Reaching another All-Ireland final is culmination of years of hard work for Sligo minors

Irish Independent

16-07-2025

Sligo held an eight point lead at the half-way point, winning 2-10 to 2-02, but really pushed on in the second-half reducing Laois to five further scores while substitute Kate Smith scored a hat-trick that saw Sligo's winning score reach 5-16 to 2-07.
Sligo are probably the side no-one wants to play in this competition, having won the title last year after losing the final to Kerry in 2023.
Now facing into their third consecutive Minor B final, the management paid tribute to the almost year-round commitment from their players.
Sligo's team mentor Gerry Quinn said: 'We were surprised really with the extent of the win because you don't generally get those heavy defeats in a semi-final. The girls have just been on fire.
"We talked to them about it, this is the culmination of a number of years of hard work but even this year. They're running since November 1. They went through an eight-week running programme, not pretty, you're down in Cleveragh on a Wednesday and Friday night. People might look at you and say 'are these for real?'.
"They'd do about 7km or 8km around Cleveragh. You could see it, they were conditioned for it. We have so much pace in the team. When we move the ball quickly we're very hard to beat.
"We didn't expect to win it by that amount but we have a very talented group. It's been a nightmare to pick a team. There are a number of players who could have probably got into other inter-county teams and probably Sligo in the past. It's probably the most talented squad we have had.'
And in that semi-final victory over Laois, the Sligo management team compiled a game plan that involved leaving Kate Smith on the bench, with a view to bringing her on with 15/20 minutes to go so that she could make an impact.
To their credit, the game-plan went exactly to plan, although Kate Smith herself may have had some convincing to do when she was first told.
Quinn continued: 'We meet the night before a game. We had to talk to Kate Smith because she had started a lot of games. We spoke to her and we said 'we've a game-plan, but we need you to buy into it'.
"We watched Laois and Wexford in the Leinster final and we said 'we really believe you have something to offer by coming off the bench'.
"We said 'you have to get that into your head', she was very disappointed but she took that on board and we told her she was going to come in for 15-20 minutes and that would be her focus when she went in.
"You saw the result. You need to have someone coming off the bench like that, she was outstanding when she came on.'
Sligo take on Clare in the All-Ireland Minor B Final on Saturday, July 26. Venue and time are yet to be confirmed.