Sligo's win down to qualifiers and league

Seán Moran On Gaelic Games:On grounds of sheer aesthetics, football not only loses out to hurling but has its stylistic shortcomings regularly aired. Yet, the stark truth is that it is more of a national game in that it extends to the four provinces and provides a more democratic medium for sporting achievement than its more elegant sibling.

The dry detail of rolls of honour can't adequately reflect the delight of a county and GAA community like Sligo recording a landmark achievement as they did on Sunday. To defeat a Galway team that, despite being pushed so closely by Leitrim, still had the sheen of contenders after their demolition of Mayo was immensely satisfying.

It's seven years since the infamous drubbing by Galway when, after defeating then Connacht champions Mayo, Sligo swam into the propellers on the sort of filthy afternoon that has become commonplace this summer. The photograph of the scoreboard at half-time and its bleak message - 0-14 to 0-0 - received much publicity so it was fitting that Sunday's final scoreboard - 1-10 to 0-12 - has also been frozen in time for posterity.

There are even older issues with Galway. Back in 1923, when the 1922 All-Ireland was being played out, Sligo beat Galway in the Connacht final and then Tipperary in the All-Ireland semi-final.

As was a frequent hazard in those days, the provincial title was subject to objection and the final replayed. This time Galway won and proceeded straight to the All-Ireland final on the back of Sligo's semi-final win. It was another six seasons before the first Connacht title arrived.

There's further historical cadence in the thought that Sligo have come into their fortune at a stage when many would have felt the county's best chance was behind it.

The previous title 32 years ago was achieved by a fine team a few years past the time when it might have impacted on the national scene. The victory was, nonetheless, enthusiastically celebrated, but sadly for the county the abiding memory of the year was their slaughter by Mick O'Dwyer's emerging Kerry in the 1975 All-Ireland semi-final.

There is, however, a big difference between the two sides that have won the county's most recent Connacht titles. Expressed in a couple of words, that difference would be "qualifiers" and "league". It's undoubtedly true that the impact of Sligo's success in publicity terms was muted by the busy schedules of mid-summer with various counties rebuilding through the repechages and everyone as mindful of the outside track as the provincial championships themselves.

But Sligo know that the system ushered in six years ago has helped develop the county's prospects. After a couple of years climbing in the NFL, the 2001 semi-finals were reached and set the stage for the team to become the first giant-killers of the new era.

Former manager Mickey Moran - who describes his four years in Sligo as "one of the happiest times" of his football career - believes that the experience of going to Croke Park to compete and win, rather than wave at the crowd like their doomed predecessors, has been a formative experience for the county.

Those wins against (sweetly) Mick O'Dwyer's Kildare and Peter Ford's Tyrone plus the draw and narrow replay defeat by the Armagh side that would win that year's All-Ireland gave Sligo the status of contenders and whereas the trail looked to have gone cold in recent years the big stage holds no fears.

The format of the NFL in recent years - but no longer - has included a 16-team Division One, which has given many counties the opportunity to play at the highest level and Sligo have been among the beneficiaries this decade.

For a relatively small county, Sligo has a major population centre and like all big towns and cities that brings with it a diversity of sports. Ironically for a county that was one of only two (Antrim the other) to oppose the lifting of the old ban on other sports, Sligo benefited more than most with the availability of David Pugh and Gerry Mitchell helping re-fashion a team that nearly won the 1971 Connacht title.

The soccer influence remains and there is continuing crossover. Moran recalls winding up a training session early one hot evening and playing a game of soccer - "ground football" was his diplomatic term - and being taken aback at the quality displayed by his panel. He also recalls the easy ecumenism of the town where soccer clubs and other sports organisations took the time to write to his team and wish them well in their various exploits earlier this decade.

Teams that register long-awaited breakthroughs generally have an iconic figure, who identifies the team to the broader public. Just as Mickey Kearns was that individual in the 1970s, Eamonn O'Hara symbolises this generation. As an International Rules player no one brought more competitive self-confidence to the task of representing Ireland than O'Hara and it is fitting that, like that other international warrior Noel Roche, he has won tangible reward within his own game.

Monaghan are next up to the plate this weekend. They've a richer tradition than Sligo, but not in recent times. It's hard to credit that 22 years have passed since, under the management of then future GAA president Seán McCague, Monaghan won a National League and Ulster title before pushing Kerry to a replay in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Again, they're a team that has developed a sense of itself from competing in the NFL and recording good wins in the qualifiers.

There's no chance that Mickey Harte isn't awake this week, but he'll still have heard the alarm go off last Sunday.