Sligo continue good form

Sligo 1-9 Galway 0-9

 By Cathal Mullaney

The Sligo minor team secured their second successive win in the 2015 Connacht Minor League with a hard-earned 1-9 to 0-9 win over Galway at Tubbercurry’s Kilcoyne Park on Saturday afternoon.

Having beaten Leitrim in the opening round, Sligo showed huge endeavour to overturn a fancied Galway side in this tie played in ideal conditions.

Seán Carrabine’s excellent 37^th minute goal proved to be the difference between the sides, but Sligo’s superior work-rate and industry was the real key to this victory.

After a cagey opening 20 minutes the sides were level at three points apiece – Rian Kennedy and Liam Gaughan (2) the men on target for Sligo – and the teams would remain locked together for the remainder of the half with Gaughan and Kennedy again finding range.

Tied together at the break (0-5 apiece) Sligo were denied a first half goal following an excellent save from Galway goalkeeper James Grealish after Rian Kennedy’s goal effort came about following a sweeping move from the home team.

Galway pointed first in the second half through John Daly, but Carrabine’s goal soon followed after huge pressure on the Galway defence resulted in the ball being turned over, with the wing-forward rifling a low shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.

Galway, to their credit, reduced the gap to a single point by the 45^th minute with John Daly to the fore, but Sligo finished stronger with superb scores from Seán Power and Finnian Cawley, as well as a Rian Kennedy free, giving Sligo a well-deserved three point win.

Sligo: E Kilgannon; D Murphy, E McGuinness, M O’Dowd; S Power (0-1), F Cawley (0-1), A Kearns; P Kilcoyne, O Gilmartin; L Gaughan (0-3, 1f), R Kennedy(0-4, 2f), S Carrabine (1-0); J McHugh, A McLoughlin, M Gordon. Subs used: D Leonard for Murphy (16), D Cummins for Gilmartin (42), K Cawley for McLoughlin (42), N Rooney for Carrabine (50).