Brian Flanagan, U20 Kildare manager, left, and Paul Henry, U20 Sligo manager, are pictured at Croke Park in Dublin, ahead of the EirGrid GAA Football U20 All-Ireland Final this Saturday. EirGrid, the state-owned company charged with securing the transition of Ireland’s electricity grid to a low carbon future, has been a proud partner of the GAA since 2015. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile.
EirGrid All-Ireland U20FC Final
Sligo v Kildare, Kingspan Breffni, 1.30pm (TG4)
The novel pairing in tomorrow’s EirGrid All-Ireland U-20 Football adds an extra frisson of excitement to the event.
Kildare have won this competition twice before – in 2018 and 1965 – but for Sligo even playing in a final is new territory.
The buzz in the Yeats County has been ramped up by the path they’ve plotted to get here, beating highly rated Roscommon, Mayo, Galway, and Kerry teams along the way.
No surprise then to hear team manager Paul Henry and his players have surfed a wave of public goodwill all week.
“You could definitely say it is unique for us to be honest, the place Is buzzing,” says Henry. “It is a huge lift to the county, it’s a huge occasion for Sligo GAAA and all these young lads and we are hoping that on Saturday we can put in a good performance. The Sligo supporters have been excellent all year for us and I’m sure we’ll have great support on Saturday.”
They might be playing in the county’s first ever All-Ireland Final in the grade, but we can expect this Sligo team to rise to the occasion rather than be overawed by it.
That’s what they’ve done all year so far against counties more accustomed to success than they are, so self-belief won’t be lacking against Kildare.
“I think we've gradually seen that over the last while that they've been playing against bigger teams be it in their schools or at county level," says Henry.
“So the minor lads that won Connacht a few years ago and the U-20s winning last year, it's gradually brought a bit of belief into Sligo football that they are at that level, that if the work-ethic is there and they end up putting everything into it then they have a chance.
“I suppose we've been trying to harness that and make sure that they end up doing all that they possibly can to be the best team that they can possibly be.
“And in doing that they're getting results out of it. It's really down to the amount of work that these lads have put in.
“These young lads have started to get into a habit of winning and that is working for this group. It has given them a right to believe that no matter what game they play they have a chance of winning, and they should believe that because they are good enough to believe that.
“This weekend we will have that belief that we have just as much chance as Kildare of winning the game.”
As for Kildare, they’ve shown plenty of character themselves on the way to this Final.
They lost their first match in Leinster against Westmeath but have plotted a steady upward curve since then and showed great resolve to edge out Dublin after extra-time in the Leinster Final and Ulster champions Down by a single point in the All-Ireland semi-final.
“You'd have to be very proud of their efforts,” says Kildare manager, Brian Flanagan. “Any team that digs in the way they have and puts in that kind of an effort and they're getting their just rewards over the last few games.
“They're an ambitious group. They set their stall out at the beginning of the year in terms of what they wanted to achieve and the way they've gone about it would have to make you proud. The job is not done yet, so you say that with the caveat that we still have one more step to take.”
Kildare beat Sligo in last year’s All-Ireland semi-final and both teams still have a decent cohort of players who were involved in that match, but it might be unwise to read too much into it.
You would imagine though that those Kildare players who experienced playing in last year’s Final (a six point defeat to Tyrone) will have learned a lot from that experience.
The injury-absence of Sligo’s inspirational captain, Canice Mulligan, is a big blow to the Connacht champions which may also tip the balance of power in Kildare’s favour.
There won’t be much between two teams though who are similar in many ways. They’re both defensively solid and they attack well as a team rather than rely too much on one or two individuals.
Neither has scored many goals en route to this match, Kildare two and Sligo just one. If either can raise a couple of green flags tomorrow it’s likely to be decisive.
