National Forum

Sligo GAA thread

(Oldest Posts First) - Go To The Latest Post


Henry is a good coach but needs more experience. We didn't have a good U20 team this year. We beat Galway who were hopeless and lost to Roscommon twice.

Taypot (Sligo) - Posts: 174 - 11/07/2025 17:41:15    2625006

Link

Forgot to post predictions for last night but no major surprises bar Shamrock Gaels and Harps being closer than I expected.

Div 2: I expect Tubber to win with a bit to spare maybe 5 points plus. Bunnies to beat and relegate Cloonacool, Easkey, Geevagh, Owenmore wins so that'll see Pats out.

Div 3: Farnan's will join Castleconnor on the return to Div 2 but at the other end I'm going to back DRP to beat Johns causing another headache for the CCC on what to do with them in league 2026.

Sligoman1234 (Sligo) - Posts: 562 - 12/07/2025 11:29:17    2625050

Link

Replying To BreakingBall123:  "Is there also a case to be made that Henry's and Mitchell's gameplan was shown up with new rules defensively. Under the old rules we were rock solid winning that Connacht title and beating Kerry in arm wrestles. Under the new rules we conceded huge scores, the Leitrim game was particularly alarming as well as a bit of a pasting to Mayo. Do you think we'd beat a Galway or mayo at senior level with these systems. I'm not against Henry I'm just offering an alternative view to your glowing report there which would make anybody who wouldn't know any better think he's the second coming and the Sligo Jimmy McGuinness."
That's a glass half empty way of looking at it. The Leitrim game was a shoot out. We lost our corner back to a serious injury in that game but it was very open. Leitrim were much stronger in attack with Jack Kelly, Honeyman and Cox etc, so maybe the gameplan was to outscore them as their defence proved very weak.

Our defensive shape against Galway was very good only conceding 2-8. We weren't really able to replicate that but I think Management played to our strengths. Roscommon in the semi final was undone by errors rather than management. The team was set up to win that imo and had a go. Also with underage you don't have the same spread of cover as a senior set up would have and this was exposed defensively.

We were carrying a few injuries the whole year too into these games and missing Conor Walsh.

Do you honestly think Henry is a one trick pony and can't change system? I couldn't disagree more, the transition from the Roscommon loss to Galway clearly refutes that.

Just for me I believe Henry/Mitchell could not have got more out of the underage teams every year and that's not a bad starting point for any Senior intercounty manager. They adapted just fine to me to the new rules.

Again not much was expected from Sligo u20s this year and they did very well. Mayo and Roscommon were very good.

I know you are not against Henry and I can see your point a bit but again you are overstating my point. I am not stating the second coming of McGuinness but for me they would be a huge upgrade on previous Management. In fact I would be this positive about most of our internal managements options this year. I have no issue if Henry is the preferred candidate but the interviews should reveal a lot. I would be asking very specific questions on the current squad.

Sligonian (Sligo) - Posts: 1883 - 12/07/2025 20:35:32    2625148

Link

Congratulations to Tubber on winning the Div 2 Final. I'm a little intrigued that all Div 1 and 2 games were played at the same time on the same day which was fair, but this didn't happen with Div 3. As Mary's surprisingly beat Farnans this evening it leaves the door open for Harp's to leapfrog Farnans and take second place. It will be a difficult game for Harp's playing Castleconnor away but Castleconnor are safely promoted and Harp's will probably be able to include a few lads from their first team. They will have 48 hours rest since their game on Friday. How was that allowed happen?

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 2170 - 12/07/2025 23:09:21    2625190

Link

Replying To Sligonian:  "That's a glass half empty way of looking at it. The Leitrim game was a shoot out. We lost our corner back to a serious injury in that game but it was very open. Leitrim were much stronger in attack with Jack Kelly, Honeyman and Cox etc, so maybe the gameplan was to outscore them as their defence proved very weak.

Our defensive shape against Galway was very good only conceding 2-8. We weren't really able to replicate that but I think Management played to our strengths. Roscommon in the semi final was undone by errors rather than management. The team was set up to win that imo and had a go. Also with underage you don't have the same spread of cover as a senior set up would have and this was exposed defensively.

We were carrying a few injuries the whole year too into these games and missing Conor Walsh.

Do you honestly think Henry is a one trick pony and can't change system? I couldn't disagree more, the transition from the Roscommon loss to Galway clearly refutes that.

Just for me I believe Henry/Mitchell could not have got more out of the underage teams every year and that's not a bad starting point for any Senior intercounty manager. They adapted just fine to me to the new rules.

Again not much was expected from Sligo u20s this year and they did very well. Mayo and Roscommon were very good.

I know you are not against Henry and I can see your point a bit but again you are overstating my point. I am not stating the second coming of McGuinness but for me they would be a huge upgrade on previous Management. In fact I would be this positive about most of our internal managements options this year. I have no issue if Henry is the preferred candidate but the interviews should reveal a lot. I would be asking very specific questions on the current squad."
Does anybody know is this is it just the two management teams going for it?

Look I'm just providing an alternative view to your previous post. I think you'll admit you can have strong views on things so I just wanted to provide a different side to it. I stated previously that the other ticket would be my choice so I'm slightly biased for them. They were the ones to break the glass ceiling at U20 level. They have great experience at club and Intercounty level. I don't think they can be looked past to be honest.

Does anybody know did Henry get involved with a club post the U20 championship? All the other guys are involved and seeing how the rules are evolving and can see what works and doesn't at club level. Granted it's a different standard but it's something.

BreakingBall123 (Sligo) - Posts: 131 - 13/07/2025 10:12:34    2625219

Link

Replying To eoinog:  "Congratulations to Tubber on winning the Div 2 Final. I'm a little intrigued that all Div 1 and 2 games were played at the same time on the same day which was fair, but this didn't happen with Div 3. As Mary's surprisingly beat Farnans this evening it leaves the door open for Harp's to leapfrog Farnans and take second place. It will be a difficult game for Harp's playing Castleconnor away but Castleconnor are safely promoted and Harp's will probably be able to include a few lads from their first team. They will have 48 hours rest since their game on Friday. How was that allowed happen?"
A fair point. I didn't think Farnans would lose and certainly the game didn't appear close judging by Twitter updates. Harps game should have been on at same time as Castleconnor if they wanted could make an easier league final for themselves by losing today.

How it happened I don't know but I always think look at the composition of committees who decide these things and you'll usually find something!

Sligoman1234 (Sligo) - Posts: 562 - 13/07/2025 12:25:20    2625238

Link

Were Farnans asleep at boardroom level to allow the Div 3 fixtures go ahead the way they did. They will have the whole winter to conduct a post mortem. Elsewhere Johns slip to Div 4 and Calry go down to Div 3 which is fairly damning . Delighted to see Cloonacool hold on to their Division 2 status.

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 2170 - 13/07/2025 17:22:39    2625297

Link

Were Farnans asleep at boardroom level to allow the Div 3 fixtures go ahead the way they did. They will have the whole winter to conduct a post mortem. Elsewhere Johns slip to Div 4 and Calry go down to Div 3 which is fairly damning . Delighted to see Cloonacool hold on to their Division 2 status.

eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 2170 - 13/07/2025 17:49:10    2625311

Link

So that's is for the league for 2025 and an exciting enough weekend of action.

In Division 1 most teams will be happy enough, even perhaps the relegated teams as they would have been probably favourites for going down but at least claimed some points. Molaise Gaels and DRP seem to have gone back a bit and won't see it as a good campaign. Coolera well they did enough to survive and after the championship run they had they'll be content enough going into championship.

Division 2 turned out to be a right competitive league bar the two run aways in Ballymote and Tubber. Tubber dished out a bruising win for Ballymote who appear to have been flying it an it may dint their confidence going into championship but I still see them making a Semi Final. As for the rest, Both Geevagh and Easkey finished strong where as Bunnies went the opposite way and won't be too impressed with their last month heading into a tough championship group. Cloonacool will be my favourites for Junior championship after pulling out some big results when they needed it. Things just get worse for Calry and when you consider John's heading down to 4 or else receiving a stay of execution for a third year, alarm bells should be ringing for future of GAA in Sligo town. St Pats too will struggle in Intermediate grade based on league form and will struggle to avoid a relegation battle.

Division 3 Castleconnor will take great heart heading into the championship and I don't think you'll see the same scoreline in the league final as today's game but as eoinog has pointed out, Farnan's (along with John's) are the big losers in this group. Having played Division 1 League and Senior football 2 years ago to losing out on promotion although in questionable circumstances, it is some turn around not to make the return to D2. Although when ya lose 3 games including one against a relegated team ya have only yourself to blame,

Sligoman1234 (Sligo) - Posts: 562 - 13/07/2025 19:56:32    2625358

Link

Replying To BreakingBall123:  "Does anybody know is this is it just the two management teams going for it?

Look I'm just providing an alternative view to your previous post. I think you'll admit you can have strong views on things so I just wanted to provide a different side to it. I stated previously that the other ticket would be my choice so I'm slightly biased for them. They were the ones to break the glass ceiling at U20 level. They have great experience at club and Intercounty level. I don't think they can be looked past to be honest.

Does anybody know did Henry get involved with a club post the U20 championship? All the other guys are involved and seeing how the rules are evolving and can see what works and doesn't at club level. Granted it's a different standard but it's something."
Fair enough, do you know who is part of Sloyan's backroom team? To my knowledge Sloyan has managed Easkey to a Connacht Junior club and AI Final. He was involved with Longford briefly with Christie and isn't he involved with Knockmore now with Brolly and Dempsey? I am pretty sure he was on the backroom team of Dempsey that went for the Mayo job too. The Easkey success doesn't blow me away as they are above Junior standard. Longford have been very poor and Knockmore haven't won a Mayo club title since 2021 although they did get to the final last year and beaten well by Ballina. It looks like he hasn't been manager in a few years, just a selector. Didn't Sligo CB overlook him for the u20 job after winning Connacht to give it to Henry? It was a strange situation but usually managers who make that sort of breakthrough get to stay on. People always forget the Roscommon game on the way to that Connacht title, they were in the AI final the year before and had 11 starters against us. The Mayo game was smash and grab and with a man down was some achievement. I personally would have Johnson, McGowan and Henry ahead of him.

Sligonian (Sligo) - Posts: 1883 - 13/07/2025 20:28:53    2625373

Link

Replying To eoinog:  "Were Farnans asleep at boardroom level to allow the Div 3 fixtures go ahead the way they did. They will have the whole winter to conduct a post mortem. Elsewhere Johns slip to Div 4 and Calry go down to Div 3 which is fairly damning . Delighted to see Cloonacool hold on to their Division 2 status."
I don't think farnans can have many complaints, fair enough losing to castleconnor but Johns and the shape they are in really cost them promotion. They have no one to blame but themselves.

westvoice (Sligo) - Posts: 77 - 14/07/2025 09:09:14    2625499

Link

Replying To westvoice:  "I don't think farnans can have many complaints, fair enough losing to castleconnor but Johns and the shape they are in really cost them promotion. They have no one to blame but themselves."
Was at the Div 2 league final and good win for Tubber. Famous saying, "Goals win games". Was a big win for Tubber without Eddie McGuinness and Josh Flynn. Was a solid performance from Brian Curran and Dermot Walsh, Luke Gilmartin and Arraon Perry , saying that I was impressed with Ballymote and they at times they played very well. Some fall from Calry in two years and not sure if they have any strong underage coming up. Was shocked to hear Farnan's allowed their game to be played the before the Castconnor V Harps. I would say Harps after playing Div one game on Friday would have seen the result for Farnan's and decided to bring a strong team up as it helps them to have their second team in Div 2.
How the county board let this happen is a mystery but club exec wont be feeling great this morning.

RealSouthSligo (Sligo) - Posts: 127 - 14/07/2025 11:16:53    2625540

Link

Extremely worrying times for some clubs in Sligo.
St. Johns dismal results are nothing short of embarrassing. They seem to have given up as a club at adult level. Their relegation to Junior A was one thing but their continuation of disastrous results for a number of year in the league shows that there are huge problems in that club. I would imagine they survive in division 3 by being fortunate that other teams don't wish to come up. Maybe their John Stagg will come on here and tell me I'm wrong. It's a real shame to see.
St. Michaels too showed very little fight in the hunt for promotion from Division 3. St. Farnans are another club who seem to be in free fall at the moment. For a team playing senior football a couple of years ago to not get out of division 3 is truly amazing. Their neighbours St. Pats were soundly relegated from Division 2 which maybe wasn't as big of a shock, but Calry have fallen off a cliff in the second half of their league campaign and you'd wonder what the future holds for them.
Great to see Cloonacool survive in Division 2 and Castleconnor to get back in there. Maybe on their way back to being a more competitive side in Intermediate. Though you'd wonder where the fight from West Sligo will come from in the coming years. In my playing days, there were always as least two clubs in senior championship who would be hard beaten on their day. As for the town, it's a one horse race now.
The worrying part of all of this is I don't see a solution. In fact, I'd predict that in five to seven years, there will be as many second teams in division 2 as first teams. Is one option extending the names listed for first team in league football?

johncreilly (Sligo) - Posts: 169 - 14/07/2025 13:11:46    2625606

Link

Replying To johncreilly:  "Extremely worrying times for some clubs in Sligo.
St. Johns dismal results are nothing short of embarrassing. They seem to have given up as a club at adult level. Their relegation to Junior A was one thing but their continuation of disastrous results for a number of year in the league shows that there are huge problems in that club. I would imagine they survive in division 3 by being fortunate that other teams don't wish to come up. Maybe their John Stagg will come on here and tell me I'm wrong. It's a real shame to see.
St. Michaels too showed very little fight in the hunt for promotion from Division 3. St. Farnans are another club who seem to be in free fall at the moment. For a team playing senior football a couple of years ago to not get out of division 3 is truly amazing. Their neighbours St. Pats were soundly relegated from Division 2 which maybe wasn't as big of a shock, but Calry have fallen off a cliff in the second half of their league campaign and you'd wonder what the future holds for them.
Great to see Cloonacool survive in Division 2 and Castleconnor to get back in there. Maybe on their way back to being a more competitive side in Intermediate. Though you'd wonder where the fight from West Sligo will come from in the coming years. In my playing days, there were always as least two clubs in senior championship who would be hard beaten on their day. As for the town, it's a one horse race now.
The worrying part of all of this is I don't see a solution. In fact, I'd predict that in five to seven years, there will be as many second teams in division 2 as first teams. Is one option extending the names listed for first team in league football?"
I was just thinking the same myself in terms of second teams. Molaise Gaels now have a very competitive second team. Eastern Harps as well. You could see Shamrock Gaels, Mary's and Curry follow suit with first teams from rural areas struggling. If you look at trends and underage you could have predicted the relegations from Division 2. There's probably a couple of first teams on that trajectory. Clubs are doing their best but these hugely populated super clubs are going to take over. I have said it since i started posting on this thread. How can the county board help. The CDO program is good but is there a club liaison/coach from the county's coaching pool attached to each division (East, South, West, North). I presume they are in the schools. At every opportunity they should be organising camps divisionally. There is good work done in Scarden but bring West stuff to enniscrone (fantastic all year round facilities). Bring the East to Gurteen. South to Tubber. Make GAA the done thing for kids. Pro has a huge role in it. Clips of Sligo games, highlights, try and get club highlights that clubs will be happy releasing. YouTube, every kid watches YouTube. Could we get cameras at more games not to be streamed but for highlights purposes for club championships. Might cost money but it might mean the promotion and accessibility of our game. Long run could benefit. Kids free into club championship games (I presume this is already the case). GAA is a numbers games, the clubs with small numbers have to be helped to maximise the retention of players. Unfortunately the government want everybody living in towns and on their periphery so this problem will only get worse. Any other ideas to help?

BreakingBall123 (Sligo) - Posts: 131 - 14/07/2025 15:19:11    2625648

Link

Division 1 Final in Tubber which is ok.
Div 3 final in Enniscrone. ?????

Taypot (Sligo) - Posts: 174 - 14/07/2025 18:54:51    2625711

Link