Sligo may have helped subsidise their downfall in this year's championship. At the county's big fund-raiser at the weekend, the first prize of £30,000 was won by the Galway football board. If Sligo can overcome the challenge of Connacht champions Mayo, they will almost certainly face Galway in the semi-final.

"I never heard such silence in a pub in my life," said Sligo PRO Fr Liam Devine about the moment when the winning ticket was drawn in Molly Fulton's restaurant and bar in Carraroe, Co Sligo.

"I was talking to John O'Mahony (the Galway manager) the following day and he said the money would go a long way towards their training costs."

The draw was the culmination of a major fund-raising effort by the Sligo county board. During last summer two cars were given away as prizes in the raffle for which tickets cost £200 but last weekend was the scheme's central event. As well as the top prize, others from £5,000 down to £250 were also distributed.

According to Fr Devine, the scheme was a success for Sligo and raised £60,000 - although Galway made about half of that amount without the attendant bother of organising the draw.

"We (Sligo) have been fairly strapped," Fr Devine said. "We've a manager from outside of the county; I'm not saying Mickey Moran costs us money, but he does have to travel from Derry. We're also putting out teams in all grades and it's an expensive business. It was a great success and Sligo people everywhere subscribed to it."

"It's fantastic news," was the predictable reaction of Galway football board secretary John Power. "I didn't even know we had a ticket in the draw. It was brilliant. Someone asked would the football board buy a ticket and John Joe Halloran would have sorted out the buying of it.

"Running the football board here is expensive. It costs a good lot to train the senior team although I'd have to go back through the accounts to tell you how much. But we'd be hoping for a long summer this championship. I could understand Sligo not being thrilled about it but these things happen when you're running a draw like that."

He was non-commital when asked whether the board would consider passing a donation back to Sligo as a gesture. "We haven't discussed yet what we'll do with the money. There'll be a meeting at some stage, possibly next week although there's nothing fixed just yet."

Sunday week would be an obvious time to make a public presentation should the Galway board decide to act generously. That's the date of Sligo's and Galway's meeting in the FBD Connacht League at Tubbercurry.

The draw rounded off a year when Sligo had already shown a certain benevolence to Galway, letting a one-point lead slip in the championship at Markievicz Park and with it the chance of a glorious upset as the then All-Ireland champions easily won the replay.

Meanwhile, there has still been no decision on the venue for Sligo's championship match with Mayo. A stand-off has developed because Sligo contend that as the 1994 championship meeting was in Castlebar and the Connacht final of three years later at the neutral venue of Hyde Park, it is their turn to host the match.

Mayo's response is that the Hyde Park fixture was actually a home venue for Sligo as they nominated it because Markievicz Park wasn't capable of hosting a provincial final. The Connacht Council will shortly rule on the issue.