Sligo U20s captain Jack Lavin paid a touching tribute to Red Óg Murphy in the wake of their first ever Connacht title either at U20 or U21.
Lavin, who scored the winning goal with two minutes to go versus Mayo, dedicated the landmark success to Murphy who tragically passed away earlier this month.
He said: "To be honest, the last week or two, I've been thinking a lot about Red Óg Murphy. I played with him two years ago on this team.
"He was the last captain of this team before me. He was an idol, to be honest. Just what happened, it was so sad. For his family, as well. This is for them. This is for Red Óg."
Lavin also spoke about how the tragedy had brought the team closer together and they had resolved to enjoy the provincial final rather than get bogged down in nerves over it.
He continued: "We tried to keep the heads down and focus on football. It wasn't easy.
"We met up at the funeral as a group. It really brought us together.
"It just proved that there's more to life than football, and we wanted to enjoy this today instead of being nervous."
Sligo had started the match brightly as Jack Davitt bagged a pair of goals to give the Markievicz Park crowd plenty to cheer about only for Mayo to wrestle back control over the rest of the first half and into the second as Sligo were reduced to 14 men after Shane Molloy was sent off.
They trailed 1-11 to 2-3 before Eoghan Smith and Lavin raised green flags late on to leave their more illustrious rivals stunned with the final score 4-04 to 1-12.
Scorers – Sligo: J Davitt 2-0; E Smith 1-1 (1f); J Lavin 1-0; J Donlon 0-2; L Deignan 0-1 (f).
Mayo: P Heneghan 1-3; F Irwin 0-4 (3f); R Morrin 0-2 each; T O’Flaherty, J Fallon, N Treacy 0-1 each.
Sligo: K Davey; S Molloy, M McGowan, F O’Donnell; J Donlon, J Lavin, C Johnston; C Mulligan, J Keaney; M Henry, E Smith, D Walsh; L Marren, L Deignan, J Davitt. Subs: O Flynn for Henry (40), G Duffy for Marren (49), L Casserly for O’Donnell (49), B Byrne for Donlon (58), O Gorman for Deignan (60+2).
Mayo: B O’Flaherty; A Morrison, R Keane, C Dawson; F Kelly, D McHugh, A Cosgrove; F Irwin, J Fallon; T O’Flaherty, D Thornton, S Morahan; R Morrin, P Heneghan, C O’Connell. Subs: B Tuohy for Dawson (37), C MacHale for O’Connell (41), N Treacy for Fallon (53), C Reid for Morrin (60+1).
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