Great days and awful ones.

Remember that win against Tyrone, the draw with Armagh, that crazy game in Croke Park when Kildare were toppled?

Wedged in between, though, was disaster in Ennis and a stomping in Markievicz Park at the hands of Galway . . . who else? Sligo are the swinging pendulum of gaelic football and their form seems to ebb and flow with the pull of the moon.

This year has been no different. The league brought defeat at home to Tipperary and further destruction down in Waterford. They lost the next two games before the steadying influence of Tommy Brehony was felt. By then, the county board had relieved Dominic Corrigan of his duties in a dramatic pretraining dismissal.

Nobody could condone the manner in which Corrigan was sacked but the end of the league did bring three wins and the Brehony affect has worked.

Expectations in Sligo are still low, though, and football talk is noticeably muted. This is how their silent season begins.

"It's been a strange week, " says Sean Davey. "It's the quietest build-up to a championship I've ever seen. There's nothing in the local papers about the Galway game and that's unusual. But it's a good thing for the players, we're relaxed. You wouldn't mind missing out on some of the shite that's talked before games. This week we'd be expecting people to tell us 'this person and that person is missing for Galway, ye'll have to win it'. Instead, most people are just saying to go out and give a good account of Sligo football but of course we [the players] have different opinions. We're travelling to Salthill to win."

He has reason to preserve some confidence. Davey's contribution from midfield has remained one of the impressive aspects of this Sligo team. Last season he managed 14 points in five championship games and he's now one of the country's highest scoring midfielders. It's only over the last two or three years, though, that his name has tripped off the tongue and those lightening strikes have helped elevate his profile.

"I started playing with Sligo at a time when there was a very settled midfield partnership between Eamonn O'Hara and Paul Durkan. I got the chance to play midfield around 2002 and it's only since then I've been playing my best football for the county. I know where the goals are but as a midfielder you have to understand that your primary role is to supply the forwards with ball. We have some good scoring forwards who are well capable of producing and it's my job to win them possession."

Two of those forwards will make their championship debut today. Tommy Brehony has promoted Kenneth Sweeney and David Kelly to the starting line up. Their arrival could prove timely.

The new faces may help shake some of those old Galway ghosts as the Tribesman have a tight stranglehold over their Connacht rivals.

When Sligo beat Galway in Tuam during the FBD league earlier this year it was their first win on Galway soil in five decades.

If they can upset their old manager Peter Ford again, their season will surely explode once more.

"We want a Connacht title.

We've had some good runs in the qualifiers in the past but it's silverware we're after.

I really believe the province is wide open this year. Everyone says Mayo are the formidable team around here but when we've played them there's always just a kick of the ball between us. We'd never have got the whippings from Mayo that Galway would have dished out to us. So getting past Galway is going to be tough. Beating them in the FBD was a huge milestone for us. They had a strong team that day and you'd hope that win will stand to us."

When they crashed to Leitrim last year, the future was looking bleak. But again, they dusted the remains of that loss from their minds and sewed three All Ireland wins together. Without the injured O'Hara, Sligo faced Cork for a place in the quarter finals.

They had the southerners on the ropes until a controversial penalty put them out of sight. It was the road home again and another dose of what might have been.

"In some ways we've lived up to our potential. Sligo football has seen some bigger days but again in the last few years, what do we have to show? We want recognition for what we've achieved and as I say, that will only come with silverware."

Connacht will remain the target under Brehony. He knows the landscape and the nuances of this championship and if Sligo have lacked some old fashioned appetite, then Brehony is the man to inject that hunger.

His presence has subtly lifted the county and perhaps it won't be too long until the murmur of football hits the byways of Sligo again.

"Tommy Brehony has done well. No disrespect to Dominic Corrigan . . . he did a job and it just didn't work out for him due to injuries or the players he had available. Since Tommy came in things have changed. The fact that he's Sligo through and through and he's passionate about the game, well that instils something in the players. It can be hard for outside managers. But they can walk away in the evening and think of it as a job.

Tommy Brehony is not here for the financial side of things and that's not to say any other manager was. But Tommy is here for the love of Sligo football."

This year, they've been like a cold motor trying to start.

Some ugly splutters followed by a smooth run.

Galway today and the weight of history lies against them. But who can say? With Sligo you never know what you're going to get. And that's their beauty.

CONNACHT SFC QUARTER-FINAL PREVIEW GALWAY v SLIGO Pearse Stadium, 2.00 Referee P McEnaney (Monaghan) Live, RTE Two, 1.30 See. They told you so. And that's the last time we'll ever doubt the Sligo County Board. Promise.

Sure, the execution-style sacking of Dom Corrigan was a little attention grabbing, not to mention frightening, but fortunes have changed for the best (Sligo remain unbeaten under Tommy Brehony) and they no longer look like the worst side in the country. It won't be enough today, not by quite a distance, but hey, silver linings. . .

Problem is, they're up against a side who suddenly fancy themselves as All Ireland contenders. And Galway have every right to think they can mix it with the best. Their league revival told us that and just have a glance at their line-up. Their half-forward line looks menacing, their full-forward line electric and they finally seem to have found some substance at the back.

But what about midfield? Can anyone give Joe Bergin (right) assistance when it comes to facing the bigger names. You might not think it but today will be a surprisingly thorough examination of Galway's ball-winning ability. Sean Davey won't budge an inch, he hasn't since Sligo stopped surprising teams, as will Eamon O'Hara who has returned to the fold and starts at half-forward.

The absence of Matthew Clancy and Padraic Joyce will give Brehony's side greater hope, enough in fact for their captain, Noel McGuire, to say they were feeling confident.

Don't think he meant it, but still, beats being locked in a dressing room.

Tougher climbs await Peter Ford's side but as for today's gentle ascent, well, they will win but expect one or two more question marks to hang over their Sam Maguire credentials by the finish.

Verdict Galway by seven

GALWAY A Keane; K Fitzgerald, F Hanley, D Meehan; A Burke, D Blake, M Comer; P Clancy, P Geraghty; N Coleman, M Donnellan, J Bergin; D Savage, M Meehan, S Armstrong

SLIGO P Greene; R Donovan, N McGuire, C Harrison; J Davey, P McGovern, P Doohan; B Egan, S Davey; E O'Hara, B Curran, A Marren; D Kelly, M Breheny, K Sweeney