Paddy O’Connor insists that the Sligo players won’t be getting bogged down in scoring difference during Sunday’s clash with Dublin.
Group 3 of the All-Ireland series is the most delicately poised ahead of the final round of matches this weekend, with Roscommon heading Dublin, both on three match points, by a single point on scoring difference.
Next come Kildare and Sligo on a point each, with Glenn Ryan’s side occupying third place by the slenderest margin on scoring difference.
It means that if Sligo better Kildare’s result against Roscommon by two points, they will be guaranteed third place at least and a spot in the knockout stages.
But key forward O’Connor said: “I think definitely for the 15 on the pitch it’ll be just play the game as it is, keep it as a separate occasion.
“If we do that and get a good performance I’m sure the other side of things will take care of itself.
“Maybe the management team might have an eye on it [Roscommon-Kildare], I’m not sure, but for everybody on the pitch it’ll be just trying to stay present and play the game in front of us.”
O’Connor is resident in Stepaside on Dublin’s southside and is one of a handful of Sligo players who take a bus together from the capital for training each Wednesday from Lucan at around 4pm, returning at 1am the following morning.
Living and working in the hinterland of a number of strong Dublin clubs, not least All-Ireland champions Kilmacud Crokes, he wouldn’t be short of options though has no intention of leaving his native St Farnan’s at this stage.
Previously, he attended UCD and won a Sigerson with the college, where he rubbed shoulders with the likes of Dublin trio Jack McCaffrey, Con O’Callaghan and Eoin Murchan.
He added: “We’re excited to get the chance to play against another Division One outfit and Dublin have been up there as the best team in the past decade or so and there’s great excitement there that we get to test ourselves against them.
“We’re a bit disappointed with how we played against Roscommon. We feel like we kind of let ourselves down there with the manner of the defeat. It could have been a lot closer.
“It’s great to have a chance at redemption two weeks later. So it’s definitely something we’re all looking forward to now.”
Sligo enjoyed a run to the Tailteann Cup semi-finals last year, where they troubled Cavan, though O’Connor insists that taking part in the All-Ireland series this year has served their development far better.
“I think definitely this run in the All-Ireland series has been better. I think last year was important that we got those extra games under our belt, it’s a great competition, the Tailteann Cup as well, but this year we really wanted to see where we stood with Division One and Division Two teams so it’s been great.
“We’ve got four or five games against top level opposition, in terms of knowing where we are and where we can improve and I think it’s a really good competition.
“The Tailteann Cup is great but you want to be playing against a higher level opposition so wherever we can, we’d prefer the tougher battle for sure.”
That Sligo earned their place in the top tier by beating London and New York invited derision of the new Championship structure, though should they find themselves in the knockout stages come Sunday evening they’ll have justified their presence.
“Being in the last 12 in the country would be huge for us. Being in the last 12 and being in with a chance to go into the last eight, a realistic chance, would be amazing.
“It’d be great for the development of the team but I think already this year we’ve taken so many steps in the right direction.
“We’re now Division Three. We’ve shown that we can compete.
“We may not have the big scalp yet that we wanted but we’ve shown that we can compete at least with higher level and then of course we have the under-20s coming in next year.
“A few have joined us already and they’re going to be another boost so it’s heading in the right direction and I think the majority of GAA people can see that.”
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