Far from impressive Sligo were made to work for an opening round 2-15 to 2-10 victory against Tipperary in Tubbercurry.
The game played in front of crowd of 1,949 saw Tipperary take an early lead after five minutes of play as Paudie Feehan's shot was misjudged by Daniel Lyons. Sean O'Connor added a point to extend the lead to four points after six minutes of play.
Sligo would finally register a score through Niall Murphy soon after but there was a concern for Tony McEntee’s side when he was subsequently forced off through injury.
A massive two-pointer from Shane O’Brien had Tipperary in control after 14 minutes of play. But the response from Sligo was impressive as they scored 2-04 without reply - firstly a goal on 22 minutes from Pat Spillane, which was then followed by another from Alan McLoughlin ten minutes later.
Sean O’Connor kept Tipperary in the contest as they were boosted before half-time when he scored 1-01 without reply; the goal was scored from penalty spot after Kieran Costello was fouled by Eddie McGuinness and a black card was also awarded to the Sligo full back.
Sligo led at the break by three, 2-09 to 2-06, but the visitors were boosted yet again as a second black card was handed out to Sligo, this time Shane Deignan picking up the card.
Three unanswered points for Tipperary had them level, with the pick of the scores coming from Cian Smith on 46 minutes but they would fail to score again for almost half an hour.
Sligo looked like they weathered the storm as they went three points clear again on 55 minutes with Patrick O’Connor and Spillane among the scorers.
Substitutes Ross Doherty and Darragh Cummins tagged on points late on to ensure Tony McEntee’s side got off to a winning start in the competition.
Sligo: Daniel Lyons, Evan Lyons, Eddie McGuinness, Paul McNamara, Brian Cox, Nathan Mullen, Luke Towey, Paul Kilcoyne, Patrick O’Connor (0-02), Cian Lally, David Quinn (0-02), Alan Reilly (0-02), Alan McLoughlin (1-03, 2fs), Niall Murphy (0-02) (c), Pat Spillane (1-02)
Subs used: Shane Deignan for Niall Murphy 23; Dónal Conlon for Shane Deignan 49; Darragh Cummins (0-01) for Paul Kilcoyne 53; Ross Doherty (0-01) for Brian Cox 61; Mikey Gordon for Alan Reilly 65
Tipperary: Shane Ryan, Manus McFadden, Jimmy Feehan, Jack Harney, Mark Stokes(0-01), Luke Boland, Jack O’Neill, Paudie Feehan (1-00), Kieran Costello, Micheal Freaney (0-01,1mark), Daithi Hogan, Steven O’Brien(0-03,1tp), Cian Smith(0-01), Darragh Brennan, Sean O’Connor (1-04,1pen, 2f)
Subs used: Mikey O’Shea for Darragh Brennan 32; Mark Russell for Jack O’Neill 46; Emmet Moloney for Jack Harney 50; James Morris for Paudie Feehan 61; Ben Comerford for Daithi Hogan 70
Referee: Sean Hurson (Tyrone)
