFA Minor Championship ‘A’ and ‘B’ finals will take place on Saturday, May 18, at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence, Bekan.

More female numbers are on sporting boards

According to figures released by Sport Ireland, there has been an increase in female representation on sporting boards. The overall percentage of women on boards in the Irish sport sector stands at 45%, a three percent increase on the previous snapshot which marked the first time there was female representation on every board.

The Irish Rugby Football Union (33% to 41%), the Football Association of Ireland (36% to 43%) and the GAA (16% to 43%) have all surpassed 40% representation of females on their boards for the first time. Locally, the board of the Sligo