Sligo’s senior footballers delivered on their ambition of promotion from Division 4 as champions with a deserved 2 point victory in a saturated Croke Park on Saturday evening.

After a slow start that saw them five points down after 15 minutes Sligo improved as the game progressed and took control early in the second half to see off a game Wicklow side to capture their first trophy in 12 years.

Captain Niall Murphy led from the front with a man of the match performance that included a critical first half goal and added four points – three in the first half when the Yeats County were struggling somewhat.

Sligo opened brightly and created early chances for Murphy and wing forward David Quinn but without troubling the scoreboard.

Wicklow then took control and after Kevin Quinn opened the scoring, they added points from Mark Kenny, JP Hurley and Quinn again to lead by four points to no score before Sligo got their first score from a free by Murphy on 16 minutes.

Murphy got Sligo’s second, from play eight minutes later but Wicklow hit back with two further Quinn points, the second of which was from a free to go 0-7 to 0-2 after Sligo full back Eddie McGuinness was blacked carded for a pull down on Quinn himself.

Sligo however made light of the numerical disadvantage and instead put 1-1 on the board to bring themselves right back into the game.  Murphy again got both scores – the first a point after fielding an excellent mark, quickly followed by a goal -palmed to the net across the face of the goals after excellent work by defenders Luke Towey and Nathan Mullen raiding into Wicklow territory.

Wicklow tacked on a point in added time when goalkeeper Mark Jackson converted a '45 after Sligo midfielder Paul Kilcoyne and defender Evan Lyons combined to make a goal saving block. It left the Garden County two points ahead, 0-8 to 1-3 at half time.

Wicklow got the first score of the second half from an Eoin Darcy free but Sligo were now dominating possession and began to convert that into an advantage on the scoreboard.

Cian Lally got the first Sligo score of the half with a point after five minutes when a goal was a real possibility and then Kilcoyne popped up on the edge of the square to take a ball across the goal from Lally to finish to the Wicklow net.

Sligo then added two point s from Luke Towey and Pat Spillane to turn a three point deficit into a four point advantage by the end of the first quarter. Wicklow kept battling away but Sligo kept the scoreboard ticking over with further points from Sean Carrabine, Mullen and Murphy again as the game drifted to its damp but happy winning conclusion.

Sligo: Daniel Lyons; Evan Lyons, Eddie McGuinness, Nathan Mullen; Paul McNamara, Brian Cox, Luke Towey (0-1), Paul Kilcoyne (1-0), Cian Lally; Pat Spillane (0-1) (0-1), Sean Carrabine 0-2 (0-1f), David Quinn; Niall Murphy 1-4 (0-1f, 0-1m), Patrick O'Connor, Keelan Cawley.

Subs: Mikey Gordon for Quinn 39, Alan Reilly for O'Connor 57, Gerard O'Kelly Lynch for Cawley 63, Mark Walsh for Spillane 65.

Wicklow: Mark Jackson 0-3 (0-1f, 0-2 45); Eoin Murtagh, Malachy Stone, Jacques McCall; Cillian McDonald, Patrick O'Keane, Tom Maher; JP Hurley 0-1, Padraig O'Toole; Andy Maher, Mark Kenny 0-1, Darragh Fitzgerald; Dean Healy 0-1, Kevin Quinn 0-5 (0-2f, 1m), Eoin Darcy 0-2 (0-2f).

Subs: Karl Furlong for McCall 52, Zach Cullen for A Maher 53, Cian O'Sullivan 0-1 (0-1f) for Fitzgerald 57, Fintan O'Shea for T Maher 60, Johnny Keogh for Kenny 70.

Referee: Paul Faloon (Down).