Sligo GAA
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:For more details of Sligo GAA see Sligo Senior Club Football Championship or Sligo Senior Club Hurling Championship.
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| Irish: | Sligeach | ||||||||||||||||
| Province: | Connacht | ||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s): | The Yeats County | ||||||||||||||||
| County Colours: | Black and White | ||||||||||||||||
| Grounds: | Markievicz Park, Sligo | ||||||||||||||||
| Dominant Sport: | Gaelic football | ||||||||||||||||
| NFL: | Division 2 | ||||||||||||||||
| NHL: | Division 3 | ||||||||||||||||
| Football Championship: | Sam Maguire Cup | ||||||||||||||||
| Hurling Championship: | Nicky Rackard Cup | ||||||||||||||||
| Ladies' Gaelic football: | Brendan Martin Cup | ||||||||||||||||
| Camogie: | O'Duffy Cup | ||||||||||||||||
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The Sligo County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (Irish: Cummann Luthchleas Gael Coiste Contae Sligeach) or Sligo GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic Games in County Sligo. The county board is also responsible for the Sligo inter-county teams
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With a much smaller population than either Galway or Mayo, the two dominant forces in the province, together with competing interests of soccer in the county's capital town, Sligo has never been able to break free of the shackles inherent in the provincial championship format and has a paltry two Connacht championships to its name (1928 and 1975). In 1922 Sligo defeated Galway in the Connacht Final (played in 1923) and subsequently defeated Tipperary to qualify for the All-Ireland Final. However a Galway objection forced the Connacht decider to be replayed, which Sligo lost. The same fate occurred in the inaugural National League campaign of 1926, Sligo beat Laois to reach the final, but Laois objected and won the replay, making Sligo unique in having qualified for All-Ireland and National League finals, but never having contested either. Since the introduction of the "back-door" system in the All Ireland championship in 2001, Sligo football has enjoyed noteworthy if modest success. The new format together with a prolonged period of competing in Division 1 of the national league saw an upward turn in the county's fortunes. In 2002, having narrowly lost the Connacht final to then All-Ireland Champions Galway, Sligo went on to defeat Tyrone in Croke Park turning over a seven point deficit in one of the matches of the decade. A similar comeback against eventual All-Ireland champions Armagh two weeks later set the county and the championship alive and after Sligo had legitmate claims for a penalty in injury time of the replay turned down, Armagh went on to win the 2002 championship. Despite its poor historical record, the new championship format has seen Sligo achieve the status of respectability on the national stage in the past decade with improvement noticeable across all grades in the county.
Three sligo players have won All-Stars - Mickey Kearins (1971 - St. Pats), Barnes Murphy (1974 - Castleconnor) and Eamon O Hara (2002 - Tourlestrane) while arguably their most revered forwards of the last half century due to his natural talent and scoring ability, Paul Taylor (Eastern Harps) was nominated once in the late 1990s.
Sligo club football is not dominated by any single team with no back to back winners since St. Patrick's achieved that feat in 1988-1989.
Club football
Tubbercurry are the most successful team in the history of the Club Chammpionships in Sligo, with nineteen Senior titles to their name. They also lead the roll of honour for the Minor and Under-21 Championships. The last of these was won in 1991, and the South Sligo town has enjoyed little success since.
St. Marys are Sligo's most successful club team in the Provincial and All-Ireland club series with 3 Connacht titles to their name (1977, 1980 and 1983). They also won the All-Ireland sevens title in 1980. They, along with Tubbercurry, dominated the club scene in Sligo over a fifteen-year period (1976-1991), with St. Mary's claiming eight Championships, to Tubber's three. The pairing contested the final on eight occasions, including five in succession (1983-1987), and these finals were tense and heated encounters. Despite being the most celebrated club in the county St. Mary's remain one of the worst supported sides due to the dominance of soccer in Sligo town and because of their reputation for 'importing' players from other clubs and counties[citation needed].
In recent years St. Mary's has lost their strangehold on the county championship with Eastern Harps, Curry, Bunninadden, Coolera/Strandhill and Tourlestrane all claiming the Owen B. Hunt Cup over the past decade. Other notable Senior teams in the next tier include Easkey, Castleconnor and Shamrock Gaels.
In 2005, Coolera/Strandhill won its first Senior title in 98 years, having narrowly lost the 2000 final to Bunninadden who at that time had not won a title in 109 years.
| Gaelic Athletic Association | ||
|---|---|---|
| National Football League | ||
| Division 1 | A |
Cork | Donegal | Dublin | Fermanagh | Kerry | Limerick| Mayo | Tyrone |
| B |
Armagh | Derry | Down | Galway | Kildare | Laois | Louth | Westmeath |
|
| Division 2 | A |
Carlow | Clare | Leitrim | London | Longford | Monaghan| Offaly | Roscommon |
| B |
Antrim | Cavan | Meath | Sligo | Tipperary | Wexford| Waterford | Wicklow |
|
| National Hurling League | ||
| Division 1 | A | |
| B | ||
| Division 2 | A | |
| B | ||
| Division 3 | A | |
| B | ||
| Connacht | Leinster | Munster | Ulster | Third level | ||
| All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship - Nicky Rackard Cup (2007) | ||
|
Armagh | Cavan | Donegal | Fermanagh | Leitrim | Longford | Louth | Monaghan | Roscommon | Sligo | Tyrone | Warwickshire |
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Liam McCarthy Cup (Tier 1) - Christy Ring Cup (Tier 2) - Nicky Rackard Cup (Tier 3) |
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| Sligo Club Competitions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Gaelic football | ||
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Senior Football Championship |
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| Hurling | ||
