Ladies ready for Connacht final Sunday
WITH the Sligo men in action on Saturday when they travel to Navan for their Qualifier with Meath, attention on Sunday turns to the ladies who are in the Connacht final with Leitrim.
Sligo’s intermediate final in MacHale Park is being followed by the senior meeting of Mayo and Galway in the same venue.
Paddy Henry’s charges took on Roscommon in Kilcoyne Park two weeks ago and despite narrowly losing by a mere point, they managed to go through to the final as Roscommon needed to win by five points or more.
The Tourlestrane manager said things are shaping up well ahead of Sunday’s final.
“Everything is going well for us, the girls are looking forward to it and hopefully everything will go well on the day for us.
“I suppose it’s a two horse race and hopefully that’s us that wins.”
This is the second time that the sides will meet this year so they are familiar with each other.
Sligo defeated their neighbours in the first round in Drumshanbo in the first round of the Championship.
In that game, Sligo let their 13- point lead get cut to three by their Leitrim opponents and it’s a game Paddy admits they learned a lot from,
“Hopefull we have learned from that, it was a big comeback from Leitrim but again Leitrim are a good side, we know that.
“They are never beaten, they always fight to the bitter end, it was a typical Leitrim fightback so fair play to them, they clawed their way back into the game and as I said before after the match they could have won that game on the last few minutes,” the manager explained.
Leitrim then progressed to defeat Roscommon, the side Sligo lost to in Tubbercurry two weeks ago.
Paddy said going into the final Leitrim may look the favourites but there is very little between all three sides.
“Look, with the three teams, Roscommon, Sligo and Leitrim, there is nothing but the kick of the ball between the three of them.
“It’s on the day, and whatever team performs on the day is going to come out on top and that includes Roscommon.
“Roscommon are a good side and we knew that going into Tubbercurry that they are a good side.
“Look, they beat us by a point okay, but we have to take it on the chin and we’re in the Connacht final now with Leitrim and we will see how that goes,” Paddy pointed out.
The Sligo team can use the disappointment from the Roscommon advantage in Sunday’s final the manager added.
“Hopefully we can use it. We hope so. It was disappointing but we knew Roscommon had to win by five or six to qualify themselves so we knew there was going to be a battle.
“I don’t think we were overly confident going into the game, we went into it to win and we didn’t and Roscommon came out on top.” Paddy was full of praise for the panel, which includes eight players who have been with the side since 2006 and as well as the experienced players, there are younger footballers coming through impressively.
“They are unreal, when you take our captain Noelle and Stephanie and Bernice and Sinead. You have Jacqui Mulligan and Etna Flanagan, you know all them girls have been around the block and have given great service to Sligo football.
“If we win on Sunday and they get a Connacht medal, they deserve every bit of it.
“We got beaten in the semi- final last year, hopefully we can kick a step further and go another one,” he added.
Ahead of the final on Sunday, the manager said Ann Marie Coleman is an injury worry with her ankle, while Aine Gorman too has an ankle injury. “Hopefully both will come through over the next few days,” Paddy said.
Throw- in to Sunday’s Intermediate final in MacHale Park between Sligo and Leitrim is at 2.30pm.