The management changes had a big say getting game over the line
SENDING offs had a big say in two results Sligo teams were involved in over the weekend, with St. Attracta’s hampered when Oisín Higgins picked up a second yellow early in the second half in their Connacht Colleges Final. Sligo senior footballers on the other hand were beneficiaries when Kevin Meaney of Laois got his marching orders with a ridiculous punch to the face of Niall Murphy, reducing his side to fourteen players when in control of this encounter.
Firstly, to the game in Markievicz on Sunday where a win was essential to keep promotion hopes alive in addition to avoiding involvement in the relegation battle. After a poor performance in Antrim last week I was looking forward to seeing what response the Sligo footballers were going to display against Laois, who after two losses already, needed a win from this game. It was Laois who took control in the first half with two goals from two long balls into the Sligo penalty area, with the Kingston brothers profiting. It could have been even worse at this stage but for the intervention of Aidan Devaney in the Sligo goal, with a wonder save, to go with the two that he had pulled off in Antrim last week. Sligo at this point were all over the place taking incorrect options, losing balls in tackles and making elementary handling errors, turning over possession too easily. My thoughts at this stage when seven points down was to get to half time in no worse position. Everything then changed when Niall Murphy won a free that looked like it could have been a penalty. The Laois player, Kevin Meaney, who was playing well, lashed out at Murphy and was rightly shown red. I can only assume at half time Sligo Manager Niall Carew had some harsh words, as he would have known that the first half was not to the standard that he has come to expect from his players.
Sligo came out a new team in the second half helped by the inclusion of Stephen Gilmartin at midfield, and knowing while trailing by 5 points still had a great chance with the help of numerical advantage. It was obvious from early in this period that Keelan Cawley was given the licence to get forward and drive the game, doing well, contributing two excellent points. Sligo need to be commended on this victory as they did not panic despite kicking a few wides. They kept composure and even though Laois had every one of their players behind the ball to defend their lead, Sligo kept probing and got some inspirational scores. The changes the management made also had a big say in getting the game over the line with in particular the contributions of Brendan Egan, Stephen Gilmartin and Cian Breheny and it was also good to see Pat Hughes back getting up to match fitness.
Personally if I was a member of the Sligo management team I would not be hiding behind this victory if we are going to push on and get promotion. While this is a results driven business you have to look at every game as critically as if you lost it. In this regard there is huge improvement in the Sligo performance and if we can cut out the basic errors and learn from this game it can provide the platform to be playing in Division Two next year. While sometimes it can be difficult to play against fourteen players, however I feel this was a huge turning point in the game in favour of Sligo, as Laois were in command and were well set up. It enabled Aidan Devaney to keep possession from every restart as Laois were now two players down in this area as they were also playing with an extra player at the back.
In addition, it enabled Sligo to push up on the Laois kick out forcing their goal- keeper to kick long for the majority of second half as opposed to retaining possession and this helped turn the game in Sligo’s favour.
All in all to score eleven points in a half with ten coming from play, against a team who at times had every member of their team behind the ball was very impressive, so for this and rightly so, Sligo will feel good about themselves this week. I travelled to The Connacht Centre of Excellence last Saturday evening hoping that St. Attracta’s could complete a Sligo Double of Connacht Colleges ‘ A’ senior titles after Summerhill’s win last year. Unfortunately the game didn’t turn out for the South Sligo school as they may have hoped. In a very tight first half each team had their periods of dominance but I felt St. Attracta’s were the better side as long as they could restrict the impact of Coleman’s number eight, Conor Diskin in the second half. Before games, managers try to anticipate all of the things that can go wrong in a game, such as a reduction to 14 players, and this had to be dealt with on the Attracta’s sideline when losing Oisín Higgins early in the second half. This was obviously a big setback as Coleman’s were also starting to take control at this stage. However, in a very stop- start second half St Attracta’s, to their credit hung in well, and were only one point down with a couple of minutes to go. However, Coleman’s broke and clinched the game with an unstoppable goal with time nearly up. The final score line will say a six point margin but that does not tell the real story from this game between two very even teams.