In what could only be described as a game of two halves, Sligo’s senior hurlers came away from a topsy turvey game at Aughrim on Sunday with a place in the semi-final of Div 2B of the National Hurling League after a 3-17 apiece draw with Wicklow.

The end result would have seemed unlikely at half time as the visitors went into the break with what looked like a comfortable a comfortable eleven-point lead having played against the breeze.

The flow of the game changed ten minutes into the second half when two quick Wicklow goals gave the home side hope.

From there, led by the accuracy of wing forward John Doyle from both frees and play, the Garden County picked off the scores to be within three as the game went into added time.

Then as the three minutes of added time were elapsing, corner forward Kieran Conway finished to the net to complete a most unlikely comeback.

The game started in almost exactly the opposite fashion with a first minute point from Sligo captain Finnian Cawley and then a goal from ace marksman Gerard O’Kelly Lynch putting the Yeats County 1-1 to no score up after only two minutes

They then added points from Andy Kilcullen and Thomas Cawley before midfielder Mark Murphy got Wicklow off the mark after ten minutes.

As the half progressed, Sligo stretched their lead with Andrew Kilcullen on top form from play and placed balls alike adding four points including a side-line ball and a ’65 to lead 1-8 to 0-5 coming up to the half hour mark.

Thomas Cawley added a point and then Kilcullen went one better to grab Sligo’s second goal to open a commanding 2-10 to 0-05 lead.

Wicklow had three points from John Doyle, Brandon Ryan and substitute Eoin Kavanagh before Finnian Cawley struck with a kicked goal on the stroke of half time to restore Sligo’s eleven-point advantage.

Sligo made two personnel changes at the beginning of the second half with Conor Hanniffy and Michael Munnelly replacing Gerard O’Kelly Lynch and Patrick Foley 

Wicklow started to work the scoreboard with a point from midfielder Murphy, but Sligo had points from Ruairi Brennan, substitute Hanniffy and a Kilcullen free to extend the gap to 13, 3-13 to 0-9, with 44 minutes on the clock.

From there it was all about Wicklow. The two goals narrowed the gap to seven and while Kilcullen did hit a free in response Wicklow then held Sligo scoreless for ten minutes and had five points of their own to reduce the gap just three with seven minutes to play.

Kilcullen from a free and a well worked point from centre back Rory McHugh after some nice interplay with Kilcullen eased the Sligo nerves but the pressure remained with Doyle finishing two frees in return to peg the gap back to three going into the final minutes.

Kilcullen from play and Doyle again swapped points to keep the margin at three but the home side were not to be denied and corner forward Kieran Conway found the net with the last puck of the game to bring his side to 3-17 for the day and parity on the final whistle.

The result means that Sligo finish third in Division 2B and will now travel to Donegal next weekend to meet the home side, who finished second, in a 2B semi-final for the opportunity to play in the Division 2B final against table toppers Derry  

Sligo: Jimmy Gordon; Niall Kilcullen, Mark Hanniffy, Kevin O’Kennedy; Gavin Connolly, Rory McHugh (0-1), Niall Feehily; Finnian Cawley (1-1), Patrick Foley; Tony O’Kelly-Lynch, Gerard O’Kelly Lynch (1-0), Joe McHugh; Ruairi Brennan (0-1), Andy Kilcullen (1-117f, 1 65, 1s/l), Thomas Cawley (0-2).

Subs; Conor Hanniffy (0-1) for G O’Kelly Lynch, Michael Munnelly for Patrick Foley

Wicklow:  Robert FitzGerald; Dylan Byrne, Ciarán Harmon, Martin O’Brien; John Toomey, John Young, James Byrne; Mark Murphy, Tommy Collins; Aaron Byrne, Shane Browne, John Doyle; Eoin McCormack, Seanie Germaine, Kieran Conway

Subs: Eoin Kavanagh for Germaine, Jacques McCall for Murphy, Eoin Byrne for McCormack,