Head Coach Mannion says team is ready for the up

AFTER Saturday’s dramatic 2-point win in Malahide, Sligo Heach Coach Ross Mannion said it was heart stopping stuff. “It was very dramatic but we got through it. It was ebbing and flowing especially in the last 10 minutes it really took off back and forth. It was a great game not for a coach’s heart or the players out there but from supporters point of view it was fantastic. We’ve now got this massive game on Saturday which is huge and we need a draw as a minimum and we’ll win it. Our home form has been excellent but Thomond will be coming up here and they have been playing very well and they will want to win the title so it’s all to play for and it is set up to be a great game.”

Ross said that high targets were set at the start and he said they were right to aim high. “Some people might have said it was too ambitious for Sligo but I don’t think so the lads have proven it and now people can see that we were right to be ambitious and could do it. We did have a bad run of results but the lads got back on track and put in a really good shift over the last three or four weeks.

“The Malahide game was a huge test of our character and motivation and the pace of the game alone takes so much out but the lads showed they can stand up and do that.

“Looking at Mike’s drop goal to even have the confidence to go and execute it.

“It was a bit like Johnny Sexton’s one in some respects,” he said.

He said his group of players deserve great credit. “They are a great group and it’s been great to work with them.”

Ross said it would be brilliant to win on Saturday and top the 2C division. “I think it shows the belief that everyone has to go and do it.

“Sligo Rugby in my opinion can probably get up to 2A in the next few seasons the talent is there and we’re producing young kids from the juvenile section and it will be about retaining these players for a few years before they turn professional. The fans have been fantastic. The last two or 3 years seeing the atmosphere and the fortress that Hamilton Park has become has been brilliant.

“There was a fantastic crowd from Sligo in Malahide as many as were there from Malahide and clapping the lads off really set the tone. We’re expecting a huge crowd on Saturday and we’re really looking forward to it,” Ross added.