GAA: FORDE FOCUS DRIVES SLIGO; ALL-IRELAND QUARTER-FINAL: ARMAGH v SLIGO, CROKE PARK, SUNDAY, 2.30 Magpies gear up for second surprise.Byline: Orla Bannon IF Armagh show any signs of Croke Park Croke Park (Irish: Páirc an Chrócaigh) in Dublin, Ireland is the largest sports stadium in Ireland and the principal stadium and headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), Ireland's biggest sporting organisation. jitters jitters 'Butterflies' Psychology An episode of nervousness or anxiety that often precedes a public event; jitters is a type of performance anxiety which may affect actors in a stage production–stage fright or soloist musicians; it may respond to anxiolytics on Sunday, Peter Forde believes his Magpies will be ready to swoop swoop v. swooped, swoop·ing, swoops v.intr. 1. To move in a sudden sweep: The bird swooped down on its prey. 2. in for the kill. The Ulster champions are hot favourites to progress through the first of four fantastic All-Ireland quarter- finals being staged at headquarters this weekend, but that doesn't worry the Sligo boss. His team have already seen off one Ulster powerhouse in Tyrone so he is quietly confident they can do it again. And after claiming the scalps of Kildare last summer and the Red Hands Red Hands, also known as hot hands or slaps, is a children's game which can be played by two players. It is featured in the computer game The Sims 2. This game has evolved to have many versions over time. two weeks ago, both in Croke Park, Forde is hoping that will give his team a physchological edge. "Armagh are favourites and deservedly so but we're not afraid of it. "The fact that we've won in Croke Park a couple of times will do us no harm anyway. "Armagh have lost there in each of the last three years and although they've been close on each occasion, it has got to be a factor for them. "If we're close to them with 15 minutes to go it should be interesting because we're used to winning those kind of matches and they're used to losing them. "We'll be throwing caution to the wind at that stage because at the end of the day we have nothing to lose. "The pressure is all on Armagh." While Orchard county fans believe they have got a dream draw, the players know differently after playing the Men in Black in a closed-doors challenge match five weeks ago. The Armagh players were impressed with how Sligo's full-forwards opened them up but Forde insists: "Both sides had men missing so you can't read too much into that." There's no doubt the likes of Dessie Sloyne, Gerry McGowan and Dara McGarty will cause Armagh problems just like they did when they broke Tyrone hearts in the last round. After a slow start when they trailed 0-9 to 0-3 after 25 minutes, Sligo turned the match around and Forde feels his team weren't given the credit they deserved for that display. "People were saying that Tyrone must have been complacent going into the match but they had no reason to be complacent. "They knew they were going to be in a hard match and it was just a case of once we got going they couldn't stop us. "We know we'll have to be at our best and play like that for the full 70 minutes if we're to beat Armagh." Slow starts have haunted Sligo all year. They began badly against New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Leitrim and Galway before also doing the same against Tyrone. In the Connacht final they left their comeback too late, tagging on six points on the trot trot one of the natural gaits of the horse; a two-beat gait on alternating diagonals. collected trot the head is held well in and the horse is not permitted to fully extend its limbs. but running out of time and losing by three points to Galway - a hotly disputed first-half penalty for the All-Ireland champions proving to be the match-winning score. Forde knows that another slow start on Sunday would be fatal. "We must dictate from the start," he insists. "It's been a failing in our team all year that we've started poorly, but we hope we've got it out of our system now." A year ago Sligo stunned stun tr.v. stunned, stun·ning, stuns 1. To daze or render senseless, by or as if by a blow. 2. To overwhelm or daze with a loud noise. 3. Kildare but then lost to Dublin in the fourth round qualifier. They had hoped to build on it this year by winning their first Connacht title since 1975 but now that target has passed them by, Forde has set a new benchmark for his team to aspire to aspire to verb aim for, desire, pursue, hope for, long for, crave, seek out, wish for, dream about, yearn for, hunger for, hanker after, be eager for, set your heart on, set your sights on, be ambitious for . "Last year we got down to the last 12 and this year we're in the last eight but we'd love to make it to the last four. "No matter who we'd drawn in the quarter-finals (either Armagh, Dublin or Cork) was going to be tough. "We're just glad to be there but we think we have a realistic chance of going further. That's the next objective." Sligo have received 9,600 tickets for Sunday's doubleheader which is close to matching the Bank Holiday Monday sellout. Armagh will have at least double that number of fans but Forde is hoping the neutral supporters will get behind them again just like Donegal and Meath fans did against Tyrone. "The Donegal and Meath supporters really helped us in the second-half of the Tyrone match and it'd be great if the Galway and Kerry fans did the same for us on Sunday. "Everyone loves an underdog I suppose, and there's always this romantic, fairytale thing associated with Sligo which seems to get fans on our side." Monday will decide whether it's dream come true time for Sligo or just another nightmare for them to endure. What do you think? email us at irishsport@ mirror. co.uk CAPTION(S): SHOCK NO1: Tyrone had no answer to the brilliant Sligo in the Croker qualifier; DANGERMAN: Magpies Dessie Sloyne; READY FOR THE KILL: Peter Forde and his Sligo team |
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