WITH the sterile nature of the 2009 football championship causing enough existential angst to keep the internet chat rooms whispering from here ‘til Christmas, the Sligo football team take their championship bow tomorrow.

GIVEN their pathological distaste for one another and given the nature of the most recent championship clash between Tyrone and Derry, it would come as no great surprise if tomorrow’s Ulster semi-final in Casement Park turns out to be another summer Sunday where we get to utter words like “manly”, “gritty” and “grimly compelling” more often than we would like to.