Sean Connor was more than pleased by the manner of his team’s performance against St Patrick’s Athletic at the weekend, coming back from two nil deficit at half-time to win three two on the night thanks to a battling display.

“I thought we were rather unlucky to be 2-0 down. We started well, their goal knocked us on our heels a bit. We then went to get one back and they caught us on the break. To turn that around was fantastic, but just shows you the belief, the focus and determination of this bunch of players. It epitomises what I’m all about and what this team is all about. 

“The only down side for me was the booing by some people at half-time when the players came off the pitch. I couldn’t believe it. I’m no shrinking violet, I can take abuse if it’s directed at myself, but what I do have difficulty with, is if people abuse my team for no reason. The players out there give everything. I train with them all week, I know how hard they work.

“I know it’s a very small minority but I just can’t get my head around people coming to the game who want to abuse our players and to boo their own team.   I might be able to understand it if we had lost four or five games on the trot, or were at the bottom of the table. But we’re doing magnificent, joint fourth in the league, in the quarter final of the cup - this could be a very successful year.

“Some people need a dose of reality to see how far the club have come in a very short period of time, both off and on the field. I’ve never seen that level of animosity, the level of back-biting from some people towards a club that I’ve worked with. I find it an irritation, a frustration and it makes me angry.

“Am I wrong for standing up for Sligo Rovers? I’ll probably be criticised for giving off about a minority of supporters. But those people aren’t real supporters in my book. The real supporters know what I’m about. They know I’m a passionate person, passionate and loyal to my players and I get that back in return. They know that I want to bring the success that they deserve to this club.

“I really felt for the fans against Cork- it was a big crowd, a big game and they responded and got behind the team the whole time. We’ve another big game on Saturday night, and we need more of that kind of support.

“We’ve had Killester watched twice and Gareth Gorman saw them at the weekend, so we’ve done our homework. There’s certain tactics that we’re going to use, a couple of set-pieces that we’ve been working on and we’ll play our normal high tempo passing game.

“We won’t be underestimating Killester. They’re a good side, and they’ve nothing to lose against us. Our focus has been on the league and we haven’t spoken to the players about it until this week. But make no mistake, we want to go all the way in the cup and we’re preparing for this match in the same we do for every other - to win it. To win it for the real fans who come out and get behind us, week in, week out.”

Kick-off on Saturday night against Killester United at The Showgrounds is 7.30pm.

Interview by Paraic Casey