Sligo Senior Football Championship: Shamrock Gaels recover from slow start to beat county and Connacht champions Coolera Strandhill
Sligo Champion
Today at 08:30
Homeland Senior Football Championship Group 1 RD - 1
Shamrock Gaels recovered from a slow start to beat the reigning county and Connacht champions Coolera Strandhill with a one point victory in Keash on Friday evening.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Irish Sun
13 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
‘That's a big game' – Stephen Kenny insists St Pat's ‘can't look beyond' Sligo Rovers after Besiktas hammering
He gave a brutal assessment of their performance against Besiktas STEPHEN KENNY says his side must move on fast from a night of chasing shadows against Besiktas in order quickly to qualify for Europe again. The Saints are back in league action tomorrow when they host Sligo Rovers days after a 4-1 loss to the Turkish giants. Advertisement 2 Stephen Kenny urged St Pat's to bounce back against Sligo Rovers Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile 2 Pat's were hammered 4-1 by Besiktas Credit: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile It was a tough night for Kenny's men as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's Besiktas scored four goals before half-time, including a Tammy Abraham hat-trick. And the Saints boss acknowledged that his team got exactly what they deserved in their Conference League third-round qualifier first leg. He said: 'Besiktas were far superior. We were second best. We didn't bring the level of physical intensity that we need to. 'We were well off in the first half, well off them physically. Advertisement 'We were very disappointed to lose in that manner in the first half. 'We were struggling to deal with their front four. We struggled to deal with Abraham. A couple of goals could have been defended better.' The Saints were better after the break as Simon Power pulled a goal back. Kenny added: 'I said to the players at half- time that we were hugely disappointed in the first half and if we weren't careful we could get a severe hiding. Advertisement 'We needed to try and win the second half. We did that, which is something, but it's not enough.' Kenny's men travel to Turkey on Thursday but he is more focused on his team putting this week's rout behind them to ensure there are better European nights in 2026. Watch hilarious moment Stephen Kenny bumped into Alan Reynolds on the street before Dublin derby Currently sixth, the Saints have suffered from inconsistency this season. But this time last year, they were in a worse position only to reel off nine wins in a row to go from eighth to third. Advertisement Focusing on tomorrow's clash in Inchicore, Kenny said: 'Sligo is obviously a huge game for us. We needed to win that game in Waterford last week. We did win that. We need to try and beat Sligo on Sunday at home. 'We've got to physically get ready after a tough night and try and get the performance that we need. 'Our squad has been tested with a few long-term injuries, but we have to have determination to do that. We can't look beyond Sligo. That's a big game for us.'
Irish Daily Mirror
14 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
'That didn't happen' Sligo legend debunks Pat Spillane claim 50 years on
There's an aspect to Sligo's All-Ireland semi-final with Kerry, 50 years ago this weekend, that Barnes Murphy has always railed against. In his first autobiography, and elsewhere since, Pat Spillane told of how during the pre-match parade, Sligo players waved to family and friends in the 44,455 crowd at Croke Park, suggesting they were just happy to be there after winning the Connacht title for the first time in 47 years. A look at the final scoreline - Kerry won by 3-13 to 0-5 - would support that theory. But Murphy, who was the Sligo captain and doubled up as team trainer that year, insists that it isn't that linear. 'That didn't happen at all,' he says of Sligo players cheerily greeting their people ahead of the throw-in. 'That didn't happen at all. You know Pat Spillane and I know him well too. He's a lovely fella, but he's just a bit... anyway, we'll leave it at that.' Incidentally, Spillane's son, also Pat, has been lining out for Sligo for a number of years now having declared for his mother's county, and so he and Murphy regularly bump into each other at games. 'I've talked to Pat several times but I haven't talked to him about '75 or anything like that.' Murphy insists that Sligo were serious about beating Kerry as they went to Croke Park. Remember, this was a new-look Kerry side with a rookie manager - one Mick O'Dwyer. For all they achieved together afterwards, they didn't carry such a hefty reputation on August 10, 1975. Pat Spillane 'That was the first All-Ireland they won and I remember, David Hickey and Jimmy Keaveney and them lads were at our function that night. I think it was in Malahide, and they were 500% sure that they were going to beat Kerry that year.' The problem for Sligo, as Murphy saw it, was that whatever ambitions they carried to Croke Park that day were fatally undermined by their preparation. Ordinarily, there would have been a five-week break between the Connacht final and the All-Ireland semi-final back then. But Sligo required a replay to account for Mayo, which cut the lead-in to three weeks. And, given that they hadn't won the provincial title since 1928, the celebrations weren't exactly short-lived. 'One or two people here, they're dead now, started organising functions, going here, going to this club, going to that club. This was in the middle of a time to get ready for Croke Park. I never drank and a few more fellas never drank, but we just spent the first week or more around the county and the cup was full most of the time, you know?' Some players, he says, were that bit more portly going to Croke Park, with the team only putting in a handful of training sessions worthy of the name ahead of facing Kerry. That Murphy, at just 27, was both captain and trainer seems hard to credit by today's standards. But the cult of the manager was only in its infancy back then and hadn't really caught on yet. In the vacuum, some very unwieldy arrangements were still in place. Murphy led the training, along with James Tiernan, who he recruited from Sligo Rovers, and shaped how the team played. He was the de facto manager, yet he didn't have a direct say on team selection. That fell to a chairman and a few selectors. But Murphy had built contacts around the country, particularly on the All Star tour in the spring of '75 having been chosen on the team at centre-back the year before. He drafted in the expertise of Brian McEniff from Donegal and Galway's John 'Tull' Dunne. 'Some people weren't too happy about it. Brian was helping me out and when we went to Croke Park, I brought Tull Dunne with me. They spoke to us before we went out on the field and when we were in at half-time, they were told not to come into the dressing room, because they advised Sligo to make some changes and Sligo told them to get lost.' At that stage, they were still in the game, but could have been much closer. Mickey Kearins, the team's star forward but very much in the twilight of his career, had missed a penalty and a routine free from in front of the posts. 'Sligo went up there to play and we were doing really well. We were doing alright. I mean, you look at the score at half-time, we were after missing a penalty and Mickey missed 21-yard free by kicking it into John O'Keeffe's arms. 'I have a photograph there of coming out from centre-back and I was catching the ball in the middle of the field. And the score at that time up there was 0-11 to 0-5. And that was 10 or 15 minutes into the second half and then a change was made. Instead of putting Tom Colleary into full-back, they put Tom Colleary in marking John Egan. And then after that, for the last quarter of an hour John Egan just took off and Kerry scored a few goals. "Kerry hadn't us beaten halfway through the second half. Now, you look at the All-Ireland, after 10, 15 minutes in the All-Ireland final, Kerry had Dublin beaten. 'Now, I couldn't find out for about four or five years who made that change.' He wasn't shy in voicing his displeasure in the aftermath, perhaps to his own downfall. 'Maybe I said too much after '75 in Croke Park. The League started in October and I remember we were about to go out and the chairman said, 'Oh, by the way, we've a new captain today. Tom Colleary is captain today and for the rest of the year'. And that was it.' Barnes Murphy outside the Sligo Centre of Excellence (Image: Gerry Faughnan) With that, he was no longer the trainer either, though he played on for a number of years. Sligo, meanwhile, have only added one more Connacht title - in 2007 - in the intervening five decades. 'Apart from Mickey Kearins, there was no one on our team over 30. Tom Colleary was about a year or two older than I was and I was the next one at about 27. And all the other lads, they all played up into the '80s. They were all fit and young fellas but we kind of lost it after that because the county board and powers that be changed things and changed around a lot.' He insists that he's let all of that stuff go now, however. 'Do you know what? It kind of wouldn't matter now. I couldn't give a damn about Connacht finals and winning them. It was great at the time. Do you know what I think about now? Of all the great players I've met, and played against, I saw one on the television the other day, one of the nicest fellas you could meet any place, was David Hickey of Dublin. 'I played against the likes of Colm McAlarney and Kevin Kilmurray and Matt Connor. That was one of the great footballers, Matt Connor. 'You go to Galway and you meet Tommy Joe Gilmore and different fellas here and there, and that's kind of what it's all about now, isn't it?'
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- RTÉ News
Ronan Maher: Cathal Sheridan helped me visualise All-Ireland win
Tipperary hurling captain Ronan Maher has hailed the work of mindset coach Cathal Sheridan in introducing him to visualisation techniques and helping the premier county to their 29th All-Ireland title. Speaking at the launch of Aviva's new partnership with ClubberTV, the Thurles Sarsfields defender was effusive in praise for the former Munster rugby scrum-half. "He's been really beneficial to me. He's helped me around the captaincy side, and he's helped me around build up to games and stuff like that," said Maher. "He's been brilliant for us, and I know every player has been linking in with him. "I suppose if you ever have doubts leading into a game, or anything like that, it's really good to look back on good clips of performances, or things that you've done well. It just gives you that bit of confidence, or if you have any doubts, you know that you have the work put in as well." The Sligo-born Sheridan has been working with Munster Rugby in mental skills or psychology roles since his retirement from playing back in 2017, and Maher says he has played a big role in the team's midweek preparations. "Cathal is really good to link in with players individually and collectively and he's just been really good for all of us. I'm sure he's the very same with Kerry, but if there's anything that you were uncomfortable with or if you had nerves building up to the game, he's the right person to go after, and he'll put you in the right direction," he said. "He just brings your attention and your focus to the game rather than the occasion I suppose. He just puts that bit of belief into you as well as a group and he just reminds you of the work that you've done and how far we've come and he's really good at that. Like I said he's been a huge benefit to me this year and last year and I suppose I'm sure a lot of the other players are the very same as well. "I think the work is done Monday to Friday rather than before the game. Like once the game comes around, there's not much that Cathal can do for you really, but it's all different, small things like that," Maher added. Sheridan played alongside the likes of Paul O'Connell and Peter O'Mahony at Munster, but Maher insists that this was not the main talking point when they spoke, and that the mental skills coach helped to keep his mind on the task at hand, rather than the weight of the captaincy mantle. "It wasn't necessarily just captaincy or anything like that, he'd always bring me back down to, and kind of visualising it, and I suppose he'd always bring me back to where it started. He'd always explain how privileged I am to get that role, and to represent my club," said the Thurles clubman. "He asks me the questions rather than me asking him the questions, and he's really good at that. He's just been hugely beneficial in all aspects I suppose, it's hard to get it all out now, but just the support he gives you around different things, and he's just been class for us, and we're so lucky to have him. "Coming from a high-performance environment like Munster, you just have huge belief in him, and there's been times where he's challenged me, and I've challenged different things as well, but especially this year he's brought us on so much. "He'd always speak to you about your family; he'd speak to you about your life outside of hurling as well. He's a caring fella, and the same as the group, we're all so tight, and we're really tight with Cathal as well, and if we needed that he's the one to go to."
