Exiles cock-a-hoop as the famine ends

London 1-12 Sligo 0-14

The home supporters had been here before. In 2011 against Mayo, the Westerners scored a late equaliser before winning in extra-time and last year Leitrim provided the late show. Curran’s run through the middle was déjà vu.

Except it wasn’t. Inexplicably, the wing-back declined the offer for an equalising point and opted to go for the kill. He teed up the better-placed Mark Breheny for a goal chance, but his punched effort came back off the crossbar and went wide. The final whistle sounded and sparked scenes of utter delirium both on and off the pitch. After 36 years of trying, London had achieved the unthinkable.

“It was worth the wait,” said London manager and Roscommon native Paul Coggins.

“It’s unbelievable really. The players did everything that was asked of them.

“We’ve had no games in the build-up to today but we had some brilliant games between ourselves. We’ve waited since 1977 for this win. Some great players and managers have passed through London since then.

“It’s probably our most complete performance since I became manager. We beat Fermanagh two years ago but this is our best result. My ambition always was to get a win in the Connacht championship. I’ve been watching these games since I was a young lad, going to see Roscommon play the likes of Mayo and Galway.

“But winning today isn’t the end of our ambition. We’ll get ready during the week for the trip to Carrick-on-Shannon. We’re not in any way finished yet.”

London’s preparations for yesterday’s contest were far from ideal. They finished up their league campaign in Leitrim on April 7 and had to cancel challenge matches against Louth and Wicklow after Croke Park banned them from travelling ‘abroad’. It threw their preparations up in the air, forcing them to settle for training matches between themselves, and made a nonsense of the notion that London are greatly benefiting from Irish emigration.

That lack of action looked as though it cost London when Adrian Marren almost goaled inside a minute of the throw-in, before three decent scoring chances were all spurned.

But then London produced an electric eight-minute period that stunned their opponents. Just two minutes after the outstanding Mark Gottsche had got them off the mark, Greg Crowley took flight down the right wing and passed to Ciaran McCallion. He in turn fed Lorcan Mulvey and the former Cavan powerhouse almost lifted the goal frame out of the ground with a rasping shot.

With Gottsche and Caolan Doyle towering above the men in black around midfield, London piled on further scores, although they were fortunate to see a Pat Hughes effort hit the crossbar after the stranded Traynor had fluffed a clearance.

London themselves should have had a second goal when Crowley was felled by Philip Green with six first-half minutes remaining. The stage was set for Sligo native Padraig McGoldrick, who won an All-Ireland junior title with his home county. He was subbed immediately after netting against Leitrim last year; this was his chance at redemption.

Except he didn’t take it. The corner-forward’s shot was tame and easily saved by Greene, and things would get worse for him early in the second half when he was dismissed for a second booking.

Sligo were fortunate to trail by just four points at the break — 1-6 to 0-5 — but London again pulled clear with four of the first five points after the restart.

Their hopes were dealt a blow on 50 minutes, however, when McGoldrick was dismissed, but a booming point from Mulvey gave London a six-point lead to protect for the final 15 minutes.

Sligo finally discovered their shooting boots in the closing stages, with Tony Taylor and skipper Charlie Harrison hitting braces to set up a tense finish. London’s lack of games had caught up with them, and extra-time looked on the cards when Curran raced forward in injury time.

But there would no late reprieve. An amazing victory for London, but sheer embarrassment for Sligo and Kevin Walsh.

“We knew all along it was going to be tough over here,” said the Sligo manager. “But the game was there for us. The luck of the gods wasn’t with us — we hit the woodwork twice from open goal chances and didn’t even get a point out of either of them. That came back to haunt us.”

Scorers for London: L Mulvey 1-2,M Gottsche 0-4 (1f, 1 45), C Magee 0-3, P McGoldrick (f), B Mitchell, S Kelly 0-1 each.

Scorers for Sligo: M Breheny 0-4 (2f), T Taylor, C Harrison 0-3 each, A Marren 0-2 (1f), P Hughes, N Murphy 0-1 each.

Subs for London: B Collins for Lynam (16), P Geraghty for Mitchell (50), S Kelly for McCallion (59), D Dunleavy for Doyle (67), E McConville for Mulligan (68).

Subs for Sligo: J Kilcullen for Gilmartin (46), N Murphy for Egan (50).

Referee: Padraig O’Sullivan (Kerry).