Never has managing Sligo looked so attractive

Championship defeats usually spark a period of reflection but for Sligo, attention has already turned to the future.

Saturday’s disappointing Tailteann Cup quarter-final exit to Fermanagh also signalled the end of Tony McEntee’s tenure as manager, meaning now the focus will immediately shift to who is successor will be.

McEntee departs the job with plenty of credit in the bank. Steady progress has been evident in each of his five seasons, though this year will enter the history books as one of frustration as Sligo failed to build on the promise shown in their Tailteann Cup semi-final defeat to Down after extra-time last year.

For whatever reason, Sligo just never seemed to find their stride in 2025. There were mitigating factors, chief among them being the absence of Sean Carrabine, while a slow start to the league put an end to any aspirations of promotion to Division Two before the season even got going.

The championship failed to see Sligo spark into life. The Mayo match in the Connacht quarter-final was a game in which the visitors could’ve taken something from MacHale Park, and the Tailteann Cup too presented a real chance to make a final. That sense of a missed opportunity is only exacerbated by the weekend’s results which saw two of the other contenders, Westmeath and Offaly, go out.

One must take McEntee’s stint in charge as a whole and, by any stretch, he has done a good job. Together with his chief coach Joe Keane, who has been in situ for seven years, Sligo have now got a team with a good age profile capable of competing for a place in Sam Maguire football each year. Division Two football in the league also remains an achievable goal.

The question now is – who is the best person to take Sligo to the next level?

It’s hard to remember a time in the modern era at least when the Sligo job was as attractive as it is now. The underage success of recent years remains fresh in the memory and many of those players are beginning to mature now and enter their prime years when it comes to senior inter-county football. Developing those players further will have to be one of the key requirements of any prospective new manager.

Coolera/Strandhill’s club success has also elevated footballing matters in the county to a new level, while the schools scene is also pretty competitive. In terms of facilities, the Centre of Excellence has provided a good base for preparation and, hopefully, the new Markievicz Park surface will be good to go before too long. All of that, along with the potential in the present squad, makes the Sligo job an attractive proposition.

Then comes the next question – do Sligo opt for someone from within the county, or see what’s available outside? Obviously, the key stakeholders will consider who is best to take on the job regardless of where they’re from, but there has never been more contenders from within the county for the top job.

Let’s tease out a few of the names that would, on the face of it, appear to be in contention.

One has to imagine that, given the success of county teams at underage level in recent seasons, both Paul Henry and Dessie Sloyan will be among the names to be floated around. Similarly, at senior club level, John McPartland and Con O’Meara helped Coolera/Strandhill to Connacht club glory last year.

Eamonn O’Hara, after a superb playing career, has won county titles in Sligo and Leitrim and is now attempting to repeat the trick with Boyle in Roscommon this season. O’Hara forged a fine partnership with Gerry McGowan in helping Tourlestrane to unprecedented success, and McGowan himself has amassed a stellar coaching CV with Sligo, Clare, Roscommon and, more recently, Corofin.

Kevin Johnson, who has also had stints with Corofin and Tourlestrane as well as Ballintubber, is one of the most sought after coaches in the country. It looks like it’s a question of when, not if, he enters the inter-county fray – might his home county tempt him to throw his hat in the ring this time around?

Other former players, such as Noel McGuire and Mark Breheny, have also gotten stuck into the club and county scene over recent years.

What’s going to be really interesting is whether a big-name candidate from outside of the county will be pursued or attempt to convince the county board they are the person to lead Sligo forward.

Sligo has benefitted hugely from outside managers, with the likes of Mickey Moran, Peter Ford and Kevin Walsh all doing well in their respective terms in charge. It’s anyone’s guess if someone of a similar ilk emerges, but it’ll also be interesting to see if other counties in the region will be looking for a new bainisteoir too.

In that regard, getting your business done early would be beneficial and it would also give the new man in charge a chance to get a look at the club championship fare, which is due to kick off in early August. Even though Sligo is a small county, a new manager would benefit from getting a look at the club scene and may spot one or two players in that sphere that could add something to the current panel.

Above all though, the new manager needs to be someone who is keen to stay in it for the long haul. Sligo benefitted from the stability provided by McEntee over a five-year period. Given the demands of the job for the manager and his backroom team, the shelf life of many managers across the board is becoming shorter than ever before.

It’s reasonable to expect that a new manager will freshen things up and, perhaps, with the much-talked-about ‘new manager bounce’, Sligo can push on again in 2026. Before all of that, though, it’s going to be fascinating to see how things pan out over the coming months.