Sligo's rally in spirited defiance

Sligo 1-11 Kildare 1-10: It was a black and white night for football in Sligo. The book of the championship is so heavy now this encounter will soon be consigned to the footnotes, but nonetheless Markievicz Park was the theatre for a minor classic on Saturday evening.

As is becoming their way under Dominic Corrigan, Sligo faced the most stark of situations before rallying magnificently. They did it against Longford a fortnight ago but this performance also mirrored their league win against the then high flyers from Wexford.

Sligo football has fallen terribly in the four years since they clipped Tyrone's wings in Croke Park and this was certainly their most stirring and important victory since.

Four years ago however, Eamonn O'Hara was the engine and artist on the Sligo team: on Saturday night, he cut a disconsolate figure, perched on crutches on the sideline having wrenched his knee in the opening seconds. But it was important for Sligo to quarry for a victory of this substance without the Tourlestrane thoroughbred.

Sligo had leaders all over the field. Men like Seán Davey, Noel McGuire, Mark Breheny, Brendan Egan and smart young winger Jonathon Davey responded to a crisis with authority Sligo teams have often lacked in the past.

Down 1-10 to 0-8 with 12 minutes remaining, they simply ransacked their pale white visitors with eight minutes of unstoppable football, culminating in John McPartand's goal on 63 minutes after McGuire rent the Kildare defence with a long, direct ball for McPartland.

Two minutes later, Mark Breheny peeled through a crowd of white jerseys to curl Sligo's 11th point. There were still 11 minutes to play, including injury-time, but with a stiff wind racing towards Ben Bulben, the home team sat back and dared Kildare to equalise into the gale.

Kildare's Johnny Doyle had two opportunities, one a long-range free, one a tough, curling shot that was carried across the face of the breeze.

It has been a merciless fortnight for the men from the plains since Laois tore them asunder in Croke Park. A misty evening in Sligo was the price ultimately exacted for that local feud and the visitors among the 4,683 in the crowd faced the long journey east with plenty to ponder.

Kildare paid heavily for an over-reliance on Tadgh Fennin and John Doyle. Doyle was bound to attract strong attention from the defence and although Fennin carried the challenge, banging over scores in that manic style of his, elsewhere Kildare had nothing.

Wing back David Lyons, who had a storming game on the right flank, was the only other visitor to score. There were shades of yesteryear in the occasional soaring fetches made by Dermot Earley but absent were the lacerating bursts that could rip teams apart.

In Killian Brennan, Ronan Sweeney and Mick Foley, Kildare had plenty of height and athleticism around the middle of the park but lacked the invention to unlock the Sligo defence.

It was one of those treacherous scenarios the qualifiers often confront counties with: a strange pitch, far from home, opponents thriving on a combination of desperation and inspiration. And yet they had looked home and dry.

With two points between the teams, Sligo's Seán Davey, whose thunderbolt strikes from centrefield were a speciality of the evening, banged a shot off the post. Kildare worked the ball upfield and Fennin spied Doyle sneaking through a gap in the Sligo defence. Doyle's finish was neat and subtle, and the goal gave Kildare a real push.

There was the sense one more score would have been enough to buckle the Sligo resistance.

Instead, Dessie Sloyan banged two quick points over the bar and raised his fist in a show of defiance and Sligo answered.

It is clear that since going down to Leitrim, Sligo have decided if and when they must exit this championship, they will do so kicking and screaming. They lost Brian Curran during the same ruinous opening passage that cost them O'Hara and had two other men carried off before their work was done.

In fact, they played the four minutes of injury-time with 14 men after Brendan Egan fell.

"This will do wonders for our confidence," said Enniskillen man Dominic Corrigan, as a small band of Sligo followers gathered outside the dressingroom afterwards.

"There were a lot of setbacks out there but those lads responded and God, they have great heart. We want to take this to the next stage now."

SLIGO: P Greene; P Naughton, N McGuire, B Philips; P Doohan, B Egan, J Davey; S Davey (0-2, frees), E O'Hara; B Curran, M Breheny (0-4, two frees), D McGarty; D McTiernan (0-1), D Sloyan (0-3), K Sweeney. Subs: T McGowan for E O'Hara (1 min, inj), J McPartland (1-1) for B Curran (1 mins, inj), G McGowan for D McTiernan (48 mins), J Martyn for T Taylor (56 mins), K O'Neill for K Sweeney (66 mins).

KILDARE: E Murphy; A Rainbow, P Mullarkey, A McLoughlin; D Lyons (0-1), D Hendy, K Ennis; K Brennan, M Foley; R Glavin, D Earley, J Kavanagh; T Fennin (0-8, 5 frees), R Sweeney, J Doyle (1-1, one free). Subs: T O'Connor for B Hendy (half-time), T O'Neill for R Glavin (42 mins), W Heffernan for W Brenan (61 mins), M Hagarty for P Mullarkey (65 mins), M Wright for M Foley (69 mins).

Referee: M Hughes (Tyrone).