Escape from New York - Sligo just edge out exiles

New York 's wait for their first ever Championship win continues as they made Sligo work very hard to book their place in the Connacht championship semi-final.

The key score in the opening half came on 19 minutes with Sean Carrabine scything through the New York defence before playing a one-two and riffling the ball to the back of the net.

New York started brightly and they opened the scoring after just 20 seconds of play through Daniel O’Sullivan. During the opening quarter Sligo struggled to find their rhythm but a point from Nathan Mullen on 13 minutes seemed to settle the team as they drew level for the first time in the match.

After the concession of the goal, New York's response was excellent as they scored two points on the spin - both coming from Galway native Adrian Varley.

Sligo looked to be in control of proceedings once again when Niall Murphy got his first of the day but two late injury time points had the home side back within a point.

The visitors were first on the scoreboard after the half-time break as they added to their lead with a free after the restart from Sean Carrabine, but they were never able to kill off the challenge of New York.

Indeed as the second-half went on, it was the hosts who took control of the game.

The impressive Varley added two more points as New York trailed by a single point with 13 minutes left on the clock, as the tension was building around Gaelic Park. When Niall Madine landed a point for his side to level the scores up it looked as if the shock result of this year’s championship was on the cards.

However while New York did well to keep pace with the visitors, they were never able to really get their noses in front as missed opportunities and unkind bounces of the ball - they hit