by Daragh Ó Conchúir

Niall Carew has been retained as manager of the Sligo footballers after a meeting with county board officers on Thursday night.

The former Waterford boss, who served as selector and coach with his native Kildare for five years, will be entering a third campaign with the Yeats County men.

Sligo beat Roscommon to reach a Connacht final last term and though they were heavily beaten by Mayo, recovered to put in a competitive performance against Tyrone in the qualifiers.

Injuries to the likes of Mark Breheny and Adrian Marren, plus the unavailability of David Kelly, Ross O'Donovan and Stephen Gilmartin led to a poor start to the National League and they just fell short of promotion from Division Three.

They faced a rematch with Roscommon in the championship this year but despite a whirlwind start, were unable to see the game out against a team playing their third game of the summer campaign.

Sligo had a comfortable win over Leitrim in the qualifiers but suffered another second half collapse against Clare to end their season.

Both captain Mark Breheny and vice-captain Neil Ewing urged the board to reappoint Carew, with Ewing describing the set-up as the most professional he had ever experienced and pinpointing the introduction of a number of younger players in the past two years as an example of planning for the future.

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