New York had very little
preparation for their first Championship game and it showed as Sligo cruised to
an easy victory in Gaelic Park. 2000 spectators met and mingled on this very
important day in the NY GAA calendar with New York based exiles hoping for that
magical breakthrough. They had to content themselves with memories of close
encounters in former years however as they contemplated the difficulty of
preparing a group of lads for this, so far, single game on the calendar.
Neither side settled in immediately
as both Sligo and New York had three shots off target in the opening few
minutes. Adrian Marren got the scoreboard ticking with two points, one from
play while Stephen Coen capitalised on a goal keeping error when the ball was
fumbled to give him a second chance which he converted from an awkward angle to
make it 1-02 to no score. Brendan Egan added a long distance point after Sligo
had failed to convert a 45. CJ Molloy converted a free for the City and this
was followed by two Adrian Marren points and a lovely effort from play from
Shane McManus. NY’s Carew and CJ Molloy added two to give a total of three for
the half while the visitors clocked up scores from Adrian Marren, Stephen Coen
and Paul McGovern to leave it 1-10 to 0-03 at the break. The only consolation
for the City side being that they were winning their fair share of the mid
field battle. The clouds at this stage had disappeared to give perfect
conditions for the game with a nice breeze, favouring the City at the
resumption, keeping the temperature down.
CJ Molloy converted one of two
free attempts and this was answered by a Tony Taylor point. NY won possession
from four kick outs in a row but it was the Yeats men that added to their tally
with Alan Costello, Mark Breheny, Stephen Coen and a great Ross Donovan effort
bringing Sligo’s tally to 1-16 with the City side having to content themselves
with a solitary Rory Stafford point.
As the game drew to its
inevitable conclusion “man of the match” Pat Hughes and Stephen Coen added two
more goals to Sligo’s tally and they both had two points to their credit during
his period as well. Mark Breheny and Eugene Mullen were the other scorers that
brought the visitor’s tally up to a deserving 3-21. New York added their final
point from a free to give a total of six for the game.
Sligo will be happy with their
level of fitness but will have learnt little else from this one-sided
encounter.