| Tierney down-beat after defeat |
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| Monday, 23 April 2007 | |
 The manner of the defeat to St Pats left caretaker manager Leo Tierney in a sombre mood on Saturday evening as he gave his thoughts to sligorovers.com.
The opening goal of the game came from a controversially awarded penalty and Tierney felt the timing of the goals and the way they came about was significant in how the game unfolded “We felt the penalty was harsh. We'd like to see that again on the television but we felt it was a very harsh penalty. But the teams at the top seem to get those. And obviously the second goal was an absolutely huge blow to us. Conor was injured and was down. The ref didn’t stop, the play went down the other end and they scored, unfortunately when you’re on a losing streak as we have been for the last couple of game decisions go against you” Rovers conceded their second goal on the stroke of half time and the caretaker manager admitted it was a huge blow to the side but the character his side showed throughout the second half was something to take heart from “I think up to the second goal we had regrouped really well and had got back into the game possession wise. Unfortunately the second goal made it very difficult for us. We worked really hard as a team and we were unlucky. The third goal then coming as it did, a lot of teams would have buckled under that but they didn’t they kept going, plugging away and kept trying to play” Conor O Grady’s injury coupled with the knock Man of the Match Chris Turner received adds to the list of injury concerns for Rovers. Tierney revealed O Grady will have a scan this week to see the extent of the injury while Turner’s progress will be monitored as well. On a more positive note Leo spoke about the return of striker Matthew Judge who played the entire second half “We’ve lost a few keys players this year through injuries and it has us really stretched”. But his [Judge] return is a positive. He did well and worked really hard, Judgey needs game to get himself back into it” The appointment of a full time manager is an issue which Tierney has been questioned upon each week of his tenure as caretaker. He again stated he was does not wish to take the post on a full time basis and revealed the Management Committee are working hard behind the scenes with an appointment possible in the coming week. The game concluded a run of three games against the teams expected to challenge for the league title. Rovers failed to register a single goal in the streak of games and their position has drifted in the league table from the Top 4 to below mid-table. They now face Waterford United this weekend in the Showgrounds in what is a big game for the club with the Blues struggling at the foot at the table “It wasn’t the easiest of the runs. With the league being the way it is we have to beat the teams that are going to be around us and if you pick anything up from the top teams it is a bonus. We have to re-group and hopefully get a result next week against Waterford here at home. We will be looking to go win that game”. By Rory Houston |
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