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Shamrock Gaels can field 3 teams and their neighbours are struggling in Div 3. It's not always about the size of the area, a lot of times it's about the number of volunteers you have.

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 2090 - 29/04/2025 11:09:30    2605284

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Replying To johncreilly:  "The St. Michaels and St. Johns results are concerning and both have struggled badly for some time. There are other clubs too, who are not too far from similar positions when you see some of the amalagamations at underage. How long before an Adult team folds or amalgamates again? I believe Ballysadare was the last?"
Ya Ballisodare was the last and I dunno was it ever properly wound up as Owenmore Gaels just seemed to take the players without any formal arrangement? Surely would have been better to divide it out geographically someway that would help all the neighbouring clubs including Owenmore.

Sligoman1234 (Sligo) - Posts: 496 - 29/04/2025 11:13:26    2605286

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Replying To eoinog:  "Shamrock Gaels can field 3 teams and their neighbours are struggling in Div 3. It's not always about the size of the area, a lot of times it's about the number of volunteers you have."
In fairness to Michaels they are a small area and having Shamrock Gales grabbing some of their younger players in recent years isn't helping their cause. Shamrock Gaels fielding 3 teams isn't a big deal, they have a very large area. All that said Michaels and Johns should be doing better than they are at present, there are some good people in both clubs though trying hard so hopefully they will turn it around. Johns especially with their population should be much stronger.

Lots of talk about amalgamations at underage on this thread recently involving small clubs who are struggling numbers wise. We shouldn't forget that the like of Shamrock Gaels, Eastern Harps, Owenmore Gaels , Coolera/Strandhill, DRP and Molaise Gaels are all long established amalgamations themselves. Smaller clubs not yet amalgamated might find themselves having to join them in future but hopefully not. I would admire the likes of Easkey, Bunninadden, Castleconnor and even Tourlestrane (!) who can punch above their low numbers at senior level. Perhaps the rural depopulation will get them in the end and we'll see some new clubs formed. Maybe this will be for the benefit of the county team who knows.

maximus_1 (Sligo) - Posts: 26 - 29/04/2025 13:29:53    2605365

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Replying To johncreilly:  "Interesting stat that, where did you come across it? The least in the country? The question to pose is, would you still be pushing more players to be on the pitch if it meant potential relegation?"
I seen the numbers on twitter. Some GAA stats page. I did fact check our numbers and it was right but didn't check other teams tbh.

Sligo can WIN the Tailtean cup and develop the squad deeper is my point and give more players chances. I'd like to see more of Flynn, the Deignan's, and see some gametime given to Casserly, O Boyle, Johnstone and Walsh. We should get 5 games at least and the first 2 are against 3rd and 4th seeds. We need to find 3 or 4 players that can improve the starting team.

As Jurgen Klopp has said "how can you know they are good enough if you don't give them a chance"

I hope some of this years u20s are gone into to train and experience the senior set up too. That has happened the last few years and can only be a good thing.

Do you think getting minutes into our now 21,22,23 yrs old with Connacht medals would weaken us and would have resulted in us getting relegated? I don't think so.

Disclaimer - not asking for all to be put in together either.

Sligonian (Sligo) - Posts: 1839 - 29/04/2025 19:30:41    2605513

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Replying To maximus_1:  "In fairness to Michaels they are a small area and having Shamrock Gales grabbing some of their younger players in recent years isn't helping their cause. Shamrock Gaels fielding 3 teams isn't a big deal, they have a very large area. All that said Michaels and Johns should be doing better than they are at present, there are some good people in both clubs though trying hard so hopefully they will turn it around. Johns especially with their population should be much stronger.

Lots of talk about amalgamations at underage on this thread recently involving small clubs who are struggling numbers wise. We shouldn't forget that the like of Shamrock Gaels, Eastern Harps, Owenmore Gaels , Coolera/Strandhill, DRP and Molaise Gaels are all long established amalgamations themselves. Smaller clubs not yet amalgamated might find themselves having to join them in future but hopefully not. I would admire the likes of Easkey, Bunninadden, Castleconnor and even Tourlestrane (!) who can punch above their low numbers at senior level. Perhaps the rural depopulation will get them in the end and we'll see some new clubs formed. Maybe this will be for the benefit of the county team who knows."
Of all those small clubs I really admire Cloonacool. They are now in Div 2 and they don't have a pub in the club area that they can have a pint after a game. I would be concerned about the Bunnies. Big power struggle there. They did brilliant fundraising to establish those grounds and now have to pay rent to use it .

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 2090 - 29/04/2025 21:20:44    2605527

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Replying To maximus_1:  "In fairness to Michaels they are a small area and having Shamrock Gales grabbing some of their younger players in recent years isn't helping their cause. Shamrock Gaels fielding 3 teams isn't a big deal, they have a very large area. All that said Michaels and Johns should be doing better than they are at present, there are some good people in both clubs though trying hard so hopefully they will turn it around. Johns especially with their population should be much stronger.

Lots of talk about amalgamations at underage on this thread recently involving small clubs who are struggling numbers wise. We shouldn't forget that the like of Shamrock Gaels, Eastern Harps, Owenmore Gaels , Coolera/Strandhill, DRP and Molaise Gaels are all long established amalgamations themselves. Smaller clubs not yet amalgamated might find themselves having to join them in future but hopefully not. I would admire the likes of Easkey, Bunninadden, Castleconnor and even Tourlestrane (!) who can punch above their low numbers at senior level. Perhaps the rural depopulation will get them in the end and we'll see some new clubs formed. Maybe this will be for the benefit of the county team who knows."
Of all those small clubs I really admire Cloonacool. They are now in Div 2 and they don't have a pub in the club area that they can have a pint after a game. I would be concerned about the Bunnies. Big power struggle there. They did brilliant fundraising to establish those grounds and now have to pay rent to use it .

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 2090 - 29/04/2025 21:57:28    2605532

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Did a bit of looking at parish maps of the county as a result of people naming different clubs and when ya consider that you have two clubs out of one, Tubber and Cloonacool, Cloonacool do really deserve credit for keeping going. I'd wonder do Tubber poach any within their catchment? As for Michael's who are in bother well Ballintogher is actually in a Leitrim parish which is news to me. The difficulty though as one poster said is that Shamrock Gaels have encroached into them as they have into Ballymote area near the N4. Ballygawley for example seems to be a take your pick with majority probably going with Shamrock Gaels to have a better chance of success but some going to Michael's. It would have been part of the old Sooey club so I can see why Gaels claim it.

Bunninadden, Castleconnor, Tourlestrane all deserve credit as mentioned for punching above their weight despite considering the constraints of their population size. In particular Castleconnor and Tourlestrane who field alone at underage. Geevagh have done well too with several Intermediate titles in small enough population over the years and maybe this year is an outlier but being amalgamated with a fellow struggling club is not a good sign for the future.

I see St Pats are joined up with Easkey/Farnans for u15 but Owenmore for U18 so they're under big pressure too. Going back to what I was saying about Ballisodare, had it been wound up properly perhaps Pats could have gained out of it by getting the Beltra side of Ballisodare. Also the population of Ballisodare has boomed and if any area was to lose a club in the county it shouldn't be one with an urban area, but then again that draws into question the interest those people have in GAA same as in town where there's 3 clubs for 25k.

Clubs will probably be okay to field adult teams as you can have 18 year olds playing alongside lads 20 years older than them, but the quality of those teams can be questionable. I wouldn't be surprised to see in another club or two in the next 15/20 years folding. Clubs are costly to run financially and in terms of volunteering. Unfortunately despite population increases in built up areas, there's also increases in other things for kids to do and I would say retention levels are getting lower every decade. It's not just a Sligo issue though I would imagine and hopefully something can be done to address it. The last thing we want is only having 6/7 rural clubs all the size of Harps or Molaise Gaels, no disrespect to them they had to at the time, but it has hardly benefited the GAA as a whole nor lead to their dominance for any period given their size either.

Sligoman1234 (Sligo) - Posts: 496 - 30/04/2025 08:42:46    2605573

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Replying To eoinog:  "Of all those small clubs I really admire Cloonacool. They are now in Div 2 and they don't have a pub in the club area that they can have a pint after a game. I would be concerned about the Bunnies. Big power struggle there. They did brilliant fundraising to establish those grounds and now have to pay rent to use it ."
Just on my fav South Sligo.
Yes, agree Cloonacool have amazing facilities for a rural club, do not think of not having a pub in the area is a problem to be honest. Lots of good footballers coming up in Cloonacool.
Tubbercurry, really small pic in the county but still have won the most county titles. If they build the new community park, will be brilliant for the South.
Bunnies - Yes, agree they are punching above their weight at times. Have some very good footballers at the moment and the amalgamation with Ballymote is working for them. Shocking what is happening with their club grounds, regards rent. Good facilities.
Tourlestrane - For a rural club , what they have achieved is amazing. Will be a while before we see a team like them.
Curry - Will have top facilities next year with new training pitch. Well ran club and always a nice place to go for a game.
Not that I am sticking up for the South, We would probably be the strongest division for facilities, pitches, stands etc.

RealSouthSligo (Sligo) - Posts: 117 - 30/04/2025 10:23:31    2605595

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Tailteann Cup draw wasn't the kindest to us but if we have serious ambitions of winning it then it shouldn't be a major issue either. Tipp in Tubbercurry should be fine, the trip to Carrick for Leitrim will be nothing like the league game I suspect. Leitrim seemed to have rallied a bit since the Mayo game and it would do us no harm if Kildare inflicted a big win against them in round 1. Kildare in a neutral venue will be a tricky task, but Kildare have shown on more than one occasion to lack the killer instinct in games against Louth, Offaly twice in the league and indeed Fermanagh so they're not world beaters either.

I expect Westmeath, Fermanagh and Offaly to top the other groups. I wouldn't like to be playing them in an away QF for us so we need to be pushing to top the group as the easiest route to a SF.

Sligoman1234 (Sligo) - Posts: 496 - 30/04/2025 15:10:05    2605729

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If we are aiming to top the group (which we should be) there's a lot of work to be done. We should handle Tipp. Leitrim won't fear us and if they give Kildare a good run for their money in the first game they will throw everything at us. I haven't seen the odds but I expect Kildare will be fairly close to favourites to win the competition. At least the neutral ground will hardly be Breffini Park, which isn't a good ground for us.

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 2090 - 30/04/2025 15:32:18    2605739

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Replying To eoinog:  "If we are aiming to top the group (which we should be) there's a lot of work to be done. We should handle Tipp. Leitrim won't fear us and if they give Kildare a good run for their money in the first game they will throw everything at us. I haven't seen the odds but I expect Kildare will be fairly close to favourites to win the competition. At least the neutral ground will hardly be Breffini Park, which isn't a good ground for us."
You'd imagine that Longford or Mullingar would make the most sense for the Kildare game?

Sligoman1234 (Sligo) - Posts: 496 - 30/04/2025 16:42:26    2605787

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Interesting draw in the Tailtean. If you are serious about progress we should be beating Leitrim and Tipp. Leitrim looked poor to me going forward against Mayo. Their forwards are fairly average and erratic and missed great opportunities. I wasn't overly impressed with Cox or Prior tbh against Mayo. McNulty will take watching and stood head and shoulders above the rest. Their defensive set up is what impressed me most against Mayo and did a better job than us but they were at home. But question remains how good are Mayo. I guess we will see this weekend but they weren't in top gear against either of us.

Ourselves and Kildare seem to be evenly enough matched. Its a good test for us. That should be a shootout for top of the group. I was impressed with Kildare against Louth and westmeath but they do lack a cutting edge. Beirne, Kirwan and Dalton all serious players for them. Kildare are a side that let you play football and that should suit us.

Reality is we still have to win a big game under McEntee as I have enough of the morale victories, we can win all 3 and its time he's delivered us that. This year hasn't really shown any progress on last year so far and hopefully that will change.

Sligonian (Sligo) - Posts: 1839 - 30/04/2025 16:44:34    2605789

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A group Sligo are well capable of topping. Kildare match will be decider if you do or don't

Gaa_lover (USA) - Posts: 3594 - 30/04/2025 17:02:49    2605794

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