Sligo Rovers host Finn Harps on Saturday in The Showgounds in the SSE Airtricity League.

All of the club’s season ticket holders will be present at the game with the attendance increased to 800 for the match at the traditional 7:45pm on Saturday night slot in Sligo.

The match is available on LOITV.

Rovers have edged the two games with Harps so far this year by one goal, 1-0 and 3-2, and sit in third place in the league.

Exits from the Europa Conference League and the FAI Cup were part of four defeats in July for the Bit O’ Red.

Rovers had a vacant weekend last week due to the postponement of the match with Dundalk so they return to the Showgrounds determined to bounce back from the disappointing period.

In team news, Robbie McCourt will miss out (wrist). He will come into consideration later this month.

Danny Kane is doubtful with a hamstring injury.

Ed McGinty is fit again and available to play.

John Mahon and Niall Morahan had injuries from the FAI Cup game with Cork City but have recovered and are available.

Liam Buckley said: “We’ve been anxious to play a game in truth. We’ve trained a lot the last two weeks and the lads have applied themselves well. The extra week has allowed us to get more players fully recovered and from a squad point of view, we’re in a good place going into Saturday with greater numbers.

“It was a bad month in terms of results. We have to look forward because there is no point looking back on what is gone.

“We’ve got 16 games to come in the league and it’s all to play for. We know looking at the table that anything is possible and a couple of positive results will go a long way keeping in mind the proximity of the two teams above us.

“Finn Harps are in need of the points as well so it’s going to be a really competitive game.

“We’re all in this together at this club and I know our supporters want to see the team at their best. They know if the team can be at it, then we’ve a very exciting few months to come.

“Our focus is on that and we’ll be doing all we can to get the result on Saturday. It is important we respond and find a result and performance so we look forward to the game.”  

The Bit O’ Red are back in action this Saturday night at 7.45pm at The Showgrounds against North West neighbours Finn Harps.

With 800 supporters permitted to attend this game, we are now asking Season Pack holders to arrive to the turnstiles on Saturday night and produce your season ticket booklet.

This booklet is unique to you and will be checked, along with Valid ID on the night to allow you access to the match.

Anyone who turns up without a their Season Pack booklet will be refused entry. This will be strictly implemented.

Seats in both the Treacy Avenue Stand and Jink’s Avenue Stand will be first come, first served and will be marked out for social distancing purposes.

The Pet Stop Stand will also be open as well as a small number of standing spaces at the near, Nazareth House End.

We are asking all supporters in attendance to remember to keep apart by sitting only in seats that are permitted to be used. Face coverings must also be worn at all times, to increase everyone’s safety.

We will have a limited amount of general sale tickets for The PetStop End and Standing area at The Showgrounds on Friday on sale between 2pm and 4pm.

All tickets are priced €15 with no concessions.

This will be strictly a maximum of TWO tickets per person, with no exceptions.

Sales will be in The Showgrounds only with no sales over the phone or digitally. We will ask for details for contact tracing.

We thank all supporters for their patience and support.

The club will be permitted to increase our capacity for our upcoming games against Finn Harps (this Saturday 7.45pm) and Derry City (Saturday August 21st 7.45pm) to 800, in line with government and public health guidelines.

Rovers are currently working with our ticketing partner on a new system which will allow all Season Pack holders to redeem a unique barcode through our ticketing portal, enabling them to redeem their barcode to download a match ticket for each home match, until their Season Match Pack book is fully used.

These supporters would then print their E Ticket and present it on match night at the turnstiles, along with one ticket from their booklet.

Season Pack holders will receive instructions in the next day or so with this information, once finalised. We urge supporters to please check their emails, including their spam or junk folders.

If Season Pack holders are in any doubt about the email address provided at the time of purchase, please email your correct email address without delay to colinfeehily@sligorovers.com

Once finalised, this system will allow the club to give Season Pack holders an opportunity and a deadline to avail of their ticket for each game and after this point an amount of general sale tickets would be available at The Showgrounds at a designated time one day before the fixture.

It is hoped this system will help those supporters who may not have had an opportunity to purchase a Season Pack for this season the chance to attend our games again, having missed out previously.

Away supporters will be unable to attend The Showgrounds until further notice.

We thank all our supporters for their support and patience in recent times.

The opening round of the cup dominates the fixtures of our men’s academy this weekend with the U19s solely on league duty. Our WU17 are on their travels for the second week running as our WU19 take their obligatory weekend off from the seven-team league.

The entire WU17 side will be buoyed by last weekend’s 5-2 dismantling of Bohemians in Dublin as they make their way to Donegal on Saturday evening. Rebecca Doddy and Anna Meade may be smiling brighter than most however, the former scored her first ever hat trick for Sligo Rovers last weekend while Anna celebrated her goal in the same game with a call up to the Irish Assessments panel last Monday 26^th (Anna was one of five Sligo Rovers players called up). Rovers sit third in the table, six and seven points behind Galway and Shamrock Rovers respectively, albeit with a game in hand. Donegal had started the season well but have failed to win any of their last three games, losing two. (KO – Saturday 5.30pm)

Our unbeaten U19 men’s side host UCD this weekend looking to keep pace with Shamrock Rovers at the top of the league, both teams have identical records with Shams just shading it on goal difference. UCD should provide a stern test having only been beaten once this season (W2 D2 L1) while the students tally of 18 goals is the second highest in the league, ahead of Rovers and trailing only Shams. Eanna Clancy (4) and Josh Mulrennan (3) are our top scorers and both men were on target as we beat Longford 2-0 last weekend, continuing the trend of one or both men scoring in every game for us so far this season. (KO – Sunday 2pm)

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Rovers and Athlone meet in the U14 Cup 1^st round, both happy for a break from their league travails after suffering 6-2 and 8-0 defeats respectively in recent games. An early goal for Rovers and we can be confident of a first win of the season away to an Athlone side who have already suffered 7-0 and 8-0 defeats this season on home turf. (KO – Saturday 12pm)

The opening round of the Mark Farren cup takes place at the Sean Fallon Centre on Saturday afternoon as our U17 side host Derry City. Derry sit second in the league, one point and one place above Rovers and were victorious in our only prior meeting this season, a 3-1 win in Derry four weeks ago. However, Rovers have won all three games since then, scoring seven and conceding none, while Derry have won just once in that period, drawing the other two. (KO – Saturday 2pm)

The preview ends as it began, in Donegal, as our U15s take on Finn Harps in the first round of their cup incarnation. It was ‘one of those days’ for our boys on Thursday night against Derry where everything went wrong, a complete once off that didn’t sync up with how the lads have played all season to this point. The result was an anomaly and to add to the tragicomedy of it all – Rovers had beaten Derry 1-0 away just seven days prior. Finn Harps have beaten us twice (4-2 and 0-2) this season so what better way to avenge all three results than a win on the road this Sunday. (KO – Sunday 2pm)

Richard Mullan

Sligo Rovers have supported Sligo Pride Festival after the pride flag was raised at The Showgrounds ahead of the events next week.

Officials from the Sligo Pride Festival joined us yesterday to raise the flag in support of the event. It will remain flying in The Showgrounds for the coming weeks.

The festival aims to promote respect and inclusion and to provide representation and community connection for the Sligo LGBTRQIA+ community.

Details of the Sligo Pride Festival are available on their social media channel.

Sligo Rovers chief executive Colin Feehily said: “We’re delighted to welcome some of the organisers of the Sligo Pride Festival and raise their flag as a ceremonial launch of the event.

“At Sligo Rovers we seek to create an environment where everyone is made welcome and included as part of our community.

“We wish the Sligo Pride organisers the best with their events and hope all of our supporters who take part enjoy the week.”

Our U14 side kicked off the weekends action playing host to Finn Harps on Friday evening at the Sean Fallon Centre, the game played in front of a good crowd split almost evenly between home and away fans. The balmy conditions allowed for a slow start before the away side struck twice in sixty seconds midway through the first half, with a third goal coming ten minutes later to effectively kill the contest. Rovers had the better chances of an entertaining second half but neither keeper was beaten as Harps departed Sligo with three points to accompany their three goals.

On Saturday afternoon our U17 Womens’ and Mens’ sides travelled to Dublin (Bohemians) and Athlone respectively, both sides returning home with a win apiece.  Rebecca Doddy was the star of the show for the women, her superb hat trick helping Rovers up to third in the table. Alicia Hogge and Anna Meade also scored their first goals of the season as we ran out 5-2 winners in the end. Down by the Shannon, Conor Campbell scored the only goal of the game to make it three wins on the bounce for our U17 side. The result sends Rovers third and just three points off top spot while Conor is also our top scorer in the league this season after he found the net against Dundalk and Derry City.

Josh Mulrennan (3 goals in 5 games) and Eanna Clancy (4 in 5) were once again on the scoresheet on Sunday afternoon, the second time this season both men have scored in the same game, as our U19s beat Longford Town 2-0 away from home. Rovers remain unbeaten, having only dropped two points this season, and currently sit joint-top of the league with Shamrock Rovers after five games. Shams dropped points after drawing 3-3 with UCD, a team Rovers welcome to the Showgrounds this coming Sunday.

Our U15 side remain third in the league after a 4-2 defeat in a terrific game at league leaders Finn Harps on Sunday evening. It was our boys second away game in four days after a tremendous 1-0 win in Derry on Thursday night. Kyle McDonagh and Garry Farren scored their first goals of the season in Ballybofey but it wasn’t enough for the lads against a strong Harps side. Finally, staying in Donegal, our Womens U19 side were leapfrogged in the table by our hosts after we suffered a 3-1 defeat, Jessica Casey with our consolation on the night. Rovers slip to fifth in the league but remain three points off second with one game remaining.

Upcoming Games  This Week:

Derry City U14 vs Sligo Rovers U14 – Wednesday July 28 @ 5.30pm

Sligo Rovers U15 vs Derry City U15 – Thursday July 29 @ 7.30pm

Sligo Rovers U17 W vs Shamrock Rovers U17W – Saturday July 31 @ 4pm

Sligo Rovers U19 vs UCD U19 – Sunday August 1 @ 2pm

Richard Mullan

Sligo Rovers return to action on Sunday as Cork City visit for a first round FAI Cup tie at The Showgrounds, kick-off 5pm.

After a disappointing week, as the Bit O’ Red exited the Europa Conference League and suffered a league defeat in the aftermath, Rovers play a Cup tie in front of 600 supporters against First Division City.

The match is available on LOI TV. Kick-off is 5pm.

In team news, Robbie McCourt is two weeks away from availability after a wrist problem. Edward McGinty has returned to training following ankle ligament trouble. He will not be ready for this game but will come into the mix imminently.

John Mahon has trained all week and is available, while Greg Bolger returns from suspension.

Liam Buckley said: “It was a difficult week and I don’t think we’ve played particularly badly over the games which makes it harder. We’re all hurting but you have to take that hurt and move on.

“There’s no sympathy in this business. When you have a week like we did, there’s no time to feel sorry for yourself. Winners are workers and anything we’ve done this season has been achieved by hard work.

“We had a good conversation after training today about looking forward and we start with this Sunday.

“We took some time to regroup at the start of the week, we had some good sessions bearing in mind the conditions in Sligo this week where the heat has been exceptional and we’ve had to balance that. The squad is strong in terms of numbers now as well. Robbie McCourt will be back next month and Edward is training too now.

“The FAI Cup is a fantastic competition and it’s cut throat as well. You get one chance and that’s it. We know the rewards of the occasions of semi-finals and the club has got to finals in the last decade so everyone is aware of what is at stake.

“Cork are in something of a transitional period and we have to be wary of their threats. They’ve been in lots of tight games in the First Division this season.

“We want to reward our supporters as they come back to the stadium and it’s unfortunate the past couple of weeks have gone the way they have as they do return. I understand there’ll be 600 on Sunday which is fantastic and we would like to give them something to cheer.

“We’re looking forward to the game, we’ll be doing our utmost to get through and produce a good performance.”

All six of our academy sides will be back in action this weekend beginning with the U14 side at home on Friday night. The rest of the fixtures will see our men and women heading out on the road on Saturday and Sunday.

Our youngest lads take on Finn Harps on Friday evening at the Showgrounds looking for their first win of the season (D1, L2) while also looking for revenge from the opening weekends corresponding fixture – a 3-0 win for the home side in Ballybofey. Scoring goals has been Rovers problem so far this season with just the one scored in our opening three matches, however, we do have the joint second best defence in the 5-team league.

Our U15 side play twice in four days starting with a victory over Derry City last night, the current league leaders. Rovers then make their way to Donegal to meet Finn Harps on Sunday afternoon, again with revenge in mind, after the latter were victorious by two goals to nil on the opening day of the season.

The U17 team will be in Athlone on Saturday at 3pm looking to make it three wins in a row. With the top sides, Drogheda and Dundalk, playing each other the same day, Rovers can end the weekend inside the top two. Confidence should be high in the camp after back-to-back wins and consecutive clean sheets have fired us up the league table.

Rovers’ U19 men go to Longford on Sunday afternoon hoping to keep their unbeaten run intact. A thrilling 3-2 win over Finn Harps last weekend moved us up to second, two points behind Shamrock Rovers. Longford sit second from bottom after a 3-0 home loss to the league leaders last weekend, their sixteen goals conceded being the worst in the league, whereas Rovers have scored ten times in our last three games and will expect to add to that on Sunday.

The first of our women’s fixtures this weekend sees the U17s travel to Dublin to take on Bohemians on Saturday. Both sides are level on three points in the league but Rovers have a game in hand on their capital rivals. Bohs picked up their first win of the season last weekend after losing 5-0 and 12-0 in their two prior games, Rovers will be hoping to record a first win since the opening weekend victory at home to Donegal.

Finally, on Sunday our U19 women travel north to take on Donegal hoping to make it two wins in a row. Rovers were terrific in the 1-0 win last weekend against Bray, Nola Eivers rocket sending us fourth and just three points off the top. Donegal sit one place and two points below us having played one game fewer but have failed to win since their opening day victory over Bohemians.

Richard Mullan

The draw for our monthly 500 Club prizes took place this week, with ten supporters being picked out to win some cash.

The winner of the top prize of €500 was Eileen Rossiter from Collooney. Eileen joined The 500 Club recently and is now the lucky winner of the top prize.

Donal Kearns, a Sligo native now living in New York won the second prize of €100 along with four other members, Barbara McLynn, Alan Tiernan, Martin Carr and Gary & Ita Morahan.

There were also four members that won €50. Tom McSharry, Patrick Conlon, Edward Carroll and Barry Rafter.

Full results:

€500 – Eileen Rossiter, Collooney, Sligo

€100 – Donal Kearns, East Elmhurst, New York

€100 – Barbara McLynn – Old Market Street, Sligo

€100 – Alan Tiernan, Cranmore, Sligo

€100 – Martin Carr, Ballina, Mayo

€100 – Gary & Ita Morahan, Kevinsfort Heath, Sligo

€50 – Tom McSharry, Teeling Street, Sligo

€50 – Patrick Conlon, Ballisodare, Sligo

€50 – Edward Carroll, Montenotte Rd, Cork

€50 – Barry Rafter, Castleroy, Limerick

Thanks for our 500 Club Committee who work tirelessly on behalf of the club every year.

To join the 500 Club for just €5 per week and be in with a chance to win the above prizes each month, click https://srfcdirect.com/fundraising/500-club/

The Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council Councillor Paul Taylor has commended the volunteers from Sligo Rovers and their neighbours at the Nazareth House for their involvement in the ‘Common Goal’ project.

An initiative supported by SSE Airtricity and the FAI, the aim of the project is for clubs to promote and implement strategies in order to enhance their local environment.

According to Councillor Taylor ‘Common Goal’ is an “excellent community initiative. It is important that local institutions such as Sligo Rovers lead out on these projects, as this serves to promote their many benefits to the wider community”.

The club focused on the ‘community clean’ theme for this month, with club staff, volunteers and members of the underage conducting a litter pick on the grounds of Nazareth House. The club enjoy a strong partnership with our neighbours in Nazareth House and we were delighted to be able to assist them with a litter pick.

Shane Crossan, Marketing Officer, explained the background to the project: “There are a few strands to the scheme, each focused on environmental themes, with our ultimate aim of developing a new sustainability plan for the Club. We look forward to working with Sligo County Council to progress this plan over the coming months”.

Noel Scott, who coordinated Nazareth House involvement in the project, said “The first phase of the series is under the banner ‘Community Cleans’ which was carried out this week by members of Rovers under age teams, and already we can see the positive results of their efforts”.

The next element of the ‘Common Goal’ project will see the club undertaking initiatives in conjunction with water efficiency. 

The ‘Common Goal’ committee is made up of Shane Crossan, Noel Scott, Kevin Colreavy, Anthony Quinn and Conor O’ Grady.