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 37th 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 45th
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).