muscles (Sligo) - Posts: 443 - 27/09/2023 12:31:17    2505988

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 1658 - 27/09/2023 13:41:33    2505996

In the heat of championship and the board is full of internal wrangling over floodlights :-( Well done to Tour on their dominance. I'd say they would have liked to have caught Tubber's record of Owen Bs but that's unlikely to happen. They will very likely be an average Intermediate club within 5-10 years but they should be lauded, not ran down for what they have done since '97. My memories of those early years of the dominance with the likes of the Walsh's playing is of top class footballers playing serious ball.
Junior A semis ahead this weekend. Ballymote will sneak by Cloonacool but it's not a forgone conclusion. Owenmore should have enough to get by Molaise but as they found out last year, it won't be an easy task. A draw in one of the games at least is likely.

ShellyGael (Sligo) - Posts: 105 - 27/09/2023 20:47:49    2506049

Expecting wins for Ballymote and Owenmore Gaels in the Junior this weekend which should set up a good Junior final. It'll be interesting to see if the group stage game between them was shadowboxing or a reflection of Owenmore Gaels improvement.

In the relegation battles Bunninadden should beat Shamrock Gaels by 5/6 points at least and I expect Shamrock Gaels first team to make up for it by beating Curry by a larger margin.

Sligoman1234 (Sligo) - Posts: 359 - 28/09/2023 09:41:01    2506069

Sligonian (Sligo) - Posts: 1640 - 29/09/2023 19:59:37    2506307

I'm not trying to stir the floodlights debate , just pointing out that it's a pity our main pitch hasn't lights because there are 2 games that are going to be played this evening at 7.30 which is a far superior time for spectators than in the middle of the day on a Saturday. The fact that tomorrow weeks games are a lot more important just adds to the annoyance.
For the games themselves I think that Shamrock Gaels will beat Curry which will conclude their year and then the massive inquest begins in to what went wrong.
Bunnies will beat Gaels second team.
Ballymote should beat Cloonacool
And Owenmore Gaels should be too strong for Molaise.. Those games look so straightforward that I would not be surprised if there's a shock, maybe the Cloonacool game !!!

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 1658 - 30/09/2023 09:11:56    2506330

Eamonn O Hara saying that the Tourlestrane team didn't get enough recognition for their feat is getting embarassing now, and I'm sure Anto will agree. Sligo Co Council came out last week and said they were invited to the chamber and as of yet they didn't take up the offer. This was continued this morning on Ocean FM when Cllr 7 in a row they achieved. Martin Connolly said they got an invite after the 5 in a row and again last year when they got the 7. Very strange how the club itself hasn't made any comment on their social media sites about the great achievement. The club are always posting stuff on their Facebook page but nothing about the super 7.

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 1658 - 02/10/2023 15:49:44    2506660

MrUnderhill (Sligo) - Posts: 50 - 03/10/2023 08:38:08    2506718

Well done to Easkey on their hurling win at the weekend.

Looking forward to the semi finals this coming weekend in both championships that are very open. I think Cool/Mullinabreena will have no difficulty with St Pats and could beat them by 5/6 points. The Easkey game is harder to call. Harps are coming good but will they stand up to the physicality of Easkey. I'll back the sea blues to win narrowly.

In intermediate there's more questions about St Mary's than answers following the result with Molaise as MrUnderhill has mentioned. I think they'll do the business though against Coolera and join St Molaise in the final.

In the relegation battles I think Castleconnor will be beaten by St John's and they could be in bother with a battling Shamrock Gaels second team who could catch them especially without Carribine. Tubber to beat Farnan's in the senior relegation.

Sligoman1234 (Sligo) - Posts: 359 - 03/10/2023 11:35:34    2506769

Really looking forward to the two games on Sunday. Would expect two cagey enough affairs with all that is at stake and not much between the teams. Tipping Marys to sneak by Coolera after extra time and Molaise to beat DRP.
In the Intermediate I would have tipped Pats to beat CM were they not missing such key players and firing like they were last year. Maybe there is one big game in them yet and this could be the shock of the weekend. Harps and Easkey to draw and Easkey to go through to the final, mainly due to having the best forward (Kilcullen) in the county that doesn't play for McEntee. Times on Saturday are poor for the neutral and it would have been better to have played them under lights instead of the relegation games, but I suppose everyone is entitled to play in the Park at this stage of the competitions.

ShellyGael (Sligo) - Posts: 105 - 03/10/2023 21:30:21    2506866

Mr Underhill, you forgot about the Intermediate games. I suppose all teams are entitled to play in the Park at this level of competition as it's in good shape this year. Lot of work carried out on it. Was there no way that the intermediate championship could be played on one Sunday and the Senior on another. Saturday Games are at a terrible time and then a long delay between them which I know is unavoidable. From the outset of the championship I went for Coolera. I won't change my mind. Not really sure about Mary's after the last game. Confidence must be a little brittle. I also hope that Coolera win as it should make for a great final. Mary's with no support would add nothing to the final . Molaise despite only losing once this year need to win or they will have nothing to show for the year despite steamrolling most teams. We won't mention the League final fiasco. Drumcliffe despite only finishing midway in Div 2 have had a brilliant Senior championship. To come out of that group was admirable beating the defending champions and the newly crowned league champions was a super achievement. I can't see them beating their neighbours. Molaise will win by 4.
Pat's v Coolaney is the first Semi final in the intermediate. Pat's I think are the weakest of the 4 remaining teams. Coolaney have really surprised me and they are there on merit. I wrote them off all year so I have no eat humble pie now. I think they will beat Pat's.
Harps v Easkey is very hard to call.
Harps have a young age profile but very Pacey. Hunt is having a fantastic year stealing the limelight as the top scorer. On the other side Andy Kilcullen is a great footballer. It's a pity that dual players on county panels are a thing of the past. He would be an addition to the footballers but his first love is the small ball and he is the main player for Sligo hurlers. I think the more physical Easkey team will win it. They are the only team to have beaten Harps this year and are surely motivated by the drubbing they got last year in the intermediate final
In relegation Farnans will beat Tubber and Castleconnor will beat John's.
Disappointing that I really haven't seen or heard of any new players to come to the attention of supporters, what ever about the Sligo Mgt

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 1658 - 04/10/2023 09:54:21    2506889

From what I've seen of all the teams this weekend I'm expecting an Eastern harps win, Coolaney/Mullinabreena win and Tubbercurry win. Think all games except the Tubbercurry one will be comfortable with harps and Coolaney easing up towards the end. 5+ points.

Sligobuck21 (Sligo) - Posts: 114 - 06/10/2023 10:28:39    2507124

A good start is half the battle and the two winning teams did exactly that in the intermediate semi final yesterday. Coolaneys quick fire 2 goals had Pat's chasing the game and even though they whittled the deficit down to 2 points Coolaney stepped up again and won easily. Easkey were 6 points up before Harps had any meaningful attack and that was also a bridge too far for Harps to pull back. Having said that the last kick of the game which came off the post had it gone a few inches the other way would have seen extra time. A reoccurring theme at a lot of games this year is the performance of umpire's. From the stand it looked like an effort from Easkey in the first half was off target but the umpires gave it, even though the linesman had the flag up trying to get the attention of the referee which was ignored. Then a perfectly good point from Harps was deemed to be wide after a very hesitant umpire didn't give it. His body language suggested that he hadn't a notion if it was over or not. Again the linesman should have been consulted as he had perfect vision of the flight of the ball. Easkey probably deserved the win and Andy Kilcullen was outstanding.

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 1658 - 08/10/2023 10:22:08    2507318

The main question after yesterday is - were Coolera really that good or were Marys just very poor? Probably a bit of both. Strange to see such a shake up on the Mary's starting team. You would wonder if all was well in the camp. Molaise were strong in the second half despite DRP having the better of the first. Very disappointed with some of DRPs up and coming "stars" - their county players looked like Power and the number 10. Hopefully Alan McLoughlin is brought / goes in to the county panel. He is a fine footballer. Molaise will be underdogs for the final and they will go close if they can curtail Niall Murphy's influence.
Saturdays results sets up a good Intermediate final. Is there any chance that Kilcullen could commit to county football for one year? Hopefully so!

ShellyGael (Sligo) - Posts: 105 - 09/10/2023 14:12:18    2507573

yeatscounty (Sligo) - Posts: 2 - 09/10/2023 16:00:10    2507601

It was an interesting weekend in some respects in that Mary's completely flopped and once Coolera pulled ahead early on they never looked like catching up. Its a fairly disappointing end to Mary's to have two poor performances if you include the Molaise one before this to end the championship.

DRP like many of the teams who beat reigning champions early in the championship ended up doing everyone a favour by doing so but won't get the chance of lifting the cup. I thought Molaise were impressive and man managed the game well. Watters, McLoughlin, Herron all very good. However they'll have to repeat the job in the final and keep Murphy quiet. Coolera will go in as favourites but that'll suit Molaise rightly.

In Intermediate Mullinabreena did the job as expected but Pats really were not a huge threat in this championship. While the championship was wide open given some of the earlier group games, you're still ending up with the two strongest teams in the final I think but at the same time neither of them will be overly happy with some previous performances. It has the potential to be a good lively final compared to the water polo game they had to play out in the last round of the group.

As for next weekends' fixtures I'm going to go with Farnan's to beat Curry and Castleconnor to just about scrape over Shamrock Gaels though I wouldn't be surprised if it were the other way around. Owenmore to win the Junior A by 5/6 points and DRP to win Junior B and get some silverware for the year.

Sligoman1234 (Sligo) - Posts: 359 - 10/10/2023 09:38:42    2507671

I was talking to a staunch St Mary's man last week and he was very confident that Coolera would beat them. He said that Mary's were soft, didn't like getting hit and had no stomach for battle. I didn't believe him but I was wrong. If Mark Breheny one of their own can't get the best out of them then it's poor. Mark will hardly stay another year but hopefully he stays involved in the game as he is young and I think he is good. As was pointed out by another poster Drumcliffe did everyone a favour by beating Tourlestrane but couldn't follow it up. They were leading Molaise for a while but Molaise didn't panic and reeled them in and romped home. Drumcliffe's priority for next year has to be to get out of Div 2. I still think Molaise have not really been tested. We assumed Mary's were good but we all got codded and no other team in that group were strong at all. I think Owenmore Gaels will beat Ballymote and Farnans will take Curry in senior relegation. Shamrock Gaels to get relegated also in the intermediate clash

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 1658 - 10/10/2023 11:40:18    2507695

DRP put it up to Molaises but overall SMG had the better spread of players and scoring options, its was obvious too that SMG had come through an easy group and too them a while to get up to the pace. Coolera were much better than what looked like a depleted Marys team that look like they need new blood. Coolera have power and an experienced team which will make them favorites, however their record in recent finals is not great. SMG have nothing to loose and if this turns out not to be their year they have plenty of time to win a title with a very young team.
In the intermediate Coolaney will probably have the advantage only because of Easkey also involved in the hurling, taking hurling out of it I believe Easkey would have the upperhand. OMG firm favorites in the Junior.

MrUnderhill (Sligo) - Posts: 50 - 11/10/2023 13:55:35    2507888

Delighted with St Molaise at the weekend. A great win for the lads and the club. I felt fairly confident though-out we were going to win it as we were winning the match ups. Drumcliffe set up very defensively but we kept picking them off. Very proud of the lads but the job is not done. It will take a serious performance to beat Coolera and they are slight favorites but I expect our lads to throw everything at them. Jimmy and Quinner will have us ready.

We need to take the space away from Murphy and O Mahony especially out in front. They can't get primary possession and if they do they need to be smothered. But we also can't afford to over commit. Then need to track Cawley closely as he looked back to his best the last day. They are more physical than us so we can't afford to carry into tackles or be isolated. Just need to bring that intensity. I would keep the kickouts away from doherty and banks, they have a size advantage. We got keaney on chambers at one stage the last day and he fielded it brilliantly. Those kinda of match ups are gold and Niall has a great kickout. Ultimately we need to look at our strengths of pace and ball movement and within that structure we can win this game. Exciting times for the club.

Sligonian (Sligo) - Posts: 1640 - 11/10/2023 18:39:52    2507943

Congrats to O Hara on managing Mohill to Leitrim county final success. I know some people tend to overlook him and under appreciate him as manager but he has backed up his Tourlestrane success. He must have good quality attributes as manager in his own right.

Sligonian (Sligo) - Posts: 1640 - 11/10/2023 20:05:55    2507946