Sport

Sligo make it in Big Apple

Sligo successfully came through their trip into unknown territory in the Connacht first-round clash at Gaelic Park last night…

Mon May 06 2002 - 01:00

Sligo successfully came through their trip into unknown territory in the Connacht first-round clash at Gaelic Park last night but not before they were asked a number of searching questions by a competitive New York side.

New York declared their intent directly from the throw-in as Martin Coll's perfectly placed ball found Michael Slowey whose low shot hit the net for a 10-second goal to give them a dream start.

Gerry McGowan and Dessie Sloyan settled Sligo nerves to leave the score 1-2 to 0-3 after 20 minutes. With New York seemingly cruising, a mix-up in defence reslulted in a speculative Mark Brehony lob dropping to their net to give Sligo the lead for the first time. Sligo capitalised on this stroke of luck to build up a 1-10 to 1-4 lead at the break.

Sligo made sure they were not caught cold at the start of the second half, hitting two fast points from Gerry McGowan and Kieran Quinn to stretch their lead.

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New York's midfield pairing of Coll and particularly Kenny O'Connor paved the way for a great fightback. The inspirational Slowey hit two superb points; McGowan and Bingo Driscoll swopped scores to leave four between the sides with 15 minutes remaining; and substitute Gary Dowd's excellent point left just a kick of the ball between the sides.

Sensing trouble, Sligo regrouped, relying again on their dangermen Brennan and McGowan (twice) to fire the decisive points to give them a somewhat flattering eight-point win.

SLIGO: J Curran; P Naughton, N Carew, M Cosgrove; P Doohan, B Phillips, K O'Neill; P Durkin, K Quinn (0-1); M Brehony (1-3), E O'Hara, S Davey (0-1); T Brennan (0-3, 2 frees), D Sloyan (0-2, 1 free), G McGowan (0-8, 4 frees). Sub: J McPartland (0-1) for O'Neill ( 38 mins).

NEW YORK: E Doherty; P Murphy, O Cummins, N McCready; Paul O'Connor, J O'Driscoll, M Slowey; M Coll, K O'Connor; J O'Driscoll (0-1), N McPartland, B O'Driscoll; Paddy O'Connor, M Slowey (1-5, 3 points from frees), K Lilly (0-4, 2 rees). Subs: D Breslin for Paddy O'Connor (half-time), G Dowd (0-1) for Paul O'Connor (39 mins), K Walsh for McCready (60 mins), D Rocks for M Slowey (65 mins).

Referee: P McEnaney (Monaghan).