Horror in the stands! Preaching in the pressbox! And that was just at half-time, when they announced the Ibrox result. Oh, we had it all in icy Markievicz Park yesterday afternoon, a boisterous old pot-boiler between two counties anxious to put some distance between themselves and the bad memories of last summer.
It was a novel clash for rights to tenancy at the top of Division One B for the Christmas recess and one that was poised beautifully, at 1-10 to 1-8 in Sligo's favour when the fabled melee, that old GAA devil, reared its head.
As maybe a dozen players pushed and heaved against the wire directly in front of the main stand, somebody ruefully noted that it could only happen the day the cameras were down to film the highlights. It was, like so many GAA spats, without precedent, juvenile and ugly. Nobody was seriously injured but Cavan midfielder James Doonan was unable to continue. Beleaguered referee Eugene Murtagh sent off Sligo substitute Ken Killeen and Cavan corner
back Rory Donohoe and after the restart, Sligo rediscovered their composure and closed out the match with a wonderfully floated free from Dessie Sloyane.
Afterwards, Cavan manager Val Andrew said: "Ah, it did boil over and that's a pity because there was nothing in the match to suggest that it was going to happen. Both Sligo and ourselves were playing good football and basically we lost because we couldn't take our chances." Neither he nor his Sligo counterpart Peter Forde were in a position to deliver accounts of the skirmish as they were positioned at the far end of the field, and neither was too keen to dwell on the incident. Having spent the winter impressively restructuring their respective teams, this game offered both much to think about.
Andrews saw his team fashion an astonishing amount of scoring chances only to blow most of them spectacularly. They gunned 15 wides over the 70 minutes and laid siege on Peter Walsh's goal, beating him only once, and that from a Peter Reilly penalty. Paul Galligan was unable to capitalise on a fine first-half goal chance early in the game and in the 48th minute, both Mickey Graham and Jason Reilly hammered low shots just wide.
Sligo were walking a fine line, but from a meagre supply, they kicked some wonderful points. Their best scores came from direct, no-nonsense attack. A combative surge from Paul Taylor led to their 18th-minute goal when he whipped a pass out to Gerry McGowan and the forward's shot, falling short, was fisted home by Sloyane.
That score left the home side leading 1-4 to 0-5 at the break and while Cavan squandered chances Sligo profited from more direct play at critical periods.
Eamonn O'Hara won a free after a spirited run downfield and left Paul Taylor to tap a point after 53 minutes to leave them 1-7 to 0-7 in front.
Ten minutes later, when Sligo badly needed a score again, the route was the same: a determined rush upfield by the impressive Nigel Clancy led to a brilliant point by Karl O'Neill.
Cavan were pushing for the game at this stage. Subdued for most of the match, Dermot McCabe pulled down a few magnificent midfield balls in the final quarter. In the 61st minute, Peter Reilly chipped a near perfect ball for Graham and the tricky corner forward was hauled down. Reilly dispatched the penalty and Cavan were breathing hard down Sligo necks.
It seemed there could only be a perfect conclusion to the game. Sligo, jittery in defence over the first 10 minutes, had settled well and they were enjoying a good old duel with the Cavan front six, with Larry Reilly beginning to sizzle a little. Sligo's Paul Taylor angled a point of true class after 66 minutes, putting his side two points up and we inched to the edge of our seats.
Then came the row, after a needless bout of foolishness between Paul Durcan and Rory Donohoe. After that, the structure and momentum of the game was distorted and Sligo closed up shop.
The team from the northwest closes the year unbeaten in league fare and Forde's men can look ahead with renewed optimism. And as Andrews noted, Cavan's circumstances look a lot more promising than at this time last year. Both men left the ground fairly happy.
Sligo: P Walsh; P Gallagher, M Cosgrove, B Phillips; D Durkin, N Clancy, N McGuire; E O'Hara, P Durcan; D Sloyane (1-2, one free), K O'Neill (0-2), S Davey; J McPartland, P Taylor (0-6, four frees), G McGowan (0-1). Subs: K Killeen for S Davey (43 mins), C O'Meara for G McGowan (50 mins), M Breheny for J McPartland (72 mins).
Cavan: A Donoue; C Collins, T Prior, R Donohoe; A Forde, E Jackson, P Reilly (1-1, goal penalty); C Clarke (0-1), J Doonan; P Galligan (0-2), L Reilly, D McCabe; M Graham (0-2), J Reilly, F O'Reilly (0-2). Subs: G Pierson (0-1) for F O'Reilly (52 mins), F Reilly for J Doonan (68 mins inj).
Referee: E Murtagh (Longford).
