Sligo manager, Kevin Walsh, is demanding his players learn from last year’s heartbreaking defeats to Kerry and Galway and resolve to push the boundaries of their ambition a bit further in 2010.

That’s the rallying call fromthe Galwayman as Sligo prepareto get their Division ThreeNational League campaignunder way with a trickyassignment away to Antrim atCasement Park on Sunday.

‘We went very close to beatingGalway and Kerry last seasonbut now the players have to askthemselves if they’re satisfiedwith that. Will they clapthemselves on the back and saythey did very well last year orwill they learn from theexperience and say that theycan do better this year? I’mhoping they’ll go for the secondoption’

Walsh enjoyed his first yearin management last season andwas greatly encouraged by theresponse he received from hisplayers. But he accepts that thechallenge now is to build on lastyear’s progress.

‘If I wasn’t getting thefeedback and effort from theplayers, there wouldn’t be muchpoint in me staying in the job,’he insists. ‘In fairness, I couldn’thave asked for more from theplayers last year and I’m surethe same application and effortwill be there this season’Walsh travels from his homein Oughterard, County Galway,two and sometimes three timesa week for training and whenmatch week-ends taken intoconsideration, it’s a huge efforton the part of the formerGalway star.

‘It’s a huge commitment,’ heagrees, ‘but I don’t mind once Iam getting the response fromthe players. As long aseverybody is putting in theeffort, there’s no problem’Sligo enjoyed a thrillingLeague campaign last year,emerging as Division Fourchampions with a record ofseven wins and just one defeatbefore accounting for Antrim inthe final. And they continued toimprove during the summer,losing narrowly to Galway andKerry. Those two games werethe highlights of an eventfulyear but when he reflects on theseason, Walsh points to thevictory over Tipperary in thequalifiers as the most satisfyingpeformance of all.

‘We went down to Tipperaryjust thirteen days after losing toGalway and it was a real test ofcharacter for the team. Wepulled out a huge performanceto come away with a win againsta highly motivated Tipperaryteam and that display, morethan any other, convinced me ofthe character of our squad’As he looks forward to thecoming season, the Sligomanager is reluctant to settargets, although he saysconsolidation in Division Threewill be vital to the team’sdevelopment.

‘I know it’s an old cliché but inour case it is a reality – we willbe taking it game by game’, saysWalsh. ‘It will be an extremelycompetitive division and I’msure we’ll have our setbacksalong the way but there’s noreason why we can’t be up therechallenging for promotion.

Every single game will befiercely contested and our aimwill be to collect as many pointsas possible and see where thattakes us’

The loss of players likeMichael McNamara and PaulMcGovern, both of whom werehighly influential in Sligo’sprogress in recent years, is ahuge loss and injuries to otherplayers means that Walsh has amajor rebuilding job on hishands.

‘We have a few gaps to fill andthat will be part and parcel ofwhat we’re about during theLeague’, he says. ‘We’ll bewithout a few key players whichwill be a serious blow but, on theother hand, we’ll have younglads coming in and that willfreshen things up’

A Connacht Championshipclash with Mayo at MarkieviczPark in June is a mouthwateringprospect but Walsh isnot thinking that far ahead.

‘We’ve a huge amout of workto do in the League and nothingcan deflect from that’, heexplains. ‘Our first aim will beto build up a bit of momentumin the League but, obviously, wewill be assessing performancesto see who has the bottle forChampionship action. As ofnow, though, we can’t lookahead to the Mayo game. Ouronly focus at present is to get thepanel sorted out and try to do aswell as we possibly can in theLeague’