Sligo GAA
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| Irish: | Sligeach |
|---|---|
| Province: | Connacht |
| Nickname(s): | The Yeats County |
| County colours: | Black and White |
| Ground(s): | Markievicz Park, Sligo |
| Dominant sport: | Gaelic football |
| Competitions | |
| NFL: | Division 3 |
| NHL: | Division 3 |
| Football Championship: | Sam Maguire Cup |
| Hurling Championship: | Nicky Rackard Cup |
| Ladies' Gaelic football: | Brendan Martin Cup |
| Camogie: | Do not compete at adult level |
| Standard kit | |
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The Sligo County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (Irish: Cumann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Contae Sligeach) or Sligo GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Sligo. The county board is also responsible for the Sligo inter-county teams
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[edit] History
With a much smaller population than either County Galway or County Mayo, the two dominant forces in the province, together with competing interests of soccer in the county's capital town, Sligo has never been able to break free of the shackles inherent in the provincial championship format and has a paltry three Connacht championships to its name (1928, 1975 and 2007). In 1922 Sligo defeated Galway in the Connacht Final (played in 1923) and subsequently defeated Tipperary to qualify for the All-Ireland Final. However a Galway objection forced the Connacht decider to be replayed, which Sligo lost. The same fate occurred in the inaugural National Football League campaign of 1926, Sligo beat Laois to reach the final, but Laois objected and won the replay, making Sligo unique in having qualified for All-Ireland and National League finals, but never having contested either. Since the introduction of the "back-door" system in the All Ireland championship in 2001, Sligo football has enjoyed noteworthy if modest success. The new format together with a prolonged period of competing in Division 1 of the national league saw an upward turn in the county's fortunes. In 2002, having narrowly lost the Connacht final to then All-Ireland Champions Galway, Sligo went on to defeat Tyrone in Croke Park turning over a seven point deficit in one of the matches of the decade. A similar comeback against eventual All-Ireland champions Armagh two weeks later set the county and the championship alive and after Sligo had legitimate claims for a penalty in injury time of the replay turned down, Armagh went on to win the 2002 championship. Despite its poor historical record, the new championship format has seen Sligo achieve the status of respectability on the national stage in the past decade with improvement noticeable across all grades in the county. On 8 July 2007, Sligo won the Connacht Senior Football Championship following a one point victory over Galway. This was their first time to win the Championship since 1975.
The county Vocational Schools team have made it to two All Irelands finals in 1962 and 1963 but lost both to Dublin City
Four Sligo players have won All-Stars - Mickey Kearins [1] (1971 - St. Pats), Niall Harte [2] (1974 - St. Mary's), Eamonn O'Hara (2002 - Tourlestrane), Charlie Harrison (2010 - St. Johns)
Sligo club football is not dominated by any single team with no back to back winners since St. Patrick's achieved that feat in 1988-1989.
[edit] Gaelic football
[edit] Club football
Tubbercurry are the most successful team in the history of the Club Championships in Sligo, with nineteen Senior titles to their name. They also lead the roll of honour for the Minor and Under-21 Championships. The last of these was won in 1991, and the South Sligo town has enjoyed little success since.
St. Marys are Sligo's most successful club team in the Provincial and All-Ireland club series with 3 Connacht Senior Club Football Championship titles to their name (1977, 1980 and 1983). They also won the All-Ireland sevens title in 1980. They, along with Tubbercurry, dominated the club scene in Sligo over a fifteen-year period (1976–1991), with St. Mary's claiming eight Championships, to Tubber's three. The pairing contested the final on eight occasions, including five in succession (1983–1987), and these finals were tense and heated encounters. Despite being the most celebrated club in the county St. Mary's remain one of the worst supported sides due to the dominance of soccer in Sligo town.
In recent years St. Mary's has lost their strangehold on the county championship with Eastern Harps, Curry and Tourlestrane all claiming the Owen B. Hunt Cup over the past decade. Other notable Senior teams in the next tier include Coolera, Buninadden, St. Johns, St Farnans & Easkey.
In 2005, Coolera/Strandhill won its first Senior title in 98 years, having narrowly lost the 2000 final to Bunninadden who at that time had not won a title in 109 years.
[edit] Club Football Status 2011
| Club | Grade - 1st Team | Grade - 2nd Team |
|---|---|---|
| Ballisodare | Junior A | N/a |
| Ballymote | Senior | Junior B |
| Bunninadden | Intermediate | Junior A |
| Calry/St. Joseph's | Intermediate | Junior A |
| Castleconnor | Intermediate | Junior B |
| Cloonacool | Intermediate | N/a |
| Coolaney/Mullinabreena | Intermediate | Junior B |
| Coolera/Strandhill | Senior | Junior A |
| Curry | Senior | Junior A |
| Drumcliffe/Rosses Point | Intermediate | Junior B |
| Easkey | Senior | Junior B |
| Eastern Harps | Senior | Intermediate & Junior B |
| Enniscrone/Kilglass | Intermediate | Junior B |
| Geevagh | Senior | Junior B |
| Owenmore Gaels | Intermediate | Junior B |
| Shamrock Gaels | Senior | Junior B |
| St. Farnan's | Intermediate | Junior B |
| St. John's | Senior | Junior A |
| St. Mary's | Senior | Junior A |
| St. Michael's | Intermediate | Junior B |
| St. Molaise Gaels | Senior | Junior A |
| St. Patrick's | Intermediate | Junior B |
| Tourlestrane | Senior | Junior A |
| Tubbercurry | Senior | Junior A |
[edit] Inter County Football
In July 2007 Sligo won their 3rd ever Connacht Championship beating Galway by a single point. Previous to this they had beaten Roscommon and New York.
[edit] Sligo Football Squad
Manager Kevin Walsh
Squad as per Sligo vs Wicklow All-Ireland Qualifiers 2011, 25th June 2011
[edit] Football Honors
Connacht Senior Football Championship: 3 - 1928, 1975, 2007
Connacht Junior Football Championship: 9 - 1926, 1928, 1935, 1956, 1973, 1998, 2005, 2010, 2011
Connacht Minor Football Championship: 2 - 1949, 1968.
All-Ireland Junior Football Championship: 2 - 1935, 2010
All Stars: 4
- Mickey Kearns: 1971
- Barnes Murphy: 1974
- Eamonn O'Hara: 2002
- Charlie Harrison: 2010
[edit] Ladies Football
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[edit] Hurling
Sligo have not been considered a traditionally strong team in senior hurling, with the county's most notable achievements being an appearance in the All-Ireland Junior final in 1968, and the National League Division 3 title in 2005, In 2008, Sligo finally tasted All-Ireland success, albeit at the Third Tier level, when they claimed the Nicky Rackard Cup, the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship for Tier Three (developing) hurling counties. Sligo have done extremely well but did not get promoted due to losing playoff with Roscommon. Paul Seevers was most likely the county's greatest hurling playing for more the 20 years, he won 3 Railway Cups with Connacht as well as a Nicky Rackard Cup in 2008, he also represented Ireland in the Shinty International against Scotland in 2003.
[edit] Honours
- Connacht Junior Hurling Championship:2
- 1968,1973
[edit] Camogie
Sligo camogie official Nuala Kavanagh refereed the 1965 All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship final. Under Camogie’s National Development Plan 2010-2015, “Our Game, Our Passion,”[3] three new camogie clubs are to be established in Leitrim and a county board formed by 2015.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ http://homepage.eircom.net/~bunsligeach/kearins.htm
- ^ http://www.hoganstand.com/Sligo/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=26256
- ^ Irish Independent March 29 2010: Final goal for camogie
- ^ National Development Plan 2010-2015, Our Game, Our Passion information page on camogie.ie, pdf download (778k) from Camogie.ie download site
[edit] External links
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