Garbally and Sligo prepare for Connacht final

The final of the Statoil Connacht Schools Senior Cup takes place tomorrow (March 12) at Corinthian Park (4pm) when Garbally College, Ballinasloe, take on Sligo Grammar School.

Garbally will be bidding to win the title for the 44th time in history while Sligo Grammar will be hoping to take the crown for the 8th time, having won back-to-back crowns in 1999 and 2000.

This is the first meeting of these two sides in the final since 1997 when Garbally prevailed and condemned the Sligo side to their fourth successive defeat in the final.

Sligo Grammar ended that losing final sequence when they defeated St Joseph¹s College, Galway, in the 1999 final and followed this up with victory over St Saran's College, Ferbane, the following year.

Garbally won the competition in its inaugural year in 1912/13 and aside from Blackrock College in Leinster, no other school has lifted as many provincial titles as the Ballinasloe nursery.

Both Garbally and Sligo Grammar have the opportunity to bring off a provincial double this season as they also meet in the Statoil Connacht Schools Junior Cup. That game will take place next week

on Wednesday, March 19, at Crowley Park, home of Galwegians, with the game kicking off at 4.30pm.

Four schools have completed a junior and senior double in Connacht, with Garbally achieving the feat a remarkable 24 times.

Sligo Grammar did the the double in 1961 and 1962.

The referee for the senior final this season is Alan Rowe, while Brian McGrath will take charge of the junior final next week.