Sligo GAA this evening (Tuesday 1 August, 2023) confirmed that Senior football team manager Tony McEntee will continue in the role for 2024, activating the option for an additional one year which was agreed between the Armagh man and the County Board last year.

2024 will be McEntee’s fourth year with Sligo. He will be joined again by Assistant Manager Joe Keane. It is expected that the rest of the Management team will continue in role. The Manager and his colleagues will be watching club championship games over the next two months.

After a difficult opening year, 2021, where the full impact of Covid left the team exposed in a shortened league and straight knock out championship, the second and third years under McEntee have seen the team progress very significantly, reaching the latter stages of the Tailteann Cup in 2022, the Connacht final in 2023 and winning Division Four of the National League in 2023.

The agreement to work together for another year follows an extensive review of 2023 that involved players, management and the County Board. Chairman Sean Carroll said, “the review was very thorough and detailed. We want to thank both the management and the players for their time and thoughts. Between us all we recognise that to progress further requires improving every aspect of the team’s work, on and off the field – our standards have to be higher. The work of the past number of weeks has focussed on getting everyone involved aligned and working together well ahead of the start of next season. We are pleased to have that all tied down ahead of the start of the club championship in three weeks’ time”.

Sligo GAA has also confirmed that Connacht championship winning U20 football team manager Paul Henry will be continuing in the role for a second year and that the option of third year for Henry and his coaching team with the U20s has been agreed.

The Curry man will continue to have Enda Mitchell of Coolera Strandhill as his head coach and will be retaining the core of his management team which will also supervise Sligo’s work with a development squad for 18- and 19-year-olds that don’t make the final U20 squad in the coming year.

Chairman Carroll continued “We are very fortunate to have access to the calibre of coaching and leadership that Paul and his team brough to this year’s U20 player group, building on the excellent work done over the preceding three years by Dessie Sloyan and his management group. While winning trophies is a huge boost, we are also looking with our age group teams to progress a number of players every year to be ready to compete for places in the ranks of the senior team, something that is progressing well and we wish Paul and his team the very best in that work”