Wicklow 1-18 Sligo 0-16:MICK O'DWYER, who has announced he will be leaving Wicklow at the end of the season, has worked his wizardry one more time before he goes, guiding his team to a five-point win over Sligo in the qualifiers at Aughrim on Saturday evening.
Sligo, who contested the Connacht final last year, came to Aughrim with hopes high but found they could not break the resolve of the Garden County in the second half when the chips were down even though they had a stiff breeze at their backs.
The men from Yeats country had wiped out Wicklow’s half-time lead of 0-10 to 0-7 to draw level and must have felt the game was swinging in their favour, but then the Kerry maestro sprang minor star Conor McGraynor from the bench and the young Avondale man delivered what proved the knockout blow.
James Stafford opened up in the crucial last 20 minutes at midfield for Wicklow and wrested control of the sector from Sligo’s Eamon O’Hara, scoring two smashing points.
After being introduced in the 62nd minute, McGraynor was only moments on the field when he took a pass from Stafford before scything his way through the Sligo defence, which opened up; everyone expected him to take a safe point, instead he sent the large home support in the 4,000 plus crowd wild as he blasted to the net past Sligo goalkeeper Philip Greene.
The fate of this game was sealed in this 30-second spell. Immediately Sligo swept down field and Adrian Marron, the scorer of nine of their points, tried for an equalising goal, but saw his effort brilliantly saved by Wicklow goalkeeper John Flynn, who was given the starting place ahead of Mervyn Travers in one of four changes that O’Dwyer made to his starting 15.
A Sligo goal at that stage just might have been enough to see the Westerners over the line, but Wicklow had their tails up now and they dug in for a victory reminiscent of Wicklow’s fantastic run of victories in 2009.
Sligo brought on their big hitters David Kelly and John Davey to try and tilt the game in their favour in the second half. But in the end Wicklow were not for turning and the fact they scored 1-8 against the wind tells its own story of their superiority at the finish.
WICKLOW: J Flynn; C Hyland, A Byrne, S Kelly; A McLoughlin, B McGrath, D Hayden (0-1); J Stafford (0-2), R Finn (0-1); T Hannon (0-4, 0-2 45s, 0-1 free), N Mernagh (0-2), P Earls (0-1); JP Dalton, S Furlong (0-3, 0-1 free), L Glynn (0-3, 0-1 free). Subs: P Higgins for C Hyland, C McGraynor (1-1) for JP Dalton, P Dalton for T Hannon.
SLIGO: P Greene; C Harrison, N McGuire, R Donovan; P McGovern, B Kennedy, N Ewing; E O’Hara (0-1), S Kilmartin; B Egan (0-1), M Breheny (0-1), D Rooney; S Cone (0-1), A Taylor (0-3), A Marron (0-9, 0-2 frees). Subs: J Davey for D Rooney, D Kelly for S Cone, F Quinn for N McGuire, M Hughes for S Kilmartin, E Mullen for M Breheny.
Referee: E Kinsella (Laois).
