Sligo appoint Sloyan and O'Hara as joint senior football managers
The Sligo GAA county committee ratified the appointment last night, and it was announced on social media this morning.
The county committee night ratified the appointment of 5 intercounty management teams for the 2026 season. Dessie Sloyan @EaskeyGAA and Eamonn O'Hara @TourlestraneGaa ween installed as joint senior football managers for a three-year term pic.twitter.com/R8gfqC9YPK — Sligo GAA (@sligogaa) July 29, 2025
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Donegal 2012 All-Ireland winner Eamonn McGee is also involved as coach/selector, with Con O'Meara named as head coach.
Sean Boyle will continue as strength and conditioning coach, with further additions planned ahead of the 2026 inter-county season.
Sloyan steered the Sligo U20s to a Connacht championship title in 2022, while similarly, O'Hara has been making his way in management since finishing his playing career.
The 2007 Connacht champion guided Mohill to back to back Leitrim senior football titles in '23 and '24, and was co-manager of his home club, Tourlestrane, as they won five Sligo senior crowns. He previously worked with Sloyan and the county's U20s.
The former Sligo footballers succeed Tony McEntee, who stepped down last month after five years at the helm.
The Crossmaglen man announced his decision following Sligo's Tailteann Cup quarter-final defeat to Fermanagh.
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The 42
12 hours ago
- The 42
'I lived out in the sticks in Athenry. Two donkeys outside, free potatoes'
MOST PLAYERS WHO move to Connacht live in Galway, but Ciaran Booth isn't like every other rugby player. He marches to his own beat, literally. 25-year-old Booth, who now plays in Sydney with top Shute Shield club Easts, is the drummer in an indie rock band called The Monday Night Club. They've got a couple of EPs on Spotify. One of Booth's biggest goals in life is to cycle around the world. The former Ireland U20 international has a lively Instagram account called Ciaran Does Things, where he shares some of his outdoor adventures. So it's no surprise that he ended up living somewhere a bit different when he spent three-and-a-half years with Connacht, who he joined in 2020. 'I lived out in the sticks in Athenry,' says the affable, outgoing Booth as he sits in a restaurant in Bondi Junction. 'The lads used to always rip me for it. It was a bungalow with two donkeys outside, some chickens, a turf fire, free potatoes, free eggs. Rent was €500 a month and it was only 20 minutes to Galway. 'I'd train all day with the lads in Galway but by the time I got to 3 o'clock, I was ready for some quiet time.' Nowadays, back row Booth and his girlfriend, Lucy, are living in the hustle and bustle of Bondi Beach, one of the busiest suburbs you could find. He sometimes misses the peace of Athenry, the greenery of Ireland, and its people, but rugby and life in Sydney are good. Easts, the defending champions, are sitting clear at the top of the Shute Shield with one more round to go until the play-offs. They'll be hard to dethrone. Booth reckons those years in Galway were the best of his life so far. He won five senior caps for the province and loved learning from coaches like Mossy Lawler, Cullie Tucker, and Eric Elwood. Booth is a native of Manchester and initially came through the academy with Sale Sharks, but he has Irish blood from his dad's side of the family. Booth's granny is from Ballinasloe in County Galway and his granddad hails from Strandhill in Sligo. Booth's parents have a house in Strandhill, so they would visit three or four times a year when Ciaran was growing up. Back then, Flybe used to fly direct from Manchester to Strandhill. Booth played for Connacht five times. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO So as Booth was making his way in Sale, he came onto the radar of the Irish Exiles, although he nearly missed his chance when Wayne Mitchell, the Exiles' talent ID officer at the time, came to watch him play. 'Wayne came to one of my Sale games and I didn't know who he was,' recalls Booth with a laugh. 'He was like, 'How are you doing? Good to see you.' I just said, 'Good, cheers, see you later' and walked off. 'Thankfully, he got my number and called me a few days later!' Advertisement Booth had been focused on playing for England, but he missed out on their U18s to his bitter disappointment, just before the Irish door opened. Given his roots, it made sense and he was soon playing for the Ireland U18s. He jumped swiftly to the U19 side and then got a late call-up to Noel McNamara's Ireland U20 squad for the World Cup in 2019, despite still being a year young, after Scott Penny was ruled out injured. Things were suddenly accelerating for Booth as he joined the likes of Craig Casey, Ryan Baird, and Thomas Clarkson at the tournament in Argentina. He came off the bench in a win over England. 'That was like childhood trauma cured,' says Booth. 'That was a massive release, a very special moment.' David Nucifora, the IRFU's performance director at the time, spoke to Booth about a potential move to one of the Irish provinces. And then, the next day against Italy, Booth started at openside. He jackaled at an early breakdown. Disaster struck. Anyone who saw Booth's horrific knee injury at the time can probably still remember it. The first Italian player tried to croc roll him and fell to Booth's left, dragging at him as he fought to stay on his feet. Then, a couple of seconds later, the second Italian player thundered in at full speed completely from the side on his right. Booth's left knee folded. 'I can still hear it,' he says with a wince. 'It sounded like a Coke can getting crunched.' Booth had always been diligent with his injury prevention work. He rarely had injuries. But there is no prehab that can have prevented a horror injury like this. 'It's the most painful thing you've ever felt. It's the sudden realisation of, 'Oh shit, this is what it feels like, this is happening. 'My first thought… you could hear me on the ref mic, saying, 'No, no, no, no.' You just know a year of your life is gone.' Booth playing for Buccaneers in the AIL. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO The knee was mangled, says Booth. His ACL was ruptured. His MCL was ruptured. His PCL was ruptured. There was severe LCL damage, too. Some might have feared that it would be the end of rugby, but Booth just got busy getting better. 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I'm training you to be the best rugby player in five years' time.' 'Mossy and the lads were just relentless every single day, sessions nailing the basics, catch-pass, breakdown, everything. 'You can see it the whole way up the chain to the Irish team, the smallest details, the tiniest little things like catching your passes square, keeping your feet in the breakdown, you can see where it all comes from. And it works.' Booth reckons he might settle down in Ireland when he's done with the adventures. He still chats to the crew in Connacht and Cathal Forde recently stayed with him on a visit to Sydney, payback for when Booth used to sleep on Forde's couch after nights out in Gaklway. He was saddened to be released by Connacht in 2023 and his time with Jersey Reds in the English Championship was short-lived because they folded soon after Booth joined. He ended up playing for Caldy in the Championship and then back with Sale as injury cover. Booth is now playing in Sydney with Easts. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO The connection to Sydney was former Munster centre Alex McHenry, who was also in Jersey when the club went into liquidation and then won the Shute Shield with Easts last year before moving to Melbourne. Living in Bondi had an obvious appeal. As well as playing for Easts this year, Booth is coaching rugby at a school called Waverley College and leading strength classes at 98 Gym in Bondi. But this is not a permanent step out of full-time professional rugby for Booth. The Shute Shield is high-quality and Booth mentions how the likes of Cormac Daly have jumped from the club competition into Super Rugby in the recent past. Booth is also keeping his ear to the ground for any pro chances in France, the US, and Japan. 'It has been a complete breath of fresh air here, rugby-wise,' says Booth. 'Everyone's super competitive, the coaches are really good, and I'm more fired up for games and training than I've been in a long time. 'Now, I just want to play professional rugby. I'm at the point now where if I don't play for Ireland, which was always the goal, but if that doesn't happen, I'll live. 'You never know, there's people that come back at 30 and get back in, shit happens, but now I just want to play professional rugby at the highest standard I can.' Whatever comes next, it seems unlikely to be boring. Ciaran does things differently.
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- RTÉ News
Carla Rowe's back-heel audacity and facing Meath again in the TG4 All SFC final
What's rare is wonderful. The quick thinking of Dublin captain Carla Rowe saw her back-heel the ball to the Galway net, giving her side a five-point lead just after extra-time had commenced in the recent All-Ireland semi-final. That moment of audacity gave the Dubs some breathing space; there would no way back for the Connacht side, despite their two late goals, in what was frenetic last-four encounter in Tullamore. Even in association football, back-heeled goals are rare enough. One that comes to mind was the late Denis Law, then in the colours of Manchester City, applying such a finish against his former club Manchester United in 1974. There was no elation from Law; the Red Devils were heading for the old Division 2. More recently in the League of Ireland, Francely Lomboto's winning goal for Sligo Rovers against Galway United came via a back-heel. Ahead of Sunday's TG4 All-Ireland SFC final against Meath at Croke Park, the Dubs skipper is at the Jones' Road venue to meet the media. Rowe is in good spirits and the first question, to no great surprise, concerned 'that goal'. "Definitely not a training ground move," Rowe revealed. "I suppose a little bit of instinct kicked in there. The ball rolled behind and I was gone in front of it and I knew if I picked it up the keeper would be on the move very quickly. So that was all I saw and just thank God it went in. "At the time when I look back on it, it was the right thing to do, maybe! But there was that moment when I ran out (after scoring) of, 'oh my God, why did I just do that?' If it went wrong, I was in a lot of trouble. But I knew the goal was open. I knew if I connected with it well and concentrated on that one move and gave it 100% that it should go right." 11nóim Am-Breise #GALvDUB @GalwayLgfa 0-14 @dublinladiesg 2-13 CÚL! CÚL! CÚL!!!! 🤯 Críoch dochreidte ó Carla Rowe isteach san eangach! The tension is unreal! 💯 Beo/Live ar @TG4TV @GAA_BEO @nemetontv — Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) July 19, 2025 And while there was much for Dublin to mull over after reaching another All-Ireland decider, Rowe's telling improvisation was now making headlines, with one social media user renaming her Rowenaldo. On her now unexpected brush with fame, she said: "There was a lot to kind of come down from after the Galway game in terms of our performance. So it wasn't until probably 24 hours later I looked and I think one of the girls sent me a screenshot of Twitter and I was trending number one in Ireland ahead of Rashford and Coldplay. "This kind of puts the limelight on it. So obviously yeah, there was a bit about it afterwards. But these things don't happen too often in sport and I always think you have to just take them in and enjoy them." Rowe has five All-Ireland medals to her name, though the journey home from Tullamore brought about the realisation that a collective improvement would be needed if a sixth success is to come her way on Sunday evening. It took a late free, converted by Hannah Tyrrell, to force extra-time at Glenisk O'Connor Park. After Rowe's soccer-style score, Kate O'Sullivan raised another green flag, helping to secure a three-point victory for the team in blue. A bit too close for comfort. "That was probably the feeling on the bus on the way back, which was causing the quietness on the bus," Rowe recalled. "I think it was probably just those moments of realisation that that could have been the season. "I was thinking we need to keep the ball, get the ball up the pitch, and when we lost it, it was we need to get the ball back, and I think that's the kind of thing you get a lot of confidence from. We lost the ball twice in the last minute and a half, which isn't what we would pride ourselves on, but we got it back. We stuck to the process. "We stuck in the moment, and we didn't go off thinking about, 'Oh God, we're going to lose this game', and as a collective, we all did that, which allowed us to get the ball back, and that's all that matters. It's once the ball goes over the bar, it doesn't really matter how you got to that point. It's making sure that we all stuck to it, and we stuck together. "You take your learnings from it, and then you have to move on because this keeps rolling." Last autumn saw long-time Dublin manager Mick Bohan step down. Paul Casey and Derek Murray, who were part of the set-up under Bohan, took over as joint-managers. "The two lads are brilliant," says the team skipper. "They're open to learning whatever they can. It's their first year, it's a hard task to take on a Dublin senior inter-county team in your first year, but it has been seamless and the work they've put in over this year has been phenomenal. We're back in an All-Ireland final and that's where we want to be." Yes, Dublin back in another final, looking to regain the trophy they last won in 2023. For Casey and Murray, they have had to contend with injuries to key players throughout the season. Rowe (reoccurring calf tears), Kate Sullivan, Nicole Owens and Orlagh Nolan have all been absent for parts of the campaign, with Dublin using 30 different players so far. Rowe missed the Leinster final win over Meath; so as to ensure she would be ready for the business end of the championship. "We just said, you know what, for the longevity of the season, we need to get this right, so we just spent some extra time rehabbing and, touch wood, all is well," the Clann Mhuire player acknowledged. "You lose the likes of myself or Kate or whoever it is and we've had young girls coming in and playing and playing well, and performing, and that's what we need. I would say that has really stood to us this year. "The injuries can be seen as a bad thing and obviously they are but, for me, I feel it really underlines that whole thing of 'we have a squad who can come in and do the job on the day. They have proven that because they've had to prove it, on the pitch." In 2021, Meath's first All-Ireland saw them account for Dublin. "Obviously a hard one to take," was how Rowe recalled that September day, but followed up with "but you have to forget about that". In their three meetings so far this year, Dublin have had the upper hand, but their full-forward feels past performances will now count for little. "It's All-Ireland final day. Teams come in with different energies and we know Meath have been building really nicely this year. We have that percentage in our pocket if we want to use it, but it's not going to disillusion us or anything like that. We know we need to prepare really well for Sunday."
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- RTÉ News
New-look Ireland aim to start World Cup green wave against Scotland
Ireland's World Cup preparations step up a gear this afternoon with Scotland the visitors to Cork's Musgrave Park (2pm, live on RTÉ Radio 1). It will be Scott Bemand's first chance to see where his charges, minus the star power of Erin King, Dorothy Wall and Aoife Wafer, are following an intense training camp that began in June. Wafer, the Six Nations players of the tournament, is recovering from MCL surgery after injuring her knee in training earlier this summer. The 22-year-old may play some part in the showpiece in England but the soundings from camp suggest the opening two games, against Japan on 24 August and Spain a week later, will come too soon. There's a fair argument that they are the three players who Ireland could least afford to lose. While relatively new to international XVs, King and Wafer have been revelations and the standouts as Ireland took down New Zealand last year in the WXV1. Wall, who debuted in 2020, has more experience under her belt but found a rich vein of form before suffering the Achilles' injury against Scotland in April. It's a triple whammy and a body blow to the squad and their hopes of reaching the semi-finals and being World Cup "contenders", as they put it. But, as they are also fond of saying, every unfortunate injury presents an opportunity and Bemand will get to see first-hand if the new crop can step up to the plate as they start their self-styled 'green wave' World Cup tilt. Connacht back row pair Ivana Kiripati, 21, and Ailish Quinn, 19, will make their debuts, starting and off the bench, and Exeter centre Nancy McGillivray has also been parachuted into the squad. She was not included in the original training panel announced but the 22-year-old, who has previously trained with the Red Roses, gets her shot. Ireland, two places above Scotland in the World Rugby rankings at five, are not weak in the centre. Aoife Dalton, Eve Higgins and Enya Breen are proven international performers so McGillivray will have her work cut out to break into the squad that travels to England. But the return of some familiar faces offsets the inexperienced trio and captain Sam Monaghan joins Eimear Corri-Fallon in the second row, both having spent a year away from the international scene through injury. Béibhinn Parsons, 23, who suffered two separate leg breaks over the last 14 months, is also back and how Bemand would love to see the Sevens flyer get on the ball and remind Irish fans what she was all about when she burst onto the scene as a teenager. "We have three new caps this weekend and we're all really excited for everyone to see what Ivana, Nancy and Ailish can do, because they've come seamlessly into this group," said Higgins, who will win her 27th cap against a Scotland team showing six changes to the side beaten 34-29 by Italy last weekend. "Ivana has been around us for a long time now, and everyone's so happy to see that she's getting an opportunity now to put the green jersey on. "And the same with Nancy and Ailish, they've come in this summer and have been absolutely brilliant in training. "Everyone's very excited to see those few girls represent the country for their first time and then to welcome Sam and Béibhinn back this weekend, that's huge. "All of us have seen the amount of work that both of them have gone through and put through in the gym over the last year, pretty much and we're all very excited to finally get to see them in green again." Recent games between these sides have been close affairs with four of the last five ties being decided by just one score. Ireland lost to a last-gasp try to Bryan Easson's side at the end of the Six Nations (above) despite dominating possession and territory. A rudimentary error of failing to kick the ball dead at the end of the first half also cost Ireland dear. For all the hosts endeavour and opportunity, they must learn to be clinical when chances arise. Although result is secondary in this game, and in the step-up-in-class encounter next week against Canada, they are on the eve of a World Cup campaign where getting out of a pool containing Japan, Spain and New Zealand is the least that's expected. "We've had seven weeks of training in terms of building cohesion, which we've made brilliant strides in," said Bemand, whose side contains 11 changes from their last outing against the Scots. "We've got the two games coming, and there's a plan in terms of building cohesion to get into the group stages. "There's elements of Scotland where there's certain things that we need to see." Ireland: Méabh Deely; Béibhinn Parsons, Nancy McGillivray, Eve Higgins, Amee-Leigh Costigan; Dannah O'Brien, Molly Scuffil-McCabe; Siobhán McCarthy, Clíodhna Moloney-MacDonald, Sadhbh McGrath; Eimear Corri-Fallon, Sam Monaghan (capt); Grace Moore, Ivana Kiripati, Brittany Hogan. Replacements: Neve Jones, Niamh O'Dowd, Linda Djougang, Fiona Tuite, Deirbhile Nic a Bháird, Ailish Quinn, Emily Lane, Enya Breen. Scotland: Chloe Rollie; Rhona Lloyd, Emma Orr, Lisa Thomson, Lucia Scott; Hannah Ramsay, Caity Mattinson; Anne Young, Lana Skeldon, Elliann Clarke; Emma Wassell, Rachel Malcolm (capt); Rachel McLachlan, Alex Stewart, Evie Gallagher. 2023: Scotland 36-10 Ireland, The Hive, Edinburgh, Six Nations
