Sligo sneak shootout win to stay in U20 hunt

Connacht U20 Football Championship – Round 4 

Sligo 5-17 

Leitrim 2-22 

Gavin Cawley in Shane McGettigan Park, Drumshanbo

Sixty points were contributed by the footballers of Sligo and Leitrim on Wednesday night last, half plus two of them by Sligo which was just enough to see them to a significant victory that has, at the very least, guaranteed them a place in the semi-finals of the Connacht U20 Championship. Their clash with Mayo tomorrow (Wednesday) will decide which of them advance to the final directly.

As the scoreline suggests, Sligo’s visit to Drumshanbo was full of drama, scores and tension. And it was the away side who opened the scoring through Gavin Lynch, making his first start of the campaign, but Leitrim replied with the first of the night’s seven goals as Darren Cox ran through the Sligo defence to fire past Donnchadh O’Brien in the fourth minute.

The teams traded a point apiece before Leitrim struck their second goal of the contest, this time through Jack Foley. A free from outside the two-point arc by Sligo captain Ronan Niland reduced the gap to four points but a brace of points from Paul Honeyman had Leitrim 2-4 to 0-3 in front after 15 minutes of play.

Castleconnor’s Michael Sheridan landed a point for the Black and White and this was followed by a second two-pointer from Niland to cut the gap back to five points. Jack Kelly soon had the home side seven clear again, however, the match was turned on its head when Sligo netted twice in the space of two minutes. The first goal was supplied by Connor Flynn and the other by Tommy Ross to send the Yeats County a point clear after 26 minutes, as Sheridan had also supplied a two-pointer.

Paul Honeyman picked off a free for the home side but Sligo still led at the break, 2-12 to 2-9, thanks to late first-half points by Daire Callaghan and Ronan Niland.

In a repeat of the start, it was Gavin Lynch of Sligo who kicked the opening point of the second and while a converted free from Honeyman cut the gap back to three points, Sligo put themselves in strong position when they netted their third goal of the match this time through Daire Callaghan.

The response from Leitrim was impressive as they raised three white flags on the spin, with Jack Kelly among the scorers, yet it looked like Sligo had gained a firm control of the match when they hit 1-3 without reply, their fourth goal coming from the boot of Flynn to see them lead 4-16 to 2-13 after 50 minutes. Paul Honeyman did his best to keep his side in the contest as he landed a two-pointer free on 52 minutes but when Niland buried Sligo’s fifth goal two minutes later, that left eleven points ahead and seemingly cruising. And yet the plucky hosts came roaring back, throwing everything at the visitors in the minutes that remained and kicked seven of the last eight points, Jack Kelly’s two-pointer the best of the scores.

Sligo, however, held on to back-up their win over Galway in the previous round.

Scorers – Sligo: Ronan Niland 1-1-4 (1tpf, 0-4f), Conbor Flynn 2-0-2, Daire Callaghan 1-0-1, Tommy Ross 1-0-0, Michael Sheridan 0-1-1, Gavin Lynch 0-0-3 (1f), Eamon O’Mahony and Eli Rooney 0-0-1 each.

Leitrim: Paul Honeyman 0-3-5 (3tpf, 5f), Jack Kelly 0-1-3), Darren Cox 1-0-1, Jack Foley 1-0-0, Ruairi O’Rourke 0-0-3, Aaron Gethins 0-0-2.

Leitrim: Brian Cull; Eanna McNamara, Oscar Reynolds, Michael McBrien; Dara Greenan, Liam Chandler, Bailey McBride; Jack Foley, Colm McLoughlin; Naoise McManus, Paul Honeyman, Jack Rowley; Jack Kelly, Darren Cox, Ruairi O’Rourke. Subs: Dessie Wisley (for Greenan 40), Oran Foley (for Reynolds 49), Tom Plunkett (for McManus 58), Aaron Gethins (for Plunkett 59), Alan Beirne (for McLoughlin 60+8).

Sligo: Donnchadh O’Brien; Oisin Conlon, Rian O’Callaghan, David Lyons; Dillion Walsh, Tommy Ross, Robert O’Kelly-Lynch; Oran Harte, Michael Sheridan; Eamon O’Mahony, Ronan Niland, Daire Callaghan; Connor Flynn, Dara Mostyn, Gavin Lynch. Subs: Eli Rooney (for Lynch 39), Ronan O’Hehir (for Lyons 45), Paul Flynn (for C Flynn 56), Tom Bailey (for Callaghan 60).

REF: Shane Corcoran (Mayo)