Warwickshire prove too strong for travelling Sligo

WARWICKSHIRE SLIGO 2- 20 2- 9 WARWICKSHIRE hurlers duly won their second round Lory Meagher cup clash with surprising ease at Pairc na hEireann last Saturday afternoon. But the Exiles were worth every score of their eleven- point victory and since they could also afford the luxury of hitting eighteen wides they were also not in any way flattered by their margin of victory. By contrast and in comparison to their last league visit to Birmingham earlier this year Sligo were surprisingly flat and although they scored within seconds of the throw- in, the Yeats County only scored twice more from play for the remainder of a very one- sided contest. Playing into the pavilion end with a slight wind advantage Warwickshire wasted no time in registering a number of scores. After seeing Declan Loughnane make an early save from Padraig Crehan the visitors opened the scoring through their full forward Eoin McDonagh. But the hosts were soon level through a Liam Watson 65. After Sean Hennessy pointed the first of his successful eight frees Kelvin McGee got the vital connection on a dropping ball in the sixth minute for the opening goal. Another Hennessy pointed free was cancelled out by Sligo’s Joe McHugh in the eleventh minute before Crehan and McGee combined to set up Shane Caufield for Warwickshire’s second goal after twelve minutes. Although Keith Raymond had two welcome pointed frees for the visitors they were seriously struggling and it was no real surprise when they failed to raise another flag for the remainder of the first half. Meanwhile Warwickshire continued to build on their advantage with seven unanswered points in eight- minute blitz to open up a 2- 12 to 0- 4 lead by the 27th minute. Caulfield ( 3), Watson ( 2) and one each from a Hennessy free and McGee almost had the hosts out of sight with man- of- the- match Shane Caulfield closing the scoring in the first- half to leave the half- time score: Warwickshire 2- 13 Sligo 0- 4. Trailing by fifteen points Sligo made an encouraging start to the second half with two early pointed frees from Keith Raymond. However Warwickshire had the perfect response with three unanswered points from Hennessy ( 2) and Watson placed balls by the ninth min- ute. It looked a lost cause already for Sligo until their captain Cormac Behan responded with 2- 2 from frees by the 58th minute in reply to scores from Robins and another Hennessy free to leave the score Warwickshire 2- 18 to 2- 8. But that was as good as it got for the Yeats County as Warwickshire finished as they started by outscoring the visitors 0- 2 to 0- 1 through scores from two more Hennessy frees in reply to a Joe McHugh point from play to leave the final score: Warwickshire 2- 20 Sligo 2- 9.

Sligo’s Benny Kenny and Ronan Watters – The visitors’ management could not explain why their team was so ‘ flat’ but hoped that they would learn from their defeat. Galway man Benny Kenny who is part of a temporary management set- up with Calry clubman Ronan Watters admitted that Sligo were caught completely unaware of Warwickshire’s fast start. “I cannot explain why we were so flat but it is something we can learn from and we know what we’re up against but we can recover and bounce back,” said the selector of last year’s defeated finalists. SLIGO: Declan Loughnane; Eoin Comerford, Tom Brennan, Gavin Feely; Kevin Banks, Cormac Behan, Liam Reidy; Tony O’Kelly- Lynch, Paul Kilcoyne; Keith Raymond, Kevin Gilmartin, Michael Gordon; Eamon Kilgannon, Eoin McDonagh, Joe McHugh. Subs: Tommy Kelly for Eoiin Comerford 21, Micharl Gilmartin for Eoin McDonagh 49, Niall McDermott for Gavin Feely 50, Michael O’Callaghan for Michael Gordon 65.

INSET: Shane Caulfield in action.