SPORT ROUND-UP
Teen hurlers lose out west to rivals Mayo
Sligo’s U-17 hurlers were beaten by their Connacht neighbours Mayo, 1-18 to 3-7, in last Saturday’s GAA Hurling Celtic Challenge Group Five fixture that was played at Easkey GAA Club’s facilities in Castletown.
Luke Tuffy bagged two goals for Sligo in this five-point loss, with the other Sligo scores coming from Thomas O’Brien (1-0), Michael McDonagh (0-4, 3f), Ryan O’Donnell (0-2, 2f) and Oisin O’Rahilly (0-1).
Mayo, who were assisted by a slight breeze in the opening half at the coastal venue in west Sligo, led 1-9 to 2-4 at halftime. Sligo’s first-half goals came from Thomas O’Brien, with Luke Tuffy providing the assist, and Luke Tuffy, who was set up by Michael McDonagh. Tuffy netted Sligo’s third goal in the second-half.
Although determined,
Sligo were undone by missed chances. Among Sligo’s best performers were Andoni Oskoz, Oisin Deehan, Fiachra Haughey, Luke Tuffy and Michael McDonagh. The match referee was Sligo’s Gavin Cawley.
Sligo soccer venue hosts an FAIS final
The Showgrounds – home of Sligo Rovers Football Club – was the setting for the recent FAI Schools Dr Tony O’Neill Senior Boys Cup final (Boys U-19, large schools category) between Donegal’s Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana, and Dublin side Belvedere College. Ulster champions Scoil Mhuire won 2-0 on the Sligo town venue’s grass pitch. The referee was Sligo’s Keenan Deering and his assistant referees were Ronnie Cawley and John Feeney.
LGFA U-14s are beaten in a ‘Silver’ final
There was disappointment for the Sligo LGFA U-14 team in last Saturday’s Connacht LGFA U-14 Championship Silver final as they lost to Mayo, 5-16 to 0-4, at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence, Bekan.
The Paul O’Brien-managed Sligo were in trouble at half-time as they trailed by 14 points, 2-10 to 0-2. Sligo’s scorers were Aoibhin Doherty (0-3, 1f) and Ciara O’Brien (0-1), with goalkeeper Ivana McMahon also busy keeping Mayo from netting more than the five goals they got.
Meanwhile, the day’s Gold final, which also took place at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence, was won by Galway, who defeated Roscommon by 29 points, 9-7 to 1-2.
Sligo LGFA U-14 squad:
Ivana McMahon (Coolera-Strandhill); Saoirse McDaniel, Siun Reynolds (St Mary’s); Aoibhin Doherty, Rachel Jones, Riona Dooner (Owenmore Gaels); Aisling Cooke, Katelin Donovan (Eastern Harps); Eimear Coyle, Sadhbh Ballantine, Ellie Langan (St Molaise Gaels); Lauren Hayes, Ava Gallagher, Kate Brett, Bailey Gallagher (Curry); Lile Kelly, Saoirse McMorrow, Sinead Keely, Katie Hession (St John’s); Kellie Gallagher (c) (St Nathy’s); Chloe McDonagh, Hope O’Brien (Drumcliffe-Rosses Point); Ciara O’Brien (St Farnan’s); Ellen Kelly, Holly Deehan (Eoghan Rua); Grace Curran, Andrea Corcoran (Tourlestrane); Kate Taaffe (CT Gaels); Clodagh Galvin (Shamrock Gaels).
Rovers take on Bohemians in a televised game
Sligo Rovers’ home game against Bohemians in the
SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division will be shown live on RTÉ2 next month. Originally scheduled for Saturday, May 18, this round 16 game has been brought forward by 24 hours to Friday, May 17, as a result of it being televised (kick-off 7.45pm). The Friday before, May 10, will see the RTÉ2 cameras at Tallaght Stadium for the clash of holders Shamrock Rovers and their Dublin rivals St Patrick’s Athletic.
Superb victory for LGFA teens over Galway
The Sligo LGFA Minor team secured their second win of this season’s Connacht LGFA Minor Championship when they impressively defeated Galway by 12 points, 4-13 to 3-4, at the Connacht GAA Centre of Excellence, Bekan, last Wednesday night.
Sligo were on course for victory at half-time as they had established a lead of 3-10 to 0-0 during a one-sided first-half. Keith McLoughlin’s charges, who overpowered Leitrim by 39 points in round one, weren’t in action this week – they had a ‘bye’ in round three which took place last night, Wednesday.
Sligo, last year’s Connacht Minor ‘B’ champions and All-Ireland finalists, are back in action on Wednesday next, May 1, when they are away to Mayo in round four of the competition. Sligo’s round five game is also an away assignment against Roscommon on May 8.
Sligo LGFA Minor panel: Catherine Gallagher, Blaithin Lavin (St Nathy’s); Ellen Giblin, Aoibheann Durcan (Curry); Leanne Galvin (Shamrock Gaels); Treasa O’Kelly-Lynch, Jillian Monaghan, Aimee Keane, Caoimhe Morgan (St Mary’s); Eimer Mitchell (Eastern Harps); Kate McCarthy, Cara
HUGH’S AWARD: Hugh Gallagher of St Molaise Gaels GAA Club, was recently presented with an award from Connacht Scór in recognition of his unselfish service of over four decades to the Scór movement both in Sligo and Connacht. Making the presentation is Thomas Kelly (chairperson of Connacht Scór). Scór is the cultural part of the GAA, with competitions organised for younger competitors (Scór na Óg) and adults (Scór Sinsir).
King (CT Gaels); Grainne Smith, Jade Gabbidon (Geevagh); Gemma O’Callaghan, Jasmine Dunleavy (Drumcliffe-Rosses Point); Ciara Walsh (c) (Tourlestrane); Susannah Gilligan, Orna Murphy, Anna McDaniel (Coolera-Strandhill); Hollie McAndrew, Rachel McGoldrick (St John’s); Saoirse Corcoran, Tara Hastings, Keeva Flynn, Kathryn Feeney (Eoghan Rua); Chloe Burns, Kayleigh Walsh (St Farnan’s); Molly McLoughlin (St Molaise Gaels); Marie Donohoe (Owenmore Gaels).
Nicole Fowley doesn’t play in Ireland’s loss
Drumcliffe’s Nicole Fowley, the Ireland women’s rugby international and a star with Galwegians and Connacht, wasn’t in the matchday squad for last Saturday’s Guinness Women’s Six Nations Championship fixture against England at Twickenham Stadium. Ireland lost 88-10 as the hosts, who scored 14 tries, punished Irish errors.
This was a continuation of Ireland’s recent form against England – their two meetings prior to last weekend saw England record big wins by a combined margin of 117 points (with Ireland held scoreless in each of these games).
Ireland, who have won one of their four games in this campaign (a 36-5 defeat of Wales on April 13), complete their schedule with a home game against Scotland this Saturday (Kingspan Stadium, Belfast, 2.30pm). Scotland were 17-10 winners over Italy last weekend.
10 mile run to Coney Island is a June test
The countdown is on to June’s Coney Island Adventure Run. This event, which takes place on Saturday, June 8, comprises of a 10 mile run and a 10 mile walk from Sligo Rugby Club, Strandhill, to Coney Island and back. All ages can take part in the walk (early turn back is allowed) but only competitors aged over 18 can participate in the run. The walk begins at 11am and the run has a 12 noon start.
Register online through the club’s website, sligorugby. ie. The entry fee is €35 (plus online booking fees). The first 300 registrations receive an event t-shirt.
The Coney Island Adventure Run is a fundrasier for Sligo Rugby Club, with monies raised going to the development of youth rugby facilities at Hamilton Park.
Hynes is set to oversee a Minor fixture
Sligo GAA referee Ronan Hynes takes charge of the Connacht GAA Minor Football Championship round three game between Galway and Mayo at Tuam Stadium tomorrow, Friday, evening. The Stephen Henry-managed Sligo have a ‘bye’ in this week’s third round, having already played Galway (a draw at Tuam Stadium) and Leitrim (a win at Markievicz Park). Sligo’s remaining games are against Roscommon and Mayo.
Connolly has a gig in Armagh this Sunday
Sligo GAA referee Michael Connolly will officiate this Sunday’s Nickey Rackard Cup round three game between Armagh and Roscommon at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds in Armagh (2pm start). The Nickey Rackard Cup is the fourth tier GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship. On the weekend before last Connolly was the ref for the Lory Meagher Cup clash of Leitrim and Fermanagh.
Competitions at Castle Dargan Golf Club
Exciting golf contines at Castle Dargan Golf Club. The final round of the Callaway Open Series is scheduled for this weekend (April 26-27). This Saturday’s club competition is sponsored by Kearns’ Centra (Caltragh, Sligo town). The sponsors of Sunday’s club competition are Kelly MacGowan Solicitors.
Upcoming events include a competition sponsored by Printfix (Sligo) and female members will be playing for the Mary McGourty Cup – a competition named after the late Mary McGourty, a former lady captain at Castle Dargan.
Meanwhile, the club’s ‘Get into Golf’ programme for female golfers starts on Thursday, May 9. This is an eightweek programme led by PGA professional Seamus Clinton. For further details contact Eoin at the golf shop on 071 9118080.
Patton scores for FAI Schools against Wales
Summerhill College’s Daire Patton scored for the FAI Schools Republic of Ireland Boys U-18 team in their 3-0 defeat of Wales at the facilities of Briton Ferry FC on Thursday last. Midfielder Patton, who scored in the first-half of the win over Wales, was chosen as the Republic of Ireland’s ‘Player of the Match’ in the third round game with England.
This was the Republic of Ireland’s final fixture of this year’s SAFIB Centenary Shield series – they drew with Scotland (1-1), lost to Northern Ireland (2-1) and were beaten by England (4-0).
Also in the team for the away game against Wales was Tubbercurry’s Kyle McDonagh
(St Attracta’s Community School) as well as two other players from the Sligo Rovers Academy, Conor Reynolds and Conor Cannon (who both attend Westport’s Rice College). Patton, McDonagh and Reynolds were in the Rovers’ matchday squad for last Frirday’s SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division game against Dundalk, with McDonagh and Reynolds also named on the bench for Monday’s home Connacht derby with Galway United.
Mini-sevens competitions at Kent Park
Rockfield National School and Carraroe National School were the overall winners in the recent Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Shligigh mini-sevens Gaelic football competition. Rockfield NS won the girls title thanks to a one-point defeat of Carraroe NS in the final, 3-5 to 3-4, while the boys title went to Carraroe NS, who were six-point winners over Cloonacool NS, 2-6 to 1-3. The semi-finals and finals in the girls and boys competitions took place at Kent Park in Ballydoogan.
In the girls semi-finals there were wins for Carraroe NS and Rockfield NS over Moylough NS and Owenbeg NS respectively. The beaten semi-finalists in the boys competition were Corballa NS and Moylough NS. Also held on the day was a place kicking competition. Sarah Toolan (Rockfield NS) won the girls competition and Ryan Tuffy (Enniscrone NS) was the best of the boys.
Tough result for hurlers in London
Sligo’s senior hurlers suffered their second successive loss of this year’s Christy Ring Cup when they were beaten 4-26 to 0-12 away to London last Saturday. Stephen Sheil’s charges were caught by a Lon