Sligo’s great expectations

Connacht SFC Quarter-Final

David Kelly has watched the entire game from the comfort of his couch and the Sligo forward has little doubt but that his college roommate in DCU has what it takes to get the job done.

The kick is struck with conviction and venom. Too much venom. Instead of puncturing the net, it whacks off Vincent Whelan’s crossbar and the danger passes. Dublin win by two points.

The miss prompted Charlie Redmond to pick up the phone, the same Charlie Redmond whose spot kick miss 18 years earlier had aided Donegal’s success in an All-Ireland final, but Kelly was another who could empathise.

Less than a year has passed since the Sligo forward’s own unsuccessful brush with immortality when, with three minutes left and Kerry ahead by two points in an All-Ireland qualifier, he had a penalty saved by Diarmuid Murphy.

“I really felt Michael’s pain,” Kelly says. “We can say now we have one thing in common. He is one of the nicest you could meet and he is a great footballer. I was watching it and I was so sorry for him when he missed. I was sure he was going to score it when he was running upbecause he has such a sweet andpowerful strike. It was just that little bit too high.”

Murphy made light of the incident within weeks when he stepped up to convert a penalty for his club and Kelly too has declared his readiness should the same need arise again.

The thing is, he has never attempted to dress up his failure. Though the goalkeeper can be credited for making the stop, Kelly is quick to admit his was a bad effort. End of story.

“It was just too close and too high to Murphy,” he said earlier this year. “He is a big man so you really need to keep it down against someone like that. I have a good ratio of scoring penalties but the most important one I have ever taken I have missed.”

The penalty aside, it is a game worth dwelling on.

The day had started inauspiciously for Kevin Walsh’s side when their flight from Knock to Farranfore was delayed but they made light of the fact that they arrived at the ground just an hour before throw-in.

Kerry’s struggles through the midsummer qualifiers might have dominated the agenda last year but, looking back, the visit of Sligo to Tralee was the one occasion when they actually flirted with the exit door.

Longford and Antrim both fought the good fight but only the Connacht side manoeuvred themselves into position to make what could and should have been a famous knockout punch.

It was a performance that no-one could have dared predict, or even hope for, 12 months earlier when Tommy Jordan’s team relinquished their provincial title in a 13-point semi-final loss to Mayo at McHale Park.

That had come as little surprise after a spring in which they slid helplessly back into the depths of Division Four but the turnaround since has been remarkable under Walsh.

Though a three-time All Star and All-Ireland winner as a player, Walsh’s previous managerial experiences had included a spell over the Aran Islands’ juniors, the Galway ladies and a supporting brief with John O’Mahony’s Connacht.

“In 2008, there was a sense of resignation about the whole thing,” Kelly admits. “There was no real drive there at all but last year we put in a good year. We put in some good performances but we did not win anything. We only won one championship game out of three.

“That was really just a kick up the arse last year and I do think that we have kicked on. We have done well in the league and there is no denying that there is expectation there, so hopefully now we will have a good championship.”

Two consecutive league promotions will see them knocking around Division Two with the likes of Tyrone and Meath next year and their graph suggests a team that is coming to the boil at an opportune time.

Their two losses in the third tier of the NFL were confined to the opening three rounds and their margins of victory expanded as the campaign grew legs, ending with a comprehensive defeat of Antrim in the final at Croke Park.

Today’s opponents, Mayo, endured a harrowing day at Cork’s expense in HQ a day later and there are other reasons to hold out genuine hope for the first hold-the-back-page shock of the football championship.

Galway made the same trip to Markievicz Park last June and, though they won by four points, they found themselves level entering time added on before a breakaway point and a lucky goal guided them to safety.

The time has come for Sligo to end that run of moral victories.

“Yeah, there are big expectations,” Kelly accepts. “But we are not getting ahead of ourselves.”