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Replying To westvoice: "So calry are down to intermediate for 2025, from the outside looking in its hard to see them bouncing straight back up. Castleconnor saved themselves once again. They got all their goals in the first half so the game was as good as over by then.
John's have a few good underage teams coming but they will need to get new blood in quickly to get out of Junior A" Congrats to Curry and Castleconnor on their respective survival. A drop down for either would have been a hammer blow as they are two young sides. Curry had a tough group but will have been disappointed to end up in a relegation battle in the first place. There are bodies coming through and I expect them to go better in 2025. Likewise, Castleconnor have a lot of youth coming through but need to start fighting at the right side of Intermediate.
In the case of Calry, they are fighters and won't stay down in Intermediate without a battle. However, no relatively small club like Calry can lose players of the calibre they have, and not feel the effects eventually. It's hard not to feel for them.
St. Johns as you said have youth coming through with some good minor teams, and they will need to start to blood them all. Their drop to Junior was almost inevitable over this transition period, but might be the start of something for them. As I said here before, Sligo football needs a competitive St. Johns side.
johncreilly (Sligo) - Posts: 107 - 21/10/2024 11:37:18
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Replying To johncreilly: "Congrats to Curry and Castleconnor on their respective survival. A drop down for either would have been a hammer blow as they are two young sides. Curry had a tough group but will have been disappointed to end up in a relegation battle in the first place. There are bodies coming through and I expect them to go better in 2025. Likewise, Castleconnor have a lot of youth coming through but need to start fighting at the right side of Intermediate.
In the case of Calry, they are fighters and won't stay down in Intermediate without a battle. However, no relatively small club like Calry can lose players of the calibre they have, and not feel the effects eventually. It's hard not to feel for them.
St. Johns as you said have youth coming through with some good minor teams, and they will need to start to blood them all. Their drop to Junior was almost inevitable over this transition period, but might be the start of something for them. As I said here before, Sligo football needs a competitive St. Johns side." Carly have possibly 3 players on the Sligo senior panel, in any other county having 3 county senior panelists would likely mean competing for senior honors???
MrUnderhill (Sligo) - Posts: 62 - 21/10/2024 16:57:20
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We have some really good referee's in the county. There must be 4 that have intercounty experience of refereeing. Behind that there's another 2 or 3 that are quiet good. That's a good base to work off. After that the standard falls off a cliff. Last year one referee, who gets a lot of big games gave a penalty to a team because the opposing defender picked the ball off the ground in big parallelogram. That's not a penalty. It's a free in. The defenders went ballistic because they knew it was a completely incorrect decision. He then gave them yellow cards for dissent.
It's a nice little wage earner, a few games a week for maybe 30 weeks. Even challenge games now require an official referee for insurance purposes. Therefore they need to be fit enough to keep up with play and know the rules. Very few players take up referring during or when they finish playing so the candidates for the whistle sometimes never played adult football.
eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 1958 - 21/10/2024 17:12:06
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I have some close friends from Calry but I was happy for Curry staying up. They were very competitive all year and deserve to be senior.
I think the refereeing has been decent this year. I thought John Gilmartin did a great job in our semi final with Shamrock Gaels. I don't really mind any referee as long as they treat both teams the same and give fair play.
Michael Duffy is down for the senior final and I'd expect him to referee it well.
Sligonian (Sligo) - Posts: 1719 - 21/10/2024 21:16:58
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Replying To MrUnderhill: "Carly have possibly 3 players on the Sligo senior panel, in any other county having 3 county senior panelists would likely mean competing for senior honors???" No doubt have quality among their panel but have lost some big players and seem to have quite a small group. I'm not sure they are hitting the heights at underage either. I would still make them favourites for next years Intermediate, but the loss of the Cummins lads has had to have been a huge blow over the last couple of years.
johncreilly (Sligo) - Posts: 107 - 22/10/2024 11:54:57
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I don't see Calry making a return to senior any time soon tbh. Underage success has been quite modest there and there were times they had to amalgamate with Johns in recent years. Losing the Cummins was a big blow to them. I don't think any of the teams in the upper half of Intermediate will fear them tbh, and it may take them a few years to reset and reorganise.
Similarly I think John's could take a few more years before they reap the rewards of their current underage success. Had Castleconnor gone down I'd rank them favourites for a return straight away as posters mentioned they are a very young outfit but have been hanging around on relegation side of Intermediate for far too long.
But what is not good to see is that among the three clubs picking from Sligo town and its immediate surrounds there is now 1 senior, 1 intermediate and 1 junior. Will we see more border hopping to the remaining senior club as a result?
On to this weekends games.
Coolera v St Molaise Gaels....Coolera by 2. Murphy this year has been exceptional for Coolera and Molaise might have to commit too much resources to handle him. Its a difficult one to balance but not expecting a high scoring game.
E.Harps v Owenmore....Harps by 2. The final of the weekend I feel and potential to be good open fast paced football if the officials allow it to be.
Ballymote v Cloonacool....Ballymote by 4. Ballymote fairly took care of St Michaels and I just think they've a better pick of players and will be all the hungrier to make up for last years defeat. Lavin could be the difference here between the teams.
Sligoman1234 (Sligo) - Posts: 428 - 22/10/2024 13:06:28
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Replying To Sligoman1234: "I don't see Calry making a return to senior any time soon tbh. Underage success has been quite modest there and there were times they had to amalgamate with Johns in recent years. Losing the Cummins was a big blow to them. I don't think any of the teams in the upper half of Intermediate will fear them tbh, and it may take them a few years to reset and reorganise.
Similarly I think John's could take a few more years before they reap the rewards of their current underage success. Had Castleconnor gone down I'd rank them favourites for a return straight away as posters mentioned they are a very young outfit but have been hanging around on relegation side of Intermediate for far too long.
But what is not good to see is that among the three clubs picking from Sligo town and its immediate surrounds there is now 1 senior, 1 intermediate and 1 junior. Will we see more border hopping to the remaining senior club as a result?
On to this weekends games.
Coolera v St Molaise Gaels....Coolera by 2. Murphy this year has been exceptional for Coolera and Molaise might have to commit too much resources to handle him. Its a difficult one to balance but not expecting a high scoring game.
E.Harps v Owenmore....Harps by 2. The final of the weekend I feel and potential to be good open fast paced football if the officials allow it to be.
Ballymote v Cloonacool....Ballymote by 4. Ballymote fairly took care of St Michaels and I just think they've a better pick of players and will be all the hungrier to make up for last years defeat. Lavin could be the difference here between the teams." Very good point on Marys. You'd hope that wouldn't be the case.
I'd share your picks for the weekend also.
johncreilly (Sligo) - Posts: 107 - 22/10/2024 14:02:39
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Disappointment for Paddy O Connor with Kilmacud Crokes on Sunday. To be honest I wasn't sure if he would get a place on that team but just like Cummins he was able to step up to the much higher standard of Dublin club football. As someone alluded to, it's poor that club football in Sligo town has gotten so bad. Neither Johns nor Calry have anything on the horizon for a few years. You would hope Johns get straight back up from Junior because we need more teams in Sligo town but next year they will be up against Cloonacool or Ballymote plus Michaels and a few very strong B teams. Too early in the week yet for my predictions for the weekend))
eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 1958 - 22/10/2024 15:23:56
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Replying To eoinog: "Disappointment for Paddy O Connor with Kilmacud Crokes on Sunday. To be honest I wasn't sure if he would get a place on that team but just like Cummins he was able to step up to the much higher standard of Dublin club football. As someone alluded to, it's poor that club football in Sligo town has gotten so bad. Neither Johns nor Calry have anything on the horizon for a few years. You would hope Johns get straight back up from Junior because we need more teams in Sligo town but next year they will be up against Cloonacool or Ballymote plus Michaels and a few very strong B teams. Too early in the week yet for my predictions for the weekend))" Credit to them on doing well for the respective clubs and are great for their county, but it would never sit right with me that players are not playing for their home clubs in the prime of their careers. I'd understand lads who are coming to the end, married, kids, etc. and a completely separate life away from their home. Things do change but it's only a couple of hours up the road once a week for a 3 months of the year.
It used to be a far bigger journey 20+ years ago when my teammates were journeying up and down. I'm not singling these or any Sligo lads out and not pretending it didn't happen then. I just don't like it. You may say that the player owes a club nothing, but I feel your obligation should always be to your club where possible.
Let me reiterate that I've a lot of respect for the two mentioned above and am speaking in general terms more so.
johncreilly (Sligo) - Posts: 107 - 24/10/2024 14:11:17
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Replying To johncreilly: "Credit to them on doing well for the respective clubs and are great for their county, but it would never sit right with me that players are not playing for their home clubs in the prime of their careers. I'd understand lads who are coming to the end, married, kids, etc. and a completely separate life away from their home. Things do change but it's only a couple of hours up the road once a week for a 3 months of the year.
It used to be a far bigger journey 20+ years ago when my teammates were journeying up and down. I'm not singling these or any Sligo lads out and not pretending it didn't happen then. I just don't like it. You may say that the player owes a club nothing, but I feel your obligation should always be to your club where possible.
Let me reiterate that I've a lot of respect for the two mentioned above and am speaking in general terms more so." I agree with your points. I see you mentioned they may owe their clubs nothing. I know that this isn't your view but I would say they owe their clubs everything. The amount of hours that go in from volunteers to coach kids from the age of 5 and 6. People giving up their free time. Fundraising, sponsorship etc to put a club jersey on these kids back. Cut and line the pitches so they could play ball. These players obviously have the drive and dedication to get to the top level but they would not be there only for their club. These lads owe everything to their clubs.
BreakingBall123 (Sligo) - Posts: 51 - 24/10/2024 16:04:35
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Curry and castleconnor stayed up with ease. As shared by a few I don't see calry bouncing back up and with John's loosing players I think they might also be stuck in junior a past 2025.
Predictions for the weekend
Going to go with new champs across both.
Owenmore G
Molaise Gaels
Think both will be tight till the end.
Junior Ballymote to avenge for last year.
Easkey to retain the hurling.
Just on the earlier posts on reffs I think it's fair to evaluate them as some things they do can effect games. But understand they have a tough job and probably don't get near the training they need as for the league thrown out and not even evaluated then next thing there in a big championship game. Glad to see Micheal get the senior final as he is a top offical. As regards to the others I wish them well but I would like to see more consistency of the best officials getting the bigger games. As some are clearly not near fit enough which is very evident and can lead to some of the poor decisions we see.
Westside14 (Sligo) - Posts: 18 - 24/10/2024 16:47:13
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Replying To Westside14: "Curry and castleconnor stayed up with ease. As shared by a few I don't see calry bouncing back up and with John's loosing players I think they might also be stuck in junior a past 2025.
Predictions for the weekend
Going to go with new champs across both.
Owenmore G
Molaise Gaels
Think both will be tight till the end.
Junior Ballymote to avenge for last year.
Easkey to retain the hurling.
Just on the earlier posts on reffs I think it's fair to evaluate them as some things they do can effect games. But understand they have a tough job and probably don't get near the training they need as for the league thrown out and not even evaluated then next thing there in a big championship game. Glad to see Micheal get the senior final as he is a top offical. As regards to the others I wish them well but I would like to see more consistency of the best officials getting the bigger games. As some are clearly not near fit enough which is very evident and can lead to some of the poor decisions we see." Good Post re the refs.
Ballymote to win by 5
Owenmore by 1
Molaise by 2
Taypot (Sligo) - Posts: 52 - 24/10/2024 17:55:24
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Replying To Taypot: "Good Post re the refs.
Ballymote to win by 5
Owenmore by 1
Molaise by 2" Eastern Harps to win the intermediate
Ballymote to win Junior. The venue is advantage Cloonacool as they are only a few miles down the road. Any neutrals from the host club and neighbouring clubs will also be supporting Cloonacool. Like Eoinog i would be concerned about the referee. Its a strange decision to appoint a referee who mostly referees underage games.
The Senior game is hard to call. I think Molaise are the better team with better individual players but Coolera/Strandhill just have that ability of staying in a game and grinding out the result. Obviously Molaise will have to double up on Murphy, 1 man marking and another sweeping in front. If they can restrict Murphy (who has scored 80% of their scores over the last 2 games) they have a great chance. They will also have to get the ball forward quickly as Coolera drop 14 players back to protect their defense who are vulnerable to pace.
On the other side McLoughlin will be a marked man and Coolera will look to slow Molaise on turnovers.
The expected weather for Sunday and the soft slow conditions would favour Coolera and i think the will win a ver low scoring game.
Anto (Sligo) - Posts: 356 - 25/10/2024 11:58:10
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Junior.
When Cloonacool blew Molaise apart in the Div 3 final I thought they were very good. Hindsight would seem to say that maybe Molaise weren't that good. They certainly have good footballers and a strong performance from Eoin Carty might move him up the pecking order with the Sligo seniors.
Ballymote have been consistently good in the championship and the addition of Michael Lavin has been a huge bonus. After last years loss they will be confident of getting a win and more importantly for them to move up a tier in the rankings.
Ballymote to win by 3 with Sean Staff getting the vital goal and man of the match.
Intermediate
Forecast is poor for Sunday so this will have a huge bearing on the game. Owenmore Gaels have been very impressive, not losing any game in the championship. Harps have been really poor and scraped through to this stage. A few days ago I was thinking it was Owenmore Gaels for the trophy but the club have gone on a promotional blitz for the game on social media. Pen pic's of players, sponsor a player, team visiting schools, meet and greet etc etc. That's all fine and well but it ramps up the pressure on the team. Will it motivate them or inhib them . As this is their biggest game in decades I expected a low key approach and I think the weight of expectation will be a burden. Harps to win by 1 solitary point.
Senior.
The sacred sod of Markievicz Park will be tested with the second game on Sunday. I call it sacred because it's used so little. Last year Molaise played very well all year and finished up with nothing. Coolera were mediocre and won the championship.
This year it's roles reversed and Molaise have the league won and have only been middling in the championship. Coolera have been much more impressive. The 2 main players are MC Laughlin for Molaise and Murphy for Coolera. If these can be kept quiet it's hard to know where the scores will come from. Davitt for Molaise is very good but he hasn't kicked on since the U.20 with Sligo. On his day he could get 2.03. None of the other forwards can score heavily. Coolera are similar with shy forwards but probably are a little bit more physical and on a wet day that could be the difference but it's desperate hard to call it. Coolera by 1.
eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 1958 - 25/10/2024 14:23:48
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Absolute warrior of a performance from our lads, couldn't be prouder, we completely shut down Coolera 2nd half
I should writing about Keaneys unbelivable score to win it, in the most pressure moment he once again delivered, only to be robbed of that moment
The truth of Sligo GAA could never get written on here and its why we are a joke of a county who win nothing
Sligonian (Sligo) - Posts: 1719 - 27/10/2024 16:49:36
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2 draws from the 3 games meaning that we have 2 replays to look forward to next weekend. Ballymote will feel they should have won this leading by 5 coming to the end of the game but credit to Cloonacool for battling back. They were mighty relieved to see the late Hughie Marren free going wide for Cloonacool.
As I said a few days ago the weight of expectation was too heavy for Owenmore Gaels plus the ridiculous media blitz all week. Their behaviour at the end of the game was appalling. I thought this team had moved on from that sort of behaviour.
3 points ahead in atrocious conditions I felt that Molaise would seal the deal but credit to Coolera for leveling the score. No one only Michaels Duffy knows what happened at the end. Molaise got the free which everyone assumed was the last kick of the game. They elected to play it short and the referee blew the whistle before the ball sailed over the bar. I don't think the referee is obliged to tell the free taker that it's the last kick so we assume that Alan thought there was time for another play. Anyway it's back again next week.
eoinog (Sligo) - Posts: 1958 - 27/10/2024 17:21:48
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Congrats to Harps. Absolutely demolished Owenmore Gaels. Ballymote will be sickened and whatever about the strange ending to the senior game , I'm glad for another day out. I hope they stay with Tourlestrane under lights for next Saturday night. Brilliant atmosphere.
Taypot (Sligo) - Posts: 52 - 27/10/2024 17:51:10
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Replying To Sligoman1234: "Not much action happening this week. Markievicz musn't be in great knick when no game this weekend on it.
Anyway might as well through a prediction out.
Curry to win the Junior B. Castleconnor to survive the Intermediate relegation and Geevagh to make the return back to Intermediate." Time was up!! Do we keep playing untill molaise score?? Mc Laughlin should have taken the score on and id say if you asked him he'd agree.
onthefortyfive (Sligo) - Posts: 36 - 27/10/2024 18:55:37
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Duffy didn't say it was last kick, he should have. I know its not in the rule book but its a courtesy most refs give. There is no play clock so a player can't know exact timing. Is it not ridiculous that he didn't afford Alan that courtesy of telling him last kick imo. Then everyone knew Keaney was about to shoot and he couldn't give us that 5 seconds. None of us are asking for anything crazy, 2 things usually given in most games and Id take either. Duffy courts controversy although he refereed the game fine up until then except for his botched signaling at times
None of ye on here can tell me on the verge of winning the Owen B Hunt trophy for the first time in dramatic fashion wouldn't be annoyed by that ending unless you have the empathy of a stone like taypot and onthe45.
And don't worry we will be over this tomorrow and ready for the replay. The lads showed they can do it in conditions most would say suited Coolera more.
Sligonian (Sligo) - Posts: 1719 - 27/10/2024 21:35:12
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I just watched it back and its worse than I remembered, its was 62.59 when Joe keaney kicks it. 3 mins added time given. Why was it last kick of the game when the free was given well before the 3 mins were up. Duffy doesn't blow the whistle until Joe gains possession and his kick is almost immediate. He waits for Joe to get it until he blows it up. Absolutely mad stuff.
Sligonian (Sligo) - Posts: 1719 - 27/10/2024 22:11:21
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