Sligo play
Leitrim in the Connacht Minor Football Championship on Wednesday evening at
Markievicz Park (7.30pm throw-in) hoping to qualify for the Connacht Final for
the second time in three years.
David
Cummins’ side have been engaged in preparations for the game since the
conclusion of the Connacht Minor League in April, where the Yeats men defeated
Leitrim, Roscommon and Longford in the six-team competition.
Championship,
however, is where the focus has always been and Wednesday’s meeting with their
neighbours promises to be a very tight game, just as it was in the league when
Sligo were three-point victors, 2-11 to 1-11.
Unfortunately
for the home team they will be without the services of the influential Rory
McHugh who suffered an ankle injury last month, while Dean Carroll is also a
long-term absentee.
Nonetheless
the Sligo team has plenty of talent, with the Red Og Murphy likely to lead the
scoring threat and captain Barry Gorman will also have a major role to play
around the middle third.
Though
Leitrim failed to win any of their Connacht Minor League encounters, they will
come to Markievicz Park full of endeavour and hoping to cause a shock.
Sligo will
want to avenge a heart-breaking one-point defeat to Roscommon at the same venue
last year when they fell at the quarter-final stage, and make a return to the
provincial decider on July 9th.
Sligo last
contested the final in 2015, when they were beaten by Galway after a replay.
Wednesday’s
game has a 7.30pm throw-in.