Sligo Rovers’ men’s senior team make the relatively short trip south to Galway this Friday as the one hundredth Connacht Derby takes place at Eamonn Deacy Park, kick-off 7.45pm.
This will be the Bit O’Red’s fourth game of the season as John Russell’s men go in search of a fourth straight win over Galway United, who have won one and drawn one of their first two games.
A win for Rovers by Corribside could potentially see us climb the table after defeats to Derry City and Bohemians in the opening weeks. While last week’s draw away to Waterford saw Sligo take a well deserved point from a long trip to the RSC.
Games involving Galway this year have been close with Drogheda coming away with a narrow one goal win on the first day of the season. United saw their clash with St Patrick’s Athletic rained off the following week, days before John Caulfield’s side took an impressive draw from the home of the 2024 champions, Shelbourne.
In team news, and as per Thursday morning, Rovers will be without Shane Blaney who picked up a hamstring injury in that game in the south east.
Cian Kavanagh, who headed the winner on our last visit to EDP in September 2025 returns following a short illness. While new signings Sean McHale and James McManus will be available. A few players will undergo late fitness tests to determine their ability to take part.
“It’s going to be a huge Connacht derby and given the time of year we’re at, it’ll be under the lights and in front of what I expect will be a big crowd and a big atmosphere”, Russell tells sligorovers.com, previewing the game.
“I was pleased with the result in Waterford last week and it was an ideal and much improved reaction from the defeat to Bohs the week before. We were a lot more solid, first to second balls and defended our box really well. We asked for a reaction and we got it.
“We now go to Galway and it’s a massive game for both sides.
“They’ve added a lot of bodies in the winter. Some we know, some we don’t. So in that way, they’re somewhat of an unknown but I’m happy that we’ve analysed them well.
“They’ve got a very experienced manager in John.
“He knows how to get results from his players. He’s a cup and league winner and we know the way he likes his teams to play. They can smother you if you let them so we have to be ready. They’ll be looking to play off a big home crowd and we may have to quieten things down early on.
“But we’re going there to get a result as we do every game. We had to shuffle things around a bit last week and we’re hopeful we’ll have as many bodies available as possible.
“We know there’s a big Rovers crowd coming down to pack out the away end once more and the players are really looking forward to getting going on Friday night.”
David Goulden