Sport

Sligo show their mettle

NFL DIVISION FOUR FINAL Sligo 1-12 Antrim 1-10 : FOLLOWING THE abject misery of last year, which included a surprisingly feeble…

Mon Apr 27 2009 - 01:00

NFL DIVISION FOUR FINAL Sligo 1-12 Antrim 1-10: FOLLOWING THE abject misery of last year, which included a surprisingly feeble surrender of the Connacht title gleaned in 2007, Sligo are stirring again.

The revival owes much to the pragmatic guidance of former Galway star Kevin Walsh, who has made an impressive start to his intercounty managerial career.

Showing an inclination to graft, particularly when under duress late on following the 60th-minute dismissal of Seán Davey, Sligo took ample satisfaction from the triumph. In the dying embers with the teams level, substitute Gary Gaughan and Adrian Marren stroked over opportunistic points to seize the initiative.

“The most pleasing aspect is that when the chips were down in the last three or four minutes when they got back to 1-10 apiece we got two points when we only had 14 men so we showed that there is a bit of bottle there,” said a pleased Walsh.

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Initially Sligo found Antrim obdurate opponents. Antrim led 1-6 to 1-2 after 28 minutes, Stephen Coen (Sligo) and Ciarán Close (Antrim) scoring the goals.

Then Sligo, with Adrian Marren polished and prolific, rifled over four on the bounce to leave the teams deadlocked at the break.

And when Sligo added four more shortly after the restart they were in a healthy position. Still Antrim plugged on defiantly with Paddy Cunningham kicking the frees expertly and Tomás McCann landing a pressure 45 moments after Davey was dismissed for flooring Tony Scullion.

But Sligo showed their resolve as Gaughan and Marren squeezed over the crucial late scores.

SLIGO: P Greene; C Harrison, N McGuire, R Donovan; M McNamara, N Ewing, J Davey; E Mullen, T Taylor; S Stenson, A Costello (0-1), S Davey (0-1); S Coen (1-2, two frees), D Kelly (0-1), A Marren (0-6, one free). Subs: E O'Hara for Stenson (33 mins), G Gaughan (0-1)for Costello (70 mins), D McTernan for Coen (70 mins). Red Card: S Davey (60 mins).

ANTRIM: S McGreevy; C Brady, A McLean, K O'Boyle; T Scullion, J Crozier, J Loughry (0-2); M McCann (0-1), A Gallagher; T McCann (0-2, two'45s), K Brady, N McKeever; P Cunningham (0-5, five frees), D Edwards, C Close (1-0). Subs: M Duggan for Edwards (36 mins), B Hasson for Gallagher (yellow, 46 mins), D O'Hagan for Loughry (47 mins), S Burke for McKeever (51 mins), M Pollock for Scullion (60-65 mins), M Pollock for Cunningham (yellow, 67 mins). S Burke (yellow, 70 mins).

Referee: M McGann(Clare).