London 1-12
Sligo 0-14

There were wild scenes of celebration in Ruislip today when London secured a first Connacht SFC success in 36 years at the expense of a disappointing Sligo side who return home red-faced.

Despite missing a first half penalty and having a man sent off in the second half, Paul Coggins' charges held on for a memorable, and fully deserving, one point victory.

Lorcan Mulvey's first half goal proved to be the difference between the sides at the final whistle and London are now just seventy minutes away from an appearance in the Connacht SFC final.

Ironically, Sligo native Padraic McGoldrick missed a penalty in the 30th minute and his afternoon took a turn for the worse when he was dismissed midway through the second half but his team-mates saved his blushes when holding off a late Sligo comeback.

The writing was on the wall for Kevin Walsh's Sligo team when they trailed by 0-1 to 1-3 at the end of the opening 15 minutes after former Cavan player Mulvey netted the game's only goal

The sides traded points, with Marren sending over his and the Yeats County's second score, and London were 1-4 to 0-2 to the good after 22 minutes of play.

The crossbar then came to London's rescue to deny Pat Hughes a goal but a Mark Breheny free reduced the deficit to four points.

There was high drama on the half hour mark when McGoldrick's penalty attempt was well saved by Philip Greene but London could console themselves with a 1-6 to 0-5 interval lead.

The teams exchanged scores at the start of the second half before Cathal McGee extended their lead with a point in the 45th minute.

Mark Gottsche made it 1-10 to 0-6 as Sligo continued to struggle but the visitors were given a glimmer of hope when McGoldrick was sent off.

Goalkeeper Greene came to his team's rescue once again with another vital save while, at the other end of the field, Hughes raised a white flag to cut London's lead to six points.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, the scoreboard read 1-11 to 0-8 in London's favour with 14 minutes to go but a Tony Taylor point narrowed the gap to five entering the closing 10 minutes.

Former All Star Charlie Harrison reduced the deficit further with his second point of the day but Sean Kelly calmed London nerves to restore their five point lead.

There was, however, just a point between the sides - 1-12 to 0-14 - entering the three minutes of additional time after Taylor (2), Niall Murphy and Harrison hit unanswered points and London hearts missed a beat when a strike by Hughes rebounded off the crossbar.

Time ran out for Sligo and the Exiles advance to a semi-final against Leitrim on Sunday, June 23.

London - D Traynor; K Lynam, S Curran, D McGreevy; S Hannon, S Mulligan, T Gaughan; M Gottsche (0-4, 1'45, 1f), C Doyle; G Crowley, C McCallion, B Mitchell (0-1); P McGoldrick (0-1f), L Mulvey (1-2), C McGee (0-3). Subs: B Collins for Lynam, P Geraghty for Mitchell, S Kelly (0-1) for McCallion, D Dunleavy for Doyle, E McConville for Mulligan.

Sligo - P Greene; K Cawley, R Donovan, N Ewing; C Harrison (0-3), A McIntyre, B Curran; S Gilmartin, T Taylor (0-3); B Egan, P Hughes (0-1), S McManus; M Breheny (0-4, 2f), A Marren (0-2), F Quinn. Subs: J Kilcullen for Gilmartin, N Murphy (0-1) for Egan.

Referee - P O'Sullivan. Tweet

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