I know we are a lot better than our last showing in Salthill
WHEN we think of Armagh and Sligo we automatically reflect on that ‘what if’ summer of 2002, when we were within a whisker of qualifying for an All-Ireland semi-final but instead Armagh went on to win their only All-Ireland title. Unfortunately neither team are at the level of 16 years ago with both looking for a victory to put a level of respectability on their year after getting dumped out of relative provincial championships.
From a Sligo point of view it allows the team a chance of redemption after that thumping in Galway, to show that we are not as bad as we were that day. Earlier this year we travelled to the Athletic Grounds in Armagh for the first league game of the year and put out an inexperienced side suffering a heavy defeat.
Thankfully this time around the game is in Markievicz where we have a decent record against this opposition winning and drawing in our last two games both under the current manager-ship of Kieran McGeeney.
The biggest challenge to Sligo players and management is getting the heads right after the Galway game, with the big question, do we have the pride and desire to have a go at the qualifiers or happy to leave the year in Markievicz next Saturday evening. As a team we have always embraced the knockout stages of the championship with a decent record but is the appetite there after Salthill?
I feel the Sligo setup owes a performance to the supporters who along with players and management left the Galway venue very dejected that evening.
I have been in that place a number of times myself as a player against Galway and Mayo and it’s a lonely place to be on that pitch when things are running badly against you and you wish you could be ‘beamed up’ out of there.
However back then you didn’t have the opportunity to somewhat salvage credibility by playing again a couple of weeks later. I personally would have loved to have that situation, that after all the efforts of months of training, that you had a chance to put things somewhat right.
Armagh are coming into the game with a convincing performance against a poor Westmeath side, in that game Ethan Rafferty was stretchered off for Armagh and would be a big blow to them if not available next Saturday as he was excellent in that league game against us earlier in the year and is their marquee player with Jamie Clarke not available. I’m sure Kieran McGeeney will refer back to his notes from the league match where I felt he got tactics spot on when pushing up hard on the Sligo kick-out, prevented us from implementing our running game from the back by blocking and giving away frees to break our momentum and forcing us into many turnovers. From a Sligo point of view we can expect the same again but forewarned is forearmed and we have to make sure we are ready for this on Saturday evening. My other abiding memory of that league game was the accuracy of the Armagh forwards that day was exceptional and we cannot afford them the same type of space again.
If we are to get a result we need to retain possession a lot better than that earlier game against Armagh and our last game in Galway. Too often against Galway we were caught on the front-foot by giving away cheap turnovers and were left open at the back for the Galway counter attack. Armagh will be set up defensively and we will need to remain composed and pick our moments to inject pace into breaking the line and stretching them at the back in order to create scoring chances.
Other than Kyle Cawley in Salthill, no other Sligo player played near their capabilities, many players did try hard but it didn’t happen for them on the day and big improvement is required. I know we are a lot better than our last showing and that should be all the motivation required.