While the rest of us were tucked away, the hurlers of Sligo couldn’t have been more alive.
There was a double header of Sligo senior hurling semi-finals on Wednesday night.
The first of the games threw-in at 7.30 in the Sligo Centre of Excellence up in Strandhill and it saw Coolera/Strandhill take on Easkey. These sides had clashed on Sunday last, but they couldn’t be separated with the scores tied at 3-08 to 0-17 at the final whistle.
So that forced them to a replay. With the other last four game, the meeting of Calry/St Joseph’s and Naomh Eoin also delayed from last weekend due to a club bereavement, it made the most sense to play them both off on the one evening.
Provincial competitions have their fixtures in place this weather, which puts the individual county boards under some pressure to get their games finished on time. The Connacht semi-finals, involving the respective Sligo and Leitrim winners are scheduled to take place at 2.00 on the Bank Holiday Monday October 29, so with the county finals down for this weekend, there was a necessity to get these games played.
Wednesday 17th October
Senior Hurling Championship Semi Final 9pm
Venue: Sligo GAA Centre of Excellence,
Calry/St Joseph's V Naomh EoinSenior Hurling Championship Semi Final Replay 7.30pm
Venue: Sligo GAA Centre of Excellence,
Coolera/Strandhill V Easkey pic.twitter.com/kOgB4xE3Ty— Sligo GAA (@sligogaa) October 16, 2018
But anyway, they went ahead. The first game, the replay was just as tight as it was last time around coming up to the last few minutes but eventually Coolera Strandhill came out on top by the bare minimum, edging Easkey by one point on a final scoreline of 2-14 to 3-10.
They had the crowd warmed up, and the pitch ready for the next one, which threw in at 9.00. 9.00. Calry/St. Josephs and Naomh Eoin played into the night under the bright headlights and they slugged it out.
Ridiculous time for a Senior Hurling Championship Semi Final. 9.14pm on Wednesday night in Oct in @sligogaa @CalryStJosephs v @NaomhEoinHurl Some won't be home until after 1am. One worked in London until eve & then flew to Knock #madness @officialgaa @SportsJOEdotie @PunditArena pic.twitter.com/YEmyuYT8d2
— Cóilín Duffy (@coilinduffy) October 17, 2018
It was a tight one out west, and the only certainty was that if the scores were tied at full-time, extra-time wouldn’t be played. Then they’d have been playing up until midnight.
Eventually, Naomh Eoin showed their supremacy, the Ballydoogan club powering away down the home stretch to win by two on a scoreline of 2-8 to 1-9.
Senior Hurling Championship Semi Final
Full Time
Calry/St. Josephs: 1-9(12)
Naomh Eoin: 2-8(14)— Sligo GAA (@sligogaa) October 17, 2018
The final whistle of that game was blown at around 10.35. Twenty five minutes to 11 – a time when the majority of us were dreaming about everything and anything.
You’d have to be up very late at night to catch the Sligo boys.
Lying in bed, lights off, reading through a few tweets before I shut the eyes. And then I see the @sligogaa hurling semi final is currently at HALF TIME. Its faaaaacking 10 o’clock. Ah lads🙈
— Emlyn Mulligan (@emlynmulligan) October 17, 2018
The winners of this weekend’s final will play Leitrim’s winners in Connacht. The Leitrim final takes place this weekend, between Cluainín Iomáint and Carrick on Shannon – that’s also the first game of the Leitrim SHC this year…
