Allianz Football League Division Three
Antrim 1-15 Sligo 1-18
ANTRIM'S time in Division Three is all but up as defeat to Sligo on Sunday leaves Andy McEntee's men needing a miracle to beat the drop next weekend.
The Saffrons gave themselves a mountain to climb at Corrigan Park on Sunday, producing an insipid first period where they just didn't seem to be able to inject any pace and their accuracy with the ball was poor as SLigo helped themselves to an eight-point advantage.
It was much improved after the restart with the intensity required for a game of this magnitude showing up as they got to within one, but Sligo just found the answers on the day with top-scorer Alan McLoughlin thumping over a two-point free with 67 minutes on the clock and this proved the insurance his side needed.
What it all means is that Sligo leapfrog Antrim in the standings ahead of next week's final round of games where they will be the hottest of favourites at home to Leitrim where they now only require a draw, while Antrim travel to face Kildare in Newbridge as rank underdogs.
Survival is simply not going to happen and Antrim will have plenty of regrets as they just didn't produce what was needed for half the game and although they went down swinging, had they started earlier then they may have been in a much better position.
"Yeah, we came up short again," said Antrim manager Andy McEntee who conceded his team have no chance of survival now.
"I mean, that's three or four games in the league so far that we've just come up a little bit short and our execution in the first half just wasn't good enough.
"We weren't accurate and this time, you know, we gave away an awful lot of ball up here when we had them under a little bit of pressure and we didn't make it count. So, you know, disappointing.
"Big games, sometimes fellas maybe get a little bit uptight. But, I mean, huge effort in the second half, huge commitment, huge, huge courage. I think the real problem with the first half was our lack of accuracy. I know they got a lot of scores, but we had umpteen chances for scores. It didn't look composed, but that's the way."
Sligo opened the scoring as Alan Reilly finished a patient build-up and the Yeatsmen continued to control the early stages as Alan McLoughlin and Niuall Murphy (free) added scores.
The hosts were off the mark nine minutes in as goalkeeper Michael Byrne kicked the first of his three 45s in the opening half before Ryan McQuillan thumped over from play.
However, Sligo were dictating terms with five of the next six points including one a Niall Murphy free that came as a result of Antrim having just two players in the other half of the field.
Given what was at stake in this game, Antrim seemed flat as passes off the mark allowed Sligo the ability to get on the front foot and as the half continued to tick along, the lead continued to increase with Alan McLoughlin and Reilly leading the way.
A fine score from Antrim's Eunann Walsh who began the move in his own half hinted at an injection of life for the hosts, but the goal that seemed to be coming duly arrived two minutes before the half as the Antrim defence seemed to switch off, allowing Sligo all the time to work open a tap-in for Luke Towey, while Patrick O'Connor saw a shot tipped over in added time as Sligo held a commanding 1-11 to 0-6 lead at the break.
The hosts needed a drastic improvement to get back into it and they delivered in the third quarter with 1-4 without reply.
The introduction of Dominic McEnhill and Ruairi McCann helped with Conor Hand shuffling back to midfield as they looked so much better.
Ryan McQuillan and Paddy McBride pointed early before Eunan Walsh had a goal chalked off for overcarrying.
McEnhill slung over a wonderful point and Byrne landed a free - taken outside the arc but helped over by a Sligo hand - before McEnhill finished a flowing move in the 50th minute that began with Coor Hand's run at goal.
Just as it seemed the pendulum had sung towards the hosts, Sligo rattled off the next three points through Spillane, McLoughlin and Muphy and after Ryan McQuillan pulled one back, the teams swapped two-point frees through Murphy and Byrne.
A Ronan Boyle score left two in it heading down the stretch, but that two-pointer from McLoughlin gave Sligo a cushion, and although Eoghan McCabe pointed for the hosts to leave a goal in it. Antrim were chasing that second major, but it wouldn't come as Sligo held firm to leapfrog Antrim in the standings ahead of next week's final round where they host Leitrim and Antrim head to Kildare.
McEntee accepted that's it for his team's bid for survival but rued the disallowed goal that came when his side had grabbed the initiative.
"There were so many occasions where there was over-carrying and the one that was pulled when we get a goal out of it," he reflected.
"The truth of the matter is we weren't good enough in the first half. We left ourselves in a position that we couldn't dig ourselves out of in the end."
Sligo manager Tony McEntee was delighted his side grabbed a vital win on the day but had sympathy for the Antrim boss.
“We’ve been here five years in Sligo and if I started in Division Four and ended up in Division Four it would surely be seen as a failure at that stage," said the Crossmaglen native,
"Our ambition was to get to Division Two; we haven’t done that and we won’t do it this year but I think relegation to Division Four would be in many ways unacceptable. I feel sorry for Andy [McEntee] there in fairness. He’s done a lot of work in Antrim and I feel his pain at the minute. He’s under pressure at the minute with their Division Three status, but it’s out of his control and in our control to keep our status."
ANTRIM: M Byrne (0-6, 1x2pf, 3x45s, 1f); E McCabe (0-1), E Walsh (0-1), K Keenan; J Finnegan, J Lenehan, D McAleese; C Stewart, E Quinn; P McBride (0-1f), N Burns, F Nagle; C Hand, C Johnston (0-1), R McQuillan (0-3).
Subs: R Boyle (0-1) for J Finnegan (23), D McEnhill (1-1) for C Stewart (HT), R McCann for C Johnston (HT), P Finnegan for P McBride (61), R Murray for E Quinn (66)
SLIGO: D Lyons; E Lyons, E McGuinness, P McNamara; B Cox, D Cummins, L Towey (1-0); C Mulligan, P O'Connor (0-1); C Lally (0-1), D Quinn, A Reilly (0-3); A McLoughlin (0-6, 1x2pf, 1f), N Murphy (0-5, 1x2pf, 2f), P Spillane (0-2).
Subs: R Doherty for A Reilly (38), N Mullen for L Towey (51), S Deignan for P Spillane (52), PKilcioyne for C Lally (68), M Gordon for P O'Connor (70+2)
REFEREE: N Mooney (Cavan)
