We need good performance against Meath
SLIGO manager Niall Carew said his side are looking forward to their trip to Navan this Saturday as they take on Meath in the next round of the Qualifiers.
With two Championship wins out of three so far for Carew’s charges, he’s not letting any talk of Meath’s home advantage get too much in the way of their hopes for Saturday.
Instead, the Yeats men have been busy preparing to get the right performance against Andy McEntee’s Meath, who are coming into this match after a heavy defeat to Kildare.
Sligo have a couple of injuries, the manager added.
“Cian Breheny is still out, this game is coming a week or two early for Cian.
“He had a very bad hamstring tear and was out for sometime.
“Criostóir Davey and David Kelly are both from injury, while Cathal Henry is still out with a broken bone in his hand.”
Another player who will have to miss Saturday’s action is defender Eoin McHugh who was stretchered off during the Antrim game and will not be featuring due to a bad calf muscle injury.
“Eoin will be a big loss but we will have to work around it,” Carew admitted.
He said that with Meath having a good record at home in Navan, Sligo know they have to push hard for the right performance on the day.
“Look, Meath have a good record at home, you can’t say anything differently.
“They have lost a couple of games this year, Kildare beat them and they also won a couple.
“They very nearly got promoted to Division 1 and had a brilliant scoring record.
“They finished joint second in Division 2 so we know they are a good side and on the day we have to be on our best to beat them,” Carew maintained.
The Kildare man said that training and preparations have been going well for Sligo.
“Things are going well and the lads are really looking forward to this game.
“We know Meath have good quality players, such as Graham Reilly and Lenehan who are top- class.”
He said it’s about Sligo keeping these forwards under wraps on the day.
“There’s no reason from the way that
They finished joint second in Division 2 so we know they are a good side and on the day we have to be on our best
we have been playing that we can’t do that on the day.”
He said the Antrim win was a confidence builder for Sligo going into the next round of the Qualifiers.
“We’ve played three Championship games this year and we’ve won two.
“A lot of people are hopeful for Saturday but we have to be realistic too.
“We need to get a good start and take it from there.”
Among the positives so far this season has been the emergence of the younger players shining for Sligo who again will be called on to put in a big performance on Saturday.
“The likes of Paddy O’Connor has been a big plus in midfield and Kyle Cawley has been getting better and better, so too are Gerard O’Kelly- Lynch and Darragh Cummins has been making steady progress too.
“Eoin McHugh has been a real find this year,” the manager said.
Aside from the newer faces, it will be up to the likes of Stephen Coen, Pat Hughes Mark Breheny and Adrian Marren to shine for Sligo in the forward line.
“Stephen had an excellent game against Antrim and has been working and playing very well. Overall, it’s a good team and if we get the performance, hopefully we can keep going,” Carew added.