GAA: In his second year as manager, Peter Ford has reached another crucial turn on the road as he searches for a place in the sun for Sligo football. Victory in Sunday's clash with Cavan at Markievicz Park will see Sligo through to the semi-finals of the Allianz Football League, writes Pat Roche

Ford must first get his players to forget about last Sunday's poor display against Fermanagh. Cavan and Sligo both have eight points, and Fermanagh lurk in third place on seven and hoping for a good result on Sunday against Mayo, who have already qualified.

Ford realises how costly the laid-back attitude of his players proved to be in Enniskillen. "It was only our second defeat in the League but we played poorly. Our main problem against Fermanagh last Sunday was our attitude. Fermanagh were well ahead of us in terms of being up for the game. Our fellas were too relaxed and laid back. They weren't on the pitch in the first half. It was mainly an attitude problem and that saddened me.

"It wasn't a case of it being an all-of-a-sudden attitude. When you're playing games week after week, sometimes you take the foot off the pedal. I suppose in the back of their minds they were thinking that it will all be coming down to the Cavan game, maybe that was a factor. We didn't play to the intensity that was required.

"We are competitive, apart from last Sunday that is, and won tight games. We only lost two games all year and given the way Mayo are playing, our one-point defeat by them was not too bad."

"We have great respect for Cavan," Ford adds. "It will be a difficult game, they are going well. They have a good forward line, our backs will really have to play to form. The last time we met we were lucky to win.

"They opened us up, they seem to do that to a lot of teams, but they don't score as much as they create."

Injuries are a big threat to Ford at this stage given that corner back Pat Naughton and opportunist forward Dessie Sloyan are on the casualty list, with Naughton definitely out. Ford will decide on his line-up this evening.

On Sunday evening, however, Sligo may be feeling that a significant off-field blessing was crucial - the Games Administration Committee's decision to award the points to Sligo after Kildare inadvertently introduced a sixth substitute in their drawn game.