The progress of underage football in Sligo got another big shot in the arm last weekend when Sligo schools won both the Connacht Colleges A and Connacht Colleges B titles.

Their successes are down to some great work being done in both schools led by team managers Mark Brehony (Summerhill) and Colm McGee (St Attracta's) but that work builds on work being down in the first place by Sligo's clubs and also by Sligo GAA through its development and underage inter-county squads. 

Summerhill College were crowned as A champions with a powerful second half display that converted a four-point half time deficit - 0-4 to 1-5 - into a four point victory against the fancied Galway side Coláiste Bhaile Chláir (Claregalway).

It was the Sligo town colleges' ninth Connacht college's title overall - the last was in 2016.

Summerhill have made a habit this year of coming from behind so, having played against the wind, they were likely to have been confident of reeling in the half time deficit as the game wore on.

So it proved to be and a dynamic display of athleticism and skill both in attack and defence saw them add 12 points in the second half and hold their opponents to just four.

Their victory gave captain James Donlon, his third Connacht medal in three years, having featured for the Sligo minors in 2021 and the Sligo U20s last year. In the story of this game midfielder Dillon Walsh, forwards Mark McDaniel and Ronan Niland and defenders Ronan O'Hehir - all also members of the 2021 minor team were star performers along with attacker Eli Rooney and defender Eamonn Keane who were on Sligo's Manning Cup (U16) winning team last year.

The 'B' Final where St Attracta's met Roscommon CBS was a tense affair that was decided by the boot of the Tubbercurry side's joint captain Dylan McLoughlin who pointed from play in the third minute of added time to complete a victory that looked unlikely in the final minutes of normal time but that was fully deserved.

Like Summerhill's captain James Donlon, McLoughlin and his co-captain Conor Johnston both also featured in Sligo’s 2021 minor title and 2022 U20 title successes while Aiden Marren, Tommy Ross, Joshua Flynn and Stephen Donoghue were in the 2021 minor squad.

This was a tight battle throughout with St Attracta’s winning the early exchanges only to be pulled back to level terms at the half way point on foot of the brilliance of Roscommon centre forward Rory Carthy who contributed all five of his side's first half scores.

Although the Sligo side got the first two scores of the second half, they struggled to get into a rhythm so when the Roscommon side fashioned a goal chance that was decisively finished by midfielder Jamie Betts to give his side a momentum as the game entered its final quarter.

St Attracta's weren't for quitting however and an equalising point from Tommy Ross followed by a miracle Tom Bailey block set the game up for the grandstand finish by McLoughlin that gave the South Sligo side its first Championship in ten years.