Sligo have 54 reasons to celebrate Wee triumph

Nicky Rackard Cup – Round 1 

Sligo 0-20 

Louth 0-15 

Gavin Cawley in Markievicz Park 

One full year and a fortnight. That’s how long – 54 weeks – Sligo had waited for a senior hurling win before Saturday’s five points victory over Louth, which saw the Black and White make the best possible start to their Nicky Rackard Cup campaign.

Louth, recent winners of Allianz Hurling League Division 4, were to count the cost of a poor first-half display that saw them almost overwhelmed by the home side.

Sligo started the game brightly and raced into a three points lead with Paul O’Brien, Thomas Cawley and Andrew Kilcullen all on target for the Markievicz men. However, the sides were soon level when singles arrived from Louth’s Peter Fortune, Paddy Lynch and Darren Geoghegan, and a swift exchange saw the teams all square again on twelve minutes, but Sligo would soon take control of the match The hosts landed five unanswered points to lead 0-9 to 0-4 with O’Brien and Kilcullen again among the scorers.

A pointed free from Darren Geoghegan kept Louth in touch but Sligo were able to extend their lead before half-time, with three points from Andrew Kilcullen and one by Thomas Cawley seeing them carry a 0-13 to 0-5 advantage into the second-half.

There was no let up by Stephen Sheil’s Sligo side in the early throes of the second period, as O’Brien and Kilcullen tagged on further scores to leave the Yeats boys ten points in front after 37 minutes. But Louth were to make a positional switch which reaped dividends, with Leon Fox moving to centre-forward and scoring three points without response to cut the deficit.

That momentum was stunted by a well-timed Andrew Kilcullen free but Louth weren’t done and Fox and Geoghegan picked off another point apiece to reduce their side’s arrears to six points, 0-16 to 0-10, with 56 minutes left to play.

The sides cancelled each other out with two points apiece to leave the margin at six with four minutes remaining. That was enough time for Darren Geoghegan to fire over a late trio but one at the other end by James Weir ensured Sligo finally got a win after such long period without a victory, to give them a huge boost ahead of next Saturday’s Round 2 derby with Roscommon (2pm in Markievicz Park).

Scorers – Sligo: Andrew Kilcullen 0-10 (5f, 1 ’65), Paul O’Brien 0-4, Thomas Cawley 0-3, James Weir, Eoin Comerford, Tony O’Kelly-Lynch 0-1 each.

Louth: Darren Geoghegan 0-8 (7f), Leon Fox 0-4, Paddy Lynch, Conor Murphy and Peter Fortune 0-1 each.

Sligo: Luke Comerford; Darragh Crawley, Kevin O’Kennedy, Eoghan Rua McGowan; James Weir, Eoin Comerford, Fionn Connolly; Darragh Flynn, Paul O’Brien; Paul O’Leary, Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch, Eddie O’Donoghue; Andrew Kilcullen, Conor Griffen, Thomas Cawley. Subs: Tony O’Kelly-Lynch (for Griffen 56), Hugh Rooney (for O’Donoghue 56), Ronan Molloy (for Flynn 69).

Louth: Conor Clancy; John Casey, Conor Quigley, Stephen Kettle; Mark Gahan, Leon Fox, Aaron McGuinness; Ben Goss-Kieran, Sean Hodgins; Conor Murphy, Paddy Lynch, Peter Fortune; Darren Geoghegan, Sean Flynn, Seaghan Conneely. Subs: Thomas McCreesh (for Quigley ht), David Stephenson (for Conneely 55), Brian Corcoran (for Gahan 71).

REF: Aidan McAleer (Donegal)