Sligo open 2023 football championship with comfortable win in London
ALL SMILES: Eddie McGuinness of Sligo with supporters after the Connacht football senior championship quarter-final against London at McGovern Park in Ruislip, London. Pic: Matt Impey/Sportsfile
Sligo outpowered the home side in this Connacht football quarter-final to ensure that there wouldn’t be a repeat of their defeat in the English capital in 2013.
The visitors always looked in control and netted twice in the second-half through Sean Carrabine and Pat Spillane.
This was the tenth meeting between the sides in championship football and it was also the opening game of the 2023 All-Ireland campaign.
It was Paul McNamara who got the opening score of the new season but both sides made plenty of mistakes in the early stages. They were level after 13 minutes of play with a super point coming from the boot of Conal Gallagher who cancelled out two early points for Sligo.
Despite the sides being level in the opening quarter, Tony McEntee's team never looked in danger and didn’t have a hangover from last week’s Division 4 league final success as they would score seven points without reply. Among the scorers were Patrick O’Connor, Luke Towey and Spillane and they led 0-9 to 0-2 after 28 minutes of play.
Michael Clarke did respond with a point from long-range to cut the deficit but Sligo weren’t in a mood to let the home side back into the match. They would respond in expert fashion with the hard-working Nathan Mullen and Cian Lally getting his second of the half to ensure that Sligo were in control as the break approached.
Michael Maher's side did get a free from Christopher Farley but Sligo ensured they led by eight points at the break as their top scorer of 2023, Carrabine, tagged on a free to leave the score at the break 0-12 to 0-4.
London were hoping for a big second-half and they opened the scoring after the restart when Farley tagged on a free. The Sligo team captain tagged on a further two points, one of which came from a place ball, to leave Sligo in front by nine points.
Farley did his best to keep his side in touch with his fourth free of the match but a point from O’Connor was followed by the opening goal of the match on 51 minutes when Carrabine found the back of the net after a great team move.
London did respond well after conceding the goal in scoring four points on the spin and among the scorers were Christopher Duggan and Farley to leave eight between the sides once again.
Any chance of a comeback was put to bed when Sligo got their second goal as substitute Mikey Gordon found Kerry native Spillane who in turn fired the ball to the net.
Sligo managed the game well through the whole second-half and were able to use five substitutes, which showed how they controlled the second 35. London tried hard to get a goal late on but a Liam Gavaghan effort late on was saved expertly by Daniel Lyons.
Sligo will face the winners of New York-Leitrim, who meet later on Saturday evening, in the Connacht semi-final.
Pat Spillane (1-4); Sean Carrabine (1-1); Patrick O’Connor (0-3, 1 mark); Cian Lally (0-3); Niall Murphy (0-3,1f); Luke Towey (0-1); Nathan Mullen (0-1); Paul McNamara (0-1); Paul Kilcoyne (0-1); Donal Conlon (0-1); Alan Reilly (0-1,1f).
Christopher Farley (0-6,6fs), Conal Gallagher (0-1), Michael Clarke (0-1), Enda Lynn (0-1), Liam Gavaghan (0-1)
D Lyons; N Mullen, E McGuinness, E Lyons; L Towey, B Cox, P McNamara; P Kilcoyne, C Lally; K Cawley, S Carrabine, F Cawley; P Spillane, P O’Connor, N Murphy.
A Reilly for N Murphy 47, M Gordon for F Cawley 52, D Conlon for P O’Connor 56, G O’Kelly Lynch for K Cawley 63, D Philips for E Lyons 65.
N Maher; E Flanagan, M Clarke, N McElwaine; E Walsh, C Gallagher, A McLoughlin; D Clarke, L Gavaghan; C Duggan, E Lynn, S Dornan; C Farley, J Gallagher, L Gallagher.
R McCarthy for S Dornan (HT), R Solan for N McElwaine (HT), J Obahor for D Clarke 46, N O’Leary for E Flanagan 57, R Tohill for C Farley 65.
B Cawley (Kildare).
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