Sligo county hurling team

The Sligo county hurling team represents Sligo in hurling and is governed by Sligo GAA, the county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association.[1] The team competes in the Christy Ring Cup and the National Hurling League. It formerly competed in the abolished Connacht Senior Hurling Championship, finishing as runner-up in 1900 and 1906.

Sligo
Sport:Hurling
Irish:Sligeach
Manager:Stephen Sheil
Home venue(s):Markievicz Park, Sligo
Recent competitive record
Current All-Ireland status:Christy Ring Cup
Last championship title:2019 Nicky Rackard Cup
Current NHL Division:3A
First colours
Second colours

Sligo's home ground is Markievicz Park, Sligo. The team's manager is Stephen Sheil.

The team has never won the Connacht Senior Championship, the All-Ireland Senior Championship or the National League.

History

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Sligo is traditionally a weak team at senior level. Despite this, the hurlers have attained noticeably more success than their football counterparts, with the county's most notable early achievement being an appearance in the 1968 All-Ireland Junior Hurling Championship final.[clarify]

Sligo won the All-Ireland Minor 'C' Hurling Championship in August 1986, defeating Tyrone by four points at Croke Park.

Sligo won the 2005 National Hurling League Division 3 title.

Sligo, under the management of Mickey Galvin, won its first All-Ireland hurling title at senior level by defeating Louth in the 2008 Nicky Rackard Cup Final.[2] The team did not achieve promotion however, losing a play-off to Roscommon.

The under-16 team won the 2012 All-Ireland "C" hurling title by defeating Tyrone at the Monaghan Centre of Excellence.

2018 had both senior and minor teams bring national silverware back to the Land of the Shells. Sligo won a senior All-Ireland title for the first time since 2008. The men, jointly managed by Daithí Hand and Darragh Cox in their first senior hurling management role, defeated Lancashire in the 2018 Lory Meagher Cup final, with a last-minute Kevin Gilmartin goal (his third of the game) sealing the victory.[3][4] Benny Kenny's under-17 squad, a few weeks later, defeated Donegal to become All-Ireland Celtic Challenge Cup Champions in the Michael Feery Cup, also defeating Mayo, Roscommon and others along the way.

The county team won a second consecutive senior title in 2019 under Hand, Peter Galvin and coach Colum O'Meara. Having been promoted to the Nicky Rackard Cup, the team topped Group 2, eliminating favourite Mayo, in a drawn game after beating Tyrone and Louth in previous games.[citation needed]

Following on from a 2–21 to 2–17 victory over Warwickshire at Celtic Park, Sligo advanced to the 2019 Nicky Rackard Cup final at Croke Park.[citation needed]

Facing a heavily tipped[citation needed] Armagh side, Sligo became champions with a Conor Griffin point, a Gerard O'Kelly-Lynch goal and a 73rd-minute point by young substitute Kieran Prior. The scoreline at the game's conclusion was 2–14 to 2–13; though the team was four points behind Armagh as the game entered injury-time, the two lates points and the goal meant Sligo secured a one-point victory.[5] James Weir, at 19 years of age and the youngest ever All-Ireland winning captain,[citation needed] lifted aloft the Nicky Rackard Cup thus giving Sligo official recognition as a dual county.[clarify]

Hand and fellow management team member Peter Galvin tendered their resignations on the evening of 14 September 2020, less than one month before the team was scheduled to contest a National League final and make its debut in the Christy Ring Cup. Confusion over efforts to register two players from Galway with Sligo heritage and the involvement of one of their coaches with a club, unbeknownst to Hand and Galvin, were cited as partly contributing to this unexpected decision.[6] The county board did not report their departures until 20 September.[7] The coach, later named as Colum O'Meara, then applied (unsuccessfully) to become Hand's successor; O'Meara, a native of Killimor, County Galway, had joined the Sligo set-up as coach ahead of the 2019 season after parting ways with Longford.[8]

Padraig Mannion ultimately succeeded Hand as Sligo manager in late 2020.[9]

List of Seasons

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Season-by-season record

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YearChampionshipNational Hurling LeagueOther
CompetitionLvlPldWDLPtsPositionDivisionPositionCompetitionPosition
2005Nicky Rackard Cup331022Group SrageDivision 211th (R)
200642115Quarter-FinalsDivision 37th
200720020Group Stage2nd
20086501101st (lost promotion playoff)5th (R)--
200931022Won Relegation PlayoffDivision 41st
201042024Semi-FinalsDivision 3B5th
201120020Quarter-Finals6th
201220020Quarter-FinalsDivision 3A6th (R)
201320020Quarter-FinalsDivision 3B2nd
201440040Qualifier Round 1 (Relegated)4th
2015Lory Meagher Cup453026Runners-Up4th
201653026Runners-Up4th
2017530263rd3rd
20185430161st (Promoted)3rd
2019Nicky Rackard Cup4541091st (Promoted)2nd
2020Christy Ring Cup320020Round 21st (P)
202131022Semi-FinalsDivision 3A1st (P)
2022510425thDivision 2B2ndConnacht Hurling League2nd
2023530263rd6th(R)QF
2024500506th (Relegated)Division 3A2ndQF

Current panel

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Team as per Sligo vs Wicklow in the Christy Ring Cup, 23 April 2022

No.PlayerPositionClub
1Jimmy GordonGoalkeeperEaskey
2Niall KilcillenRight corner backEaskey
3Mark HannifyFull backOranmore-Maree (Galway)
4Kevin O'KennedyLeft corner backCoolaney-Mullinabreena
5Gavin ConnollyRight half backSt Farnan's
6Rory McHughCentre backEaskey
7Niall FeehilyLeft half backNaomh Eoin
8Finnian CawleyMidfieldSt Farnan's
9Patrick FoleyMidfieldClarinbridge (Galway)
10Michael MunnellyRight half forwardNaomh Eoin
11Gerard O'Kelly-LynchCenter Half forwardNaomh Eoin
12Conor HannifyLeft half forwardOranmore-Maree (Galway)
13Joe McHughRight corner forwardEaskey
14Andrew KilcullenFull forwardEaskey
15Thomas CawleyLeft corner forwardSt Farnan's
No.PlayerPositionClub
16Matt DaveySubstituteNaomh Eoin
17Ronan RedmondSubstituteCoolera/Strandhill
18Darragh CawleySubstituteNaomh Eoin
19Eoghan-Rua McGowanSubstituteEaskey
20Fionn MoylanSubstituteEaskey
21Fionn ConnollySubstituteSt Farnan's
22Ronan ForkinSubstituteTubbercurry
23Tony O'Kelly-LynchSubstituteNaomh Eoin
24Ruairi BrennanSubstituteTourlestrane
25Eoin CommerfordSubstituteCoolera/Strandhill
26Kevin GilmartinSubstituteCalry/St Joseph's
27Liam O'Kelly-LynchSubstituteNaomh Eoin
28Ronan MolloySubstituteSt Farnan's

INJ Player has had an injury which has affected recent involvement with the county team.
RET Player has since retired from the county team.
WD Player has since withdrawn from the county team due to a non-injury issue.

Current management team

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Appointed 6 October 2023:[10]
  • Manager: Stephen Sheil
  • Management team: Donal O'Brien, Seamus Qualter

Managerial history

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Players

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Notable players

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Records

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Champions 15

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Honours

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National

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Provincial

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Head-to-head record

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Head-to-head Championship record

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Every championship result since the restructuring of the hurling championships in 2005.

  Positive Record   Neutral Record   Negative Record

As of 17 August 2022.

County TeamPldWDLWin %First MeetingLast MeetingProvince
Armagh510420%20072019Ulster
Cavan320167%20082018Ulster
Derry30030%20202022Ulster
Donegal20110%20052006Ulster
Fermanagh650183%20052018Ulster
Fingal210150%20082011Leinster
Kildare10010%20222022Leinster
Lancashire5500100%20152018Britain
Leitrim320167%20152017Connacht
London20020%20102022Britain
Longford10010%20142014Leinster
Louth930633%20062019Leinster
Mayo20110%20192022Connacht
Meath10010%20092009Leinster
Monaghan420250%20092014Ulster
Offaly10010%20212021Leinster
Roscommon410325%20082021Connacht
Tyrone630350%20052019Ulster
Warwickshire530260%20082019Britain
Wicklow1100100%20222022Leinster

Counties Sligo has never played in the championship since 2005

ProvinceNo.Counties
Connacht1Galway
Leinster6Carlow, Dublin, Kilkenny, Laois, Westmeath, Wexford
Munster6Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford
Ulster2Antrim, Down

References

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  1. ^ "Sligo GAA - Sligo GAA". www.sligogaa.ie. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  2. ^ "Sligo deny Louth in Rackard final". The Irish Times. 3 August 2008. Keith Raymond (1–08) and Paul Severs (1–04) were integral to Sligo's points tally as Mickey Galvin's [sic] led 2–12 to 2–05 at the break
  3. ^ "Gilmartin's hat-trick wins Lory Meagher for Sligo". RTÉ. 23 June 2018.
  4. ^ "Sligo play full Hand to secure Meagher success". Irish Independent. 25 June 2018.
  5. ^ "Sligo hurlers continue meteoric rise with late show". RTÉ. 22 June 2019.
  6. ^ "How Sligo's most successful management team were forced to walk away". Off the Ball. 26 September 2020.
  7. ^ "County Hurling Management team resign". Sligo GAA. 20 September 2020.
  8. ^ "Ex-coach speaks out on events that made Sligo Hurling a 's***show'". Off the Ball. 17 October 2020.
  9. ^ "On this All Ireland final hurling day Sligo GAA are delighted to announce the appointment of our 2021 hurling manager Padraig Mannion with his team of Donal Tully, Declan Molloy and Darragh Cox". Sligo GAA. 13 December 2020.
  10. ^ https://www.independent.ie/regionals/sligo/sport/gaa/sligo-gaa-appoint-carlow-native-stephen-sheil-as-new-senior-hurling-manager/a1232852067.html
  11. ^ "NHL 2B/3A round-up: Kildare and Sligo promoted". RTÉ. 12 June 2021. Roscommon are the side dropping out of Division 2B after they suffered a 1–26 to 0–14 loss to Derry at Owenbeg… Swapping places with Roscommon will be Connacht neighbours Sligo after their impressive win over Tyrone in Omagh. There is still a round of fixtures to go, but only Armagh can match their points tally and the Yeats men have the head-to-head advantage should they do that.