Niall Murphy of Sligo in action against Colin Keane of New York during the Connacht GAA Football Senior Championship Quarter-Final match between New York and Sligo at Gaelic Park in New York, USA.
Connacht Senior Championship
SLIGO 1-16 NEW YORK 0-15
By Gavin Cawley at Gaelic Park New York
New York's wait for their first ever Championship win continues as Sligo did enough to come out on top in the quarter final of the Connacht Championship. Sean Carrabine's first half goal proved to be vital as Sligo booked a place in this year’s semi-final of the Connacht Championship.
New York started very well and they opened the scoring after just 20 seconds of play through Daniel O’Sullivan. During the opening quarter Sligo struggled to find their rhythm but a point from Nathan Mullen on 13 minutes seemed to settle the team as they drew level for the first time in the match.
After the set-back of the goal New York's response was excellent scoring two points on the spin with both coming from Galway native Adrian Varley. Sligo looked to be in control of proceedings once again when Niall Murphy got his first of the day but two late injury time points had the home side back within a point.
Sligo added to their lead with a free after the restart from Sean Carrabine but then the impressive Varley added two more points to close the gap to one again and further increase the tension among Sligo supporters in Gaelic Park. When Niall Madine then landed a point for his side to level the scores up it looked like the shock result of this year’s championship was on the cards.
But Tony McEntee's Sligo side showed lot of character in the final five minutes to ensure they didn’t get caught by New York.
A free from Murphy restored their lead and they pushed on from there to ensure they booked a place in this year’s Connacht Semi Final against Roscommon.
**Scorers for Sligo: **S Carrabine 1-3 (0-2f), N Murphy 0-5 (0-4f), P O’Connor 0-3, N Mullen 0-1, B Gorman 0-1, K Cawley 0-1, C Griffin 0-1, A Devanney 0-1.
**Scorers for New York: **A Varley 0-6 (0-3f), N Madine 0-4 (0-2f), D O’Sullivan 0-2, P Fox 0-2, M Brosnan 0-1.
Sligo: A Devanney; D Phillips, E Lyons, P McNamara; N Mullen, D Cummins, P Kilcoyne; S Carrabine (C Marren 65 mins), P Laffey (C Griffin half-time); K Cawley, N Murphy, B Gorman (D Quinn 35 mins); M Gordan, P O’Connor, A Reilly (P Spillane 56 mins).
**New York: **M Cunningham; J Boyle, A Campbell, C Keane; S Reilly, P Boyle, D O’Sullivan; J Reilly, M Ellis; J Glynn, A Varley, T Mathers (C Ahearne 50 mins); N Madine, P Fox, M Brosnan (S Brosnan 57 mins).
Ref - Sean Hurson (Tyrone).
