Sligo’s struggles continue as fears of Ring relegation grow

Christy Ring Cup – Round 3 

Tyrone 2-17 

Sligo 2-14 

Gavin Cawley at Markievicz Park 

Sligo are rooted in a relegation battle after losing a proverbial four-pointer against Tyrone in their third game of the Christy Ring Cup on Saturday. A late rally very nearly saw the hosts secure a share of the spoils, however, it’s a third straight defeat for the Black and White who sit bottom of the table alongside the fellow pointless Wicklow. And it’s to the Garden County that Sligo will travel next, on Sunday, May 12 for what is now a hugely important match.

Tyrone opened the scoring at Markievicz Park through Michael Little and while the sides were level for the first time on five minutes when Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch knocked over a free, Tyrone soon took control of the match when scoring 1-3 without reply, the goal coming on six minutes from Sean Óg Grogan.

Rory McHugh eventually responded with a free for Sligo on 14 minutes but the Red Hand visitors added two further points to lead 1-7 to 0-3 after 20 minutes, with Aidan Kelly and Ben Gormley among their point scorers.

In what was their best period of the first-half, Sligo replied with three points on the spin, including one from Thomas Cawley and two from O’Kelly-Lynch, to leave just four points between the sides. However, the Black and White were dealt another blow just before the half-time break when Sean Óg Grogan scored his second goal to help the Ulstermen into an eight-point lead, 2-8 to 0-6.

Sligo, who were looking for a bright start to the second-half, got exactly that when Joe McHugh and O’Kelly-Lynch, from a free, fired over two quick points to leave just the two goals between the sides. And yet it wasn’t long until Sligo were trailing by the biggest margin yet, as Tyrone added points through Kelly and Sean Duffin to lead 2-14 to 0-10 after 48 minutes.

The Sligo revival was kickstarted by a rather fortunate goal when a long-range free from Rory McHugh somehow landed in the back of Tyrone’s net. Cawley scored another point in the 54th minute to cut the deficit to six points and both sides added a free apiece before Sligo had the gap back to five, as a Conor Hanniffy point increased local hopes that the comeback was on.

Tyrone hit back with a pair of points to lead by seven with 11 minutes to play but the visitors would fail to score for the remainder of the match.

Sligo received a boost in their efforts to reel in their opponents when awarded a penalty on 64 minutes after O’Kelly-Lynch was fouled by Conor McElhatton, resulting in a black card for the Tyrone goalkeeper. The penalty, however, was fired over the bar by Rory McHugh.

Interestingly, Sligo were to be awarded another penalty two minutes short of stoppage time, this time because of Ruairi Devlin’s foul on Conor Griffin. This time McHugh made no mistake as he found back of the net but no matter how hard Sligo pushed to draw the game, time was against them.

Scorers – Tyrone: Sean Óg Grogan 2-0, Aidan Kelly 0-9 (7f), James McCann 0-3, Sean Duffin 0-2, Ben Gormley, Tiernan Morgan and Michael Little 0-1 each.

Sligo: Rory McHugh 2-2 (1-1pens, 1-0f), 1f), Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch 0-7 (6f), Thomas Cawley and Conor Hanniffy 0-2 each, Joe McHugh 0-1.

Sligo: Declan Reidy; Darragh Cawley, Gavin Connolly, Kevin O’Kennedy; Fionn Connolly, Rory McHugh, Niall Kilcullen; Donall Hanley, Eoghan Rua McGowan; Joe McHugh, Tony O’Kelly-Lynch, Michael Munnelly; Thomas Cawley, Conor Griffin, Gerard O’Kelly-Lynch. Subs: Conor Hanniffy (for Munnelly 46), Darragh Flynn (for T O’Kelly-Lynch 69), Oisin Hennessy (for D Cawley 70).

Tyrone: Conor McElhatton; Dean Rafferty, Fionn Devlin, Anthony Crossan; Ben Gormley, Cormac Munroe, Bryan McGurk; James McCann, Sean Duffin; Lorcan Devlin, Aidan Kelly, Tiernan Morgan; Joe McToal, Sean Óg Grogan, Michael Little. Subs: Ruairi Devlin (for Crossan 53), Rory Weir (for McToal 56), Conall Molloy (for Morgan 64), Mark McClean (for Grogan 74).

REF: James Judge (Mayo)