Yeats County left Down and out in Newry
Sligo's Cian Lally, Eddie McGuinness and Sean Carrabine dejected after the game. PictureINPHO/Tom Maher
Sligo fell to their second defeat in Division 3 as Down outclassed them on Sunday afternoon to all but end the black and whites hopes for promotion.
Tony McEntee’s side started brightly as they opened the scoring after two minutes from Alan McLoughlin. James Guinness levelled on seven minutes as both sides were cagey in the opening ten minutes.
The home side would take control of the match as they hit 1-3 without reply, with goal coming on 17 minutes from Ceilum Doherty.
Danny Magill added a point before Sligo added two points through Patrick O’Connor and point from Cian Lally to leave the score 1-6 to 0-3.
Doherty added another point but a brace from Carrabine kept Sligo in touch. Liam Kerr point before the break ensured Sligo trailed at the break despite Sligo having a penalty claim before the interval as shot from Murphy was blocked and the resulting effort from Cian Lally was touched on the ground by Peter Fegan but the referee waived play on to ensure the home side lead at the break 1-8 to 0-5.
After the restart the home side put the game beyond doubt with goal coming inside three minutes of the second half from James Guinness.
Sligo replied with a point from team captain Niall Murphy from a free and goal on 45 minutes from Nathan Mullen but that would be as close as would get from a Sligo point of view as home side dominated the final quarter.
The Yeats County will look to finish their league season on a positive note now and their final two games are in Markievicz Park, the first of which is against Offaly on St Patrick’s Day.
