With a performance of sheergrit, determination andbravery SummerhillCollege displayed to qualify forthe Connacht Colleges Senior 'A' Final for the first time in 25years.

With their opponents’ supportersstarting to head home, looking forward tothe final, it was Summerhill trailing by 4points that showed a resolve that any seniorteam would be proud of. They simply refused toaccept defeat when scoring a goal and a pointto bring the game to extra time, where theynever looked like losing.

While not a classic from a footballingpoint of view, this game was full ofhonesty and relentless pressure. This wasbest typified by Summerhill's MickeyO'Hehir who had a tackle count at the end ofthe game that Brian O'Driscoll would beproud of. Many words and phrases could be used tosum up this victory, but the key ingredient for me wassheer hard work. 'Work Rate' is a widely used term inGaelic football but it is a long time since I have seen ateam work as hard as Summerhill did last Sunday withall 23 players that were used, leaving everything on thepitch for their college, from the first minute to the finalwhistle.

Summerhill got the perfect start when Niall Murphy,a player with a big future, wrong footed the Muirdeach'sdefence to slot the ball to the back of the net. Scoreswere scarce after this with Summerhill leading by onepoint at half time, in an otherwise entertaining firsthalf.

Summerhill playing with a breeze in the 2nd periodfound scores hard to come by, for all their efforts, onlyscoring a pointed free in 28 minutes, allowingSt.Muirdeach's to lead by 4 with time nearly up. It wasthen with Killian Sweeney pushing forward with greatdetermination, breaking through his opponents defencebefore unleashing a powerful shot, which ricocheted offdesperate defenders, before breaking to Summerhill'sNiall McManus who finished to leave just 1 pointbetween the sides.

With the game now in injury time and theMuirdeach's players urging the referee to blow the fulltime whistle, the fearless Niall Collery who had a greatgame throughout, took the responsibility to level thegame with an outstanding point. It was obvious fromthe body language of the Summerhill players in theirhuddle before extra time, that they were not going tohave any regrets, with Niall McManus who only cameon as a substitute with 5 minutes remaining in originaltime, scoring his second goal in addition to PaddyHerrity's contribution of 3 points, to guaranteeSummerhill a place in the Final.

Sligo Senior Footballers will embark on a 600kmround journey this weekend, when they visit Wexford insearch of 2 more league points to keep their promotionhopes on target. Even though Wexford aren'texperiencing the best of times since the heights of 2008,they can be very formidable opponents on home soil. OnSligo's last two visits to Wexford Park in 2004 and 2007we ended up on the wrong side of the score line on bothoccasions.

With 2 points on the table from the first two leaguegames it will be important, if not critical to getsomething from this game. Sligo's twoleague performances to datehave been mixed, where I feltwe played better footballin Belfast againstAntrim, and gotnothingfrom thegame,anddidn'tplay aswellagainstLouth andwon. It will beimportant to geton top of Wexford early, to sow theseeds of doubt in a team missing key players andlacking in confidence. They have only beaten one teamoutside the O'Byrne Cup in their last 11 competitivematches, and lost last Sunday to Division 4 side Carlowin a Shield Competition.

Sligo will now need to bring a consistency to theirgame, doing what they have done at times in both gamesmore regularly. That is working the ball out of defencequickly, not over elaborating, and delivering good ball tothe inside forwards. When this was perfected in theprevious games we looked very impressive, with Antrimor Louth, having no legitimate answers. Unfortunately,however, all too often this is abandoned and we decide torevert to bringing the ball back into tackles and takingthe wrong options.

With Eamonn O’Hara still not available throughinjury, Sligo will be further hampered with the loss ofAdrian Marren through suspension as a result of thered card he received in the Louth game. He will nowmiss nearly all the remaining league matches, which isunfortunate as it appeared he was maturing into theplayer he has the potential to become.

Regardless of Wexford’s current standing, they are ateam with considerable experience having contested anAll Ireland Semi Final less than two years ago. Sligo willneed to be careful of the wounded animal analogy, asWexford will be looking for a reaction from theirplayers, who failed to build on the success they achievedin 2008.