Was defeat, strangely, a better outcome for Sligo?

After all the talk of provincial structures and the nature of this championship season being so slow to take off, it was refreshing to have a weekend like the one we’ve just had where there were big games everywhere you looked.

Clare and Limerick delivered in the hurling; even if the All-Ireland champions did look a little off colour for long periods, they still did enough to emerge from Ennis with a crucial two points. Clare, for all their early season promise, are already under pressure in the bear pit that is the Munster Championship. Waterford’s win over Cork helped throw the group phase wide open after just one round.

In football, Cork rattled Kerry, Donegal stunned Derry and Mayo did enough to edge past the Rossies in the Hyde. Cavan and Tyrone produced an epic. However, the real drama from our point of view in Yeats Country, was in Markievicz Park on Saturday evening, where Sligo let a famous victory slip through their grasp in the most gut wrenching fashion against Galway.

To lose in the manner they did was a blow, yet Tony McEntee cut an upbeat figure after the game. In fact, he was more upbeat than his Galway counterpart Padraic Joyce, who kept his players in the dressing-room for a long, long time post-match. If Galway don’t improve, and quickly, it’ll be a short summer for the Tribesman.

There’s no explaining the way Sligo lost the match – a cheap turnover along their own ’45 proved extremely costly, but these things happen. It’s a real kick in the teeth and, for this squad, a statement win in championship football would be something tangible to cling on to, to underline the progress they’ve made over the last few years.

But that’s the key takeaway. There is progress being made.

There’s lots of talk of Sligo’s young players coming through from the under-20 ranks, yet the full effects of that have yet to be felt. Canice Mulligan was the only player to start on Saturday that has a Connacht under-20 championship medal, while graduates from the 2022 squad, Eoghan Smith and Lee Deignan, came off the bench. So that conveyor belt of talent into the senior set-up has yet to gather pace.

Based on Saturday’s performance, McEntee and his team have brought Sligo on significantly in the last couple of years to be at a level where they can challenge a Galway team, albeit an underperforming Galway team, to the level they did last weekend.

Last year’s Connacht final illustrated the gulf in class in ruthless fashion, as Galway cantered to a 14-point win in Castlebar. Sligo failed to lay a glove on their opponents, but last Saturday they connected with the full fist for 70 minutes.

That’s what makes it so frustrating. This was there for Sligo. Galway, clearly, underperformed to an alarming degree for their supporters. They hit some dreadful wides, kicked away some really poor ball, looked lethargic at times and failed to live with Sligo’s fast movement of possession, particularly in the opening period.

Granted, this game could have been done and dusted inside the first 15 minutes when the visitors passed up three glorious goal opportunities. Yet, when they didn’t hit the net as everyone expected, you felt it might just be the day to spring a surprise from a Sligo point of view.

Regrets? There’ll be many.

For all of Galway’s profligacy, Sligo too were guilty of some poor misses. The fact Sligo’s last point came in the 57th minute, from Niall Murphy, reflects a failure to truly capitalise on their possession in the final stages. Watching the game, it didn’t really feel like Sligo were happy to soak up pressure and cling on. And even when they did drop everyone back, they still had a couple of chances on the break.

Fatigue would also be understandable, as it really was energy sapping stuff.

The mistake to lead to the Galway goal was avoidable, of course, but these things happen, especially when there’s so much on the line. If there’s one thing Sligo will take from that, it’s that they’ll learn from it.

Once the shock cleared on Saturday evening and people started to think a bit more clearly, I’m sure Sligo folk were left hugely enthused. This was the county’s best display in the province for, probably, a decade. Less than 12 months ago, Galway hammered Sligo. This time, they were counting their lucky stars to escape alive. Padraic Joyce described it as robbery.

The Tailteann Cup now beckons. In a strange way, is that a better outcome than actually reaching a Connacht final and participating in the All-Ireland series? I don’t agree it is, but having the Tailteann Cup now to attack is a really positive thing. Sligo, given their fourth place finish in Division Three, will have a good seeding.

Based on their league displays and that of the other counties, there’s a reasonable case to be made that Sligo can give the competition a proper rattle and at least reach a semi-final, which would mean a trip to Croke Park. After the weekend, though, Sligo have scope to be even more ambitious than that.

With the county’s under-20s producing a superb second-half display to beat Mayo last Wednesday night, and the minors unbeaten after two games in their championship so far, it’s further evidence that football in the county is still moving in the right direction. The momentum continues.

Saturday was painful, but what Sligo take from it is the key now. It shouldn't be a case of being happy with a morale victory or enjoying consolation slaps on the back. More so, it’s a case of that performance being validation that the work being done is working and progress is being made.