Sligo Rovers host UCD in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division in The Showgrounds on Saturday night. 

Rovers return to Saturday night action for the first time this season on the back of Liam Buckley’s first win as manager away to Finn Harps last week.

Over 5,250 home fans attended our first two games in total, of 5,589, and another good crowd is expected as the Students visit.

In team news, Johnny Dunleavy and Ronan Coughlan return to the squad after groin and hamstring problems. 

Regan Donelon (hamstring) and Ed McGinty (finger) are ruled out.  

Kyle Callan-McFadden has a back problem and is doubtful. He will be tested pre-game. 

Liam Buckley said: “There was a small improvement in our play in Ballybofey and we really had to dig it to get that win, which we did so very well. 

“It’s going to be difficult to pick up results every ground you go to, so it was brilliant to get that first three points.

“We’d like to build on that now and we’ve worked on that because we were back at it straight away after the Harps game.

“The next few weeks are just one game a week so it gives us a chance from that end to prepare properly.

“UCD may be down the bottom right now but you look at their performances, particularly last week, it’s clear they’ll be as good as many of the teams in this league. We know what we’re up against. 

“It’s going to be another hard night. 

“I’ve no doubt there’ll be a big crowd behind us again and we’ll need them fired up like the two previous matches. We’d love to get that win, it’s not going to be easy and we’ll have to be at it from the start.”

We are now entering Round 4 of our last man standing competition, with 203 players still in the running for the cash prize of €1,000.

All players who have qualified for Round 4 have been contacted, with selections to be sent to 086-4554265 or emailed to shane@sligorovers.com no later by 9pm tomorrow night (Friday).

Based on selections so far, Crystal Palace and Leicester City are proving popular among our entrants for Round 4. Should one or both of the above drop points at the weekend, there would be a huge amount exiting the competition at the fourth fence.

Fixtures for Round 4 are as follows and best of luck to all of the remaining players:

Crystal Palace vs Brighton

Cardiff vs West Ham

Huddersfield vs Bournemouth

Leicester vs Fulham

Newcastle vs Everton

Southampton vs Tottenham

Man City vs Watford

Liverpool vs Burnley

Chelsea vs Wolves

Arsenal vs Man Utd

There are just three days to go until our €10,000 bingo which will take place in the Knocknarea Arena IT Sligo this coming Sunday at 3pm.

With €10,000 guaranteed on the day, it marks one of the biggest bingo events to hit the region in quite some time.

Single books are priced at €20 while double books are €25. Doors will open at 1.30pm with tea and coffee also available.

Members of the public are encouraged to buy their books in advance if possible, to avoid potential congestion on the day. Please note limited books will be available at the door on the day.

The following are the 16 outlets in which you can purchase your bingo book:

Tanseys Centra, Gurteen

Lavins Menswear, Ballymote

Collerys, Beltra

The Showgrounds, Sligo

Maugheraboy Post Office

Matt Lyons, Sligo

Cliffoney Post Office

Gillespies, Tubbercurry

McKims, Collooney

McLeans, Ballinfull

McMorrows, Rathcormac

Kellys Barbers, Sligo

Higgins & Keegan Centra, Enniscrone

The Hilltop Culleens, Co.Sligo

Bernies Shop, Easkey

Feeneys Costcutters, Dromore West

For more information on the bingo you can contact Shane at the club on 071-9171212.

This week’s match programme for the game with UCD in The Showgrounds contains a host of features in the 44 pages.

• Interview with supporter Gerard O’Connor
• Liam Buckley – his thoughts on the game
• Leo Gray on the early days of Sligo football
• Conal Collier on why the Buggles were wrong!!
• 20 Questions with Jack Keaney
• Where are they now by Joe Molloy
• Face In The Crowd Photo, if you are picked, you win a prize
• Red Icons – James and Andy Tiernan

Make sure to purchase it on your way into the ground for €4.

Sligo Rovers are delighted to announce details of a sponsorship package with Callan Tansey Solicitors for the 2019 season.

Following on from their sponsorship back in 2018, the award winning law firm were keen to support the club once again describing their sponsorship from last year as “extremely rewarding, satisfying and great value for money”.

Callan Tansey are one of the country’s leading law firms with offices in Sligo, Boyle, Ballina, Galway and Dublin. Based on Wine street in Sligo, the firm offers legal advice and legal services for both businesses and individuals in areas such as medical claims, personal injury, business disputes and much more.

The Connacht law firm of the year for 2016 have shown their support for the Bit O’ Red yet again by exploring many sponsorship avenues with the club for 2019. This year will witness the law firm sponsoring Kyle Mc Fadden for the season, a continuation of their sign at the showgrounds, sponsorship of Sligo Rovers vs. Cork City in June and two Associate Sponsorship booklets.

Sligo Rovers would like to thank everyone at Callan Tansey Solicitors for their continued support of the club and in particular Caroline Mc Laughlin, who has worked with the club in recent weeks to develop the sponsorship package for 2019. We wish Callan Tansey Solicitors continued success and we look forward to developing our partnership with the firm going forward.

This year Wehrly Bros Jewellers will again sponsor the Sligo Rovers Player of the Month

Wehrlys are brilliant sponsors of Sligo Rovers and provide a prize for the player each month.

This selection is based on the matches with Dundalk, St Patrick’s Athletic and Cork City

Voting closes on Friday.

Vote below

Player of the Month poll

Sligo Rovers host UCD this Saturday in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division in The Showgrounds, kick-off 7:45pm.

Rovers go into the game on the back of a win over Finn Harps. With over 5,200 home fans attending our first two matches, we’d love to see another big crowd.

Tickets are available below. Click on the link, purchase and scan or print on the night.

Match Tickets

Match poster:

Round three of the Last Man Standing competition provided very little shocks over the weekend, so little that just four of the 207 players in Round three were knocked out.

Manchester United and Wolves were by far the top two picks of the weekend, with Wolves easing through while the Manchester United supporters had to sweat a little to get over the line into Round 4.

All players who have reached Round 4 will be contacted directly on Wednesday via email and/or text. For those of you who want to do their homework early, the following are the list of fixtures for Round 4:

Crystal Palace vs Brighton

Cardiff vs West Ham

Huddersfield vs Bournemouth

Leicester vs Fulham

Newcastle vs Everton

Southampton vs Tottenham

Man City vs Watford

Liverpool vs Burnley

Chelsea vs Wolves

Arsenal vs Man Utd

Liam Buckley picked up his first win in charge of Sligo Rovers as the Bit O’Red battled to beat Finn Harps in Ballybofey.

First goals for striker Romeo Parkes and winger Kris Twardek had Rovers in the driving seat.

The Donegal men however, never let their opponents out of sight and pulled one back through Daniel O’Reilly.

Sligo did create chances to put the game to bed, but didn’t require a third as Harps couldn’t fashion an equaliser.

With both sides looking for their first wins of the season, it was the away team who manufactured this contest’s first chance.

The industrious Liam Kerrigan turning his man before firing narrowly over Peter Burke’s goal.

Rovers, who lost skipper Kyle Callan-McFadden mid-way through the half, should have hit the lead on 19.

Parkes latched on to debutant Ronan Murray’s set piece from the wing, but could only nod wide despite finding himself unmarked four yards from goal.

Harps had a chance of their own just 60 seconds later.

Sligo centre half John Mahon allowed a ball bombed forward bounce at the edge of his own area.

Goalkeeper Mitchell Beeney arrived in an effort to salvage the situation but he was beaten to the ball by Nathan Boyle whose attempted lob ended up on the roof of the net.

Buckley’s charges recovered to hit the lead just short of the half hour.

Kris Twardek fed Parkes who timed his run to beat the high Harps line, before taking a touch past Burke and subsequently slotting home for his maiden goal for Rovers.

The second half was four minutes old when Sligo had their second.

Burke had pulled off a smart save to deny Murray’s snapshot but could do little about Twardek’s strike from the resulting corner, which looked to have taken a touch off a defender on its way in.

Ollie Horgan’s men didn’t lie down and halved the deficit on 56.

Loose at the back stick, O’Reilly powered his header past Beeney from a Caolan McAleer corner at the town end of the ground. 

Parkes went close from another headed effort from a Murray free-kick on 78.

While O’Reilly did just enough to divert Dante Leverock’s shot from close range after Jack Keaney’s corner caused trouble in the Harps box.

Finn Harps: Peter Burke; Daniel O’Reilly, Jacob Borg, Keith Cowan; John Kavanagh, Mark Russell (Caolan McAleer 55); Gareth Harkin, Mark Coyle (Niall McGinley 83); Raff Cretaro; Nathan Boyle, Sean Boyd (Mikey Place 79).

Sligo Rovers: Mitchell Beeney; Niall Morahan, John Mahon, Dante Leverock, Lewis Banks; Jack Keaney (David Cawley 87), Kyle Callan-McFadden (Sam Warde 24); Kris Twardek, Ronan Murray (Daryl Fordyce 93), Liam Kerrigan; Romeo Parkes.

Referee: Derek Tomney.