Tailteann Cup semi-final
Down v SligoÂ
Sunday, Croke Park, Time TBC
By Peter McGrath Junior
FOR the second successive year, Down have booked their place in the Tailteann Cup semi-finals and, with that, have earned a trip to Croke Park. With the other semi-finalists being Antrim, Sligo and Laois, there was no draw required as Antrim had already played both Down and Sligo in this year’s championship at various stages so to avoid repeat pairings, they had to face Laois and Down are left with the task of defeating Sligo.
Having overcome Wicklow, managed by Oisin McConville at the weekend, it’s another Armagh man at the helm for the westerners, Tony McEntee.
Sligo powered to a convincing 2-20 – 0-9 win over Limerick and the scale of that success will have left Down in no doubt as to the severity of the task at hand this coming Sunday.
Nine different players got on the scoresheet for Sligo but Sean Carrabine was most prominent as he ended the day with 0-7 from a mixture of scores from play and placed balls. Fill forward Patrick O’Connor, who plays his club football with Kilmacud, hit the net while fill back Lee Deignan also got forward to score 1-1.
Sligo also scored 0-20 in their last group game against Antrim and finished mid-table in Division Three with nine points. Down did beat them comfortably in Newry (2-17 – 1-8) but Conor Laverty will have his side primed for a much tougher encounter this time round.
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