Mick O’Dwyer’s Wickow stay goes on after his men secured a super 1-18 to 0-16 All-Ireland SFC qualifier win over Sligo.
Conor McGraynor came off the bench to score the goal that made the difference in Aughrim on Saturday evening, with Wicklow now going into Sunday’s second round draw as Sligo end a miserable season that has seen two poor championship defeats and relegation to Allianz Football League Division Three.
Adrian Marren got the day’s first point for Sligo, with his second making it 0-2 apiece ahead of a lovely Leighton Glynn effort for the Garden County.
Marren was doing most of the scoring for the Yeats men, but it was Eamonn O’Hara who fired over the score that put them back in front at 0-5 to 0-4, Tony Hannon sopn pulling it back once more for Wicklow.
Mark Breheny and James Stafford traded scores before Micko’s men found themselves with a four-point lead, the latest point expertly put over by Glynn. A fine Sligo move saw them pull one back before the break though as O’Hara picked out the prolific Marren to score.
The half-time score was 0-10 to 0-7 in favour of Wicklow, but the game was reduced to a two-point one when Stephen Coen kicked over the bar for the boys in black. Hannon made the gap three again but scores from David Rooney and Johnny Davey then brought it down to one.
Marren kicked another score to drag the teams level, with the game going through a tight spell thereafter as Seanie Furlong and Stafford did the business for the home side, while Marren continued to ratchet up Sligo scores.
The only goal of the game then came courtesy of the fresh McGraynor when the young substitute capitalised on a Brian Egan error to fire beyond Philip Greene.
That left the men in black deflated despite the best efforts of Marren and Tony Taylor, and a late insurance point form the fleet-footed McGraynor meant a win of five points in the end for Micko’s charges.