The 2 late goals gave the scoreline a more realistic slant as Rovers had dominated much of the play. Steve Feeney swooped in the box to guide home  a Ciaran Green corner in the 88th minute and 3 minutes later Rafael Cretaro finished off the scoring after ghosting through the Athlone rearguard to chip the ball over Athlone keeper Ciaran Kelly after great hold up play from Matthew Judge

 The game started quietly however with little of note for either side apart from speculative efforts.In the 18th  minute the lively Rommy Boco broke through the defence with speed however his cross was too strong for the oncoming Sean Doherty.

The same duo combined 5 minutes later as Boco shot from long range after good work by Doherty , however the shot was deflected wide by the keeper . From the resulting corner a Cretaro shot was fizzed wide from the edge of the box.

Rovers were dominant at this stage and the breakthrough came on the 28 minute mark after lovely approach play from last seasons dynamic duo Matthew Judge and Fahrudin Kudozovic saw a Faz shot go across the Athlone goal , it looked to be heading wide until the intervention of Brian Cash ensured the ball was forced into the goal before Ciaran Kelly could intervene.

 The tails were up now for the Bit o' Red and 3 minutes later a Doherty cross was met with a looping header by the onrushing Cash which went just over the bar.However against the run of play Athlone got an equaliser.Noel McGee charged into the Rovers box with the ball and his rasping shot was parried by Pat Jennings only as far as a crowd of players , Niall Scullion being first to the ball and his header looped over Jennings and into the Rovers net.

Almost straight away from the kickoff Rovers could have had an equaliser after a long ball from the impressive Mauro Almeida found Matt Judge one on one with the goalie but his effort went to the left of the goal and wide.

4 minutes into the 2nd half and Rovers were back on top as a lovely through ball from Doherty saw an impudent piece of skill from Matt Judge as he dinked the ball over the onrushing Kelly to score a goal that will have Rovers fans excited at the prospects for their team this coming season.

 The game continued in this fashion with Rovers carving out half chances and dominating possesion for long periods,However due to the many substitutions the game began to lack any real focus until the returning Steve Feeney and Cretaros efforts in the dying minutes.All in all it was a good work out for the lads and showed off a new strength in depth of the squad a feature which has been missing from the Showgrounds for some time  , a far cry from the same time last season , and Paul Cook's men can look forward to the new season with some cause for optimism.

Sligo Rovers : Pat Jennings , Anto Murphy (Keith Foy 67) , Rafael Cretaro , Jamie McKenzie , Mauro Almeida , Conor O'Grady (Gary Curran 74) , Brian Cash (Ross McLoughlin 67),Romould Boco(Ciaran Green 84),Matthew Judge,Fahrudin Kudozovic(Alan Moore 60),Sean Doherty(Steve Feeney 60).

Athlone Town : Ciaran Kelly (Lee Gaffney 70), Ian Rossiter (Colin Jinks)Robbie Hamm(Carmine Russo 80),Nigel Keady,Jim Sheridan, Phillip Reilly(Declan Fallon),Niall Scullion,Eric Lavine,David O'Dowd(Anthony Hayes) Noel McGee , Jason McCartney.

 -Aengus Lyons