Sligo laid to rest the disappointment of their Connacht Junior Cup final loss when they brushed aside the challenge of a gutsy home outfit in Portumna to advance to the semi final of the 2010 Cawley cup.

Sligo scored six tries on their way to a comprehensive victory which sets up a mouthwatering north west derby with rival neighbours Ballina. The team had to field without their starting back-row from the junior Cup final with Peter Mullan, Cathal Culhane and Simon Coulter all picking up injuries during the loss against Corinthians. However big performances from Aaron Spring and Mataele Fifita ensured that the Sligo pack dominated and provided quality possession for their backline.

Outhalf Paddy Pearson had an excellent outing scoring three trys in the first half before being withdrawn with a minor injury at half time. Sligo tagged on a further three trys in a free flowing second half to run out easy winners at the final whistle.

Elsewhere there was disappointment for two of the Sligo Youth teams with the U13s being defeated by the West Offaly Lions in a closely fought encounter in the Connacht U13 cup final and in the Under 14s cup final Sligo went down to a strong Corinthians outfit in a repeat of last weeks U14 league final. U16s complete treble After Sligo U-16’s two previous competition wins, they looked to finish the season on a high when they took on Corinthians U-17’s in the U-17 Plate in Galway on Easter Monday.

Sligo started the match well keeping the ball in hand and starving Corinthians of possession but when they did succeed in getting the ball they strung the phases together and pinned Sligo back on their try line. Corinthians thought they had scored but Callum Mc Loughlin had stolen the ball and secured possession for Sligo. Corinthians then scored a penalty minutes after to put them into the lead. Sligo then pushed on from there with Darragh Burke nearly going in in the corner. Corinthians lost their discipline and had two players sin-binned before the break. It was 3-0 at the break to Corinthians.

Sligo continued on from where they left off and Enda Gavin pinned the opposition in their own 22. Sligo’s indiscipline often led to them not converting their pressure but eventually after the Sligo forwards had mauled nearly half the pitch Matt Davey bundled himself over the line for the first try of the match.

Enda Gavin converted to put Sligo ahead by 7-3. Further Sligo pressure led to a penalty from Enda Gavin which gave them a 7 point lead. Sligo were reduced to 14 as Enda Roache was sin-binned with only minutes left. After many minutes of Sligo being on the backfoot they eventually conceded in the corner and the conversion just dropped short which left it at 10-8 to Sligo with two minutes left. Sligo held on though to claim their third title on as many weeks.

There were solid performances all round with good tackling from the backs and efficient set pieces from the forwards which gave Sligo a platform to work on but the high work rate from Sligo was the deciding factor which swung the result in their favour. A fantastic end to a fantastic season.

SLIGO: Darragh Burke, Tadgh Cadden, Matt Davey, Karol Devaney, Aaron Donnellan, Sean Finnegan, Enda Gavin, Ross Gordon, Conor Kerins, Eoin Kilroy- Talbot, Gabriel Knect, Jamie Mc Govern[capt], Callum Mc Loughlin, Cian Mulligan, James O’Hehir, Niall O’Rourke, Diarmuid O’Dowd-Hill, Enda Roache, Patrick Saba, Fabian Zawada, Eddie Connell, Mark Leydon, Jason Mc Goldrick and James Mc Gwynne.