Sligo's Darragh Cummins admits it has been a year to forget for his county as they seek some salvation in the Tailteann Cup, starting with Tipperary on Sunday.
The Yeats County suffered a humbling defeat to Leitrim on home soil in the Connacht Football Championship quarter-final, the first time in 15 years they exited at hands of their neighbours.
New co-managers Dessie Sloyan and Eamonn O’Hara had been hoping to lead a promotion challenge in Allianz Football League Division 3 but early setbacks against Westmeath and Laois largely put paid to that.
Having lost in the provincial clash on 12 April, Sligo have had to sit out for weeks in the wait for their next match.
Reflecting on the painful loss, Cummins said: "We weren't anywhere near the standard we want to be at and Leitrim were definitely at it. Fair play to them they played very well against us, but we'd be hugely disappointed with it.
"With the way the game has gone with the new rules, if you're not completely on your game in all aspects of it, you've seen the results, shocks can happen like that.
"I'd say we've had basically a month off [from matches], we've completely just regrouped. As players we've kind of taken more ownership of everything and we’re just looking forward now to getting a crack at Tipperary on Sunday."
Sligo have reached two semi-finals in the short history of the Tailteann, as well as achieving promotion from Division 4 last year, including a final win, and ran Mayo close in Connacht in 2025 as well.
While the mood is low within the county, Cummins felt it wasn’t just a bolt from the blue this year.
"It's not just even that game [with Leitrim]," he admitted.
"The league as a whole, we'd be disappointed with how we started and we maintained that. Looking back at the last few years, we know the standard we can get to. That's why the disappointment is there this year, just because we're not getting up to that level.
"A few boys have come back from injury this week, but this weekend is probably a bit too soon for them.
"But they're back in training and even just having lads who've been around the panel a bit longer, the standards they bring to training then just ups everything from there."
The Premier County have been a familiar foe for Cummins and his team-mates and he has warned them to be vigilant of another outfit eyeing an upset in Markievicz Park.
"This is our third year in a row playing them in the Tailteann Cup so we know them fairly well at this stage now.
"We know the assets they have. That is a lot of good forwards, big men out in middle, they really back themselves on kick-outs either side. We know it's going be a big challenge come Sunday."
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