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

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's home ground is Markievicz Park, Sligo. The team's manager is Padraig Mannion.

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

History

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.

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.

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.

Facing a heavily tipped 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, lifted aloft the Nicky Rackard Cup thus giving Sligo official recognition as a dual county.

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

Season-by-season record

Year Championship National Hurling League Other
Competition Lvl Pld W D L Pts Position Division Position Competition Position
2005 Nicky Rackard Cup 3 3 1 0 2 2 Group Srage Division 2 11th (R)
2006 4 2 1 1 5 Quarter-Finals Division 3 7th
2007 2 0 0 2 0 Group Stage 2nd
2008 6 5 0 1 10 1st (lost promotion playoff) 5th (R) - -
2009 3 1 0 2 2 Won Relegation Playoff Division 4 1st
2010 4 2 0 2 4 Semi-Finals Division 3B 5th
2011 2 0 0 2 0 Quarter-Finals 6th
2012 2 0 0 2 0 Quarter-Finals Division 3A 6th (R)
2013 2 0 0 2 0 Quarter-Finals Division 3B 2nd
2014 4 0 0 4 0 Qualifier Round 1 (Relegated) 4th
2015 Lory Meagher Cup 4 5 3 0 2 6 Runners-Up 4th
2016 5 3 0 2 6 Runners-Up 4th
2017 5 3 0 2 6 3rd 3rd
2018 5 4 3 0 1 6 1st (Promoted) 3rd
2019 Nicky Rackard Cup 4 5 4 1 0 9 1st (Promoted) 2nd
2020 Christy Ring Cup 3 2 0 0 2 0 Round 2 1st (P)
2021 3 1 0 2 2 Semi-Finals Division 3A 1st (P)
2022 5 1 0 4 2 5th Division 2B 2nd Connacht Hurling League 2nd
2023 5 3 0 2 6 3rd Division 2B 6th(R) QF

Current panel

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

No. Player Position Club
1 Jimmy Gordon Goalkeeper Easkey
2 Niall Kilcillen Right corner back Easkey
3 Mark Hannify Full back Oranmore-Maree (Galway)
4 Kevin O'Kennedy Left corner back Coolaney-Mullinabreena
5 Gavin Connolly Right half back St Farnan's
6 Rory McHugh Centre back Easkey
7 Niall Feehily Left half back Naomh Eoin
8 Finnian Cawley Midfield St Farnan's
9 Patrick Foley Midfield Clarinbridge (Galway)
10 Michael Munnelly Right half forward Naomh Eoin
11 Gerard O'Kelly-Lynch Center Half forward Naomh Eoin
12 Conor Hannify Left half forward Oranmore-Maree (Galway)
13 Joe McHugh Right corner forward Easkey
14 Andrew Kilcullen Full forward Easkey
15 Thomas Cawley Left corner forward St Farnan's
No. Player Position Club
16 Matt Davey Substitute Naomh Eoin
17 Ronan Redmond Substitute Coolera/Strandhill
18 Darragh Cawley Substitute Naomh Eoin
19 Eoghan-Rua McGowan Substitute Easkey
20 Fionn Moylan Substitute Easkey
21 Fionn Connolly Substitute St Farnan's
22 Ronan Forkin Substitute Tubbercurry
23 Tony O'Kelly-Lynch Substitute Naomh Eoin
24 Ruairi Brennan Substitute Tourlestrane
25 Eoin Commerford Substitute Coolera/Strandhill
26 Kevin Gilmartin Substitute Calry/St Joseph's
27 Liam O'Kelly-Lynch Substitute Naomh Eoin
28 Ronan Molloy Substitute St 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

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

Managerial history

Players

Notable players

Records

Champions 15

Honours

National

Provincial

Head-to-head record

Head-to-head Championship record

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

  Positive Record   Neutral Record   Negative Record

As of 17 August 2022.

County Team Pld W D L Win % First Meeting Last Meeting Province
Armagh 5 1 0 4 20% 2007 2019 Ulster
Cavan 3 2 0 1 67% 2008 2018 Ulster
Derry 3 0 0 3 0% 2020 2022 Ulster
Donegal 2 0 1 1 0% 2005 2006 Ulster
Fermanagh 6 5 0 1 83% 2005 2018 Ulster
Fingal 2 1 0 1 50% 2008 2011 Leinster
Kildare 1 0 0 1 0% 2022 2022 Leinster
Lancashire 5 5 0 0 100% 2015 2018 Britain
Leitrim 3 2 0 1 67% 2015 2017 Connacht
London 2 0 0 2 0% 2010 2022 Britain
Longford 1 0 0 1 0% 2014 2014 Leinster
Louth 9 3 0 6 33% 2006 2019 Leinster
Mayo 2 0 1 1 0% 2019 2022 Connacht
Meath 1 0 0 1 0% 2009 2009 Leinster
Monaghan 4 2 0 2 50% 2009 2014 Ulster
Offaly 1 0 0 1 0% 2021 2021 Leinster
Roscommon 4 1 0 3 25% 2008 2021 Connacht
Tyrone 6 3 0 3 50% 2005 2019 Ulster
Warwickshire 5 3 0 2 60% 2008 2019 Britain
Wicklow 1 1 0 0 100% 2022 2022 Leinster

Counties Sligo has never played in the championship since 2005

Province No. Counties
Connacht 1 Galway
Leinster 6 Carlow, Dublin, Kilkenny, Laois, Westmeath, Wexford
Munster 6 Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick, Tipperary, Waterford
Ulster 2 Antrim, Down

References

  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.
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