The Sligo Rovers Annual Draw has now surpassed €20,000 in sales with three weeks left to go.

Online sales and sales around the country are continuing to grow.

There are 10 prizes to be won in total, including two €500 vouchers for Petstop Discount Warehouse & Fuel Centre along with a mouth-watering €5,000 first prize.

Tickets are priced at €10 and can be purchased here.

Tickets are now on sale in the club shop in Barton Smiths, Bay View Stores in Rosses Point and Centra in Cartron.

All support is greatly appreciated and a special thanks to everyone who has supported the draw so far.

There are also a host of Sligo Rovers, Republic of Ireland and Premier League related prizes, including season tickets, match tickets and jerseys.

The Annual Draw finances a major part of Sligo Rovers’ income each year, generating up to €80,000 for the club.

CLICK HERE TO BUY ANNUAL DRAW TICKETS

Much of this is sourced in door to door sales around the north-west as well as through businesses and individuals who meet socially.

This year, with many of those opportunities restricted, we are asking fans to move their purchasing and sales online where possible.

Books of 10 tickets and individual tickets are now available on SRFCDirect, with tickets set to be sent via e-mail before the draw.

Click here to buy individual tickets

Sellers

• Mark Cummins – Strandhill & Sligo Town  – 087 9293527
• Brendan Lacken – Skreen & West Sligo– 087 6175235
• Andy Dodd – Calry & Hazelwood – 087 2464131
• Michael Toolan – Tubbercurry & Ballymote – 087 9293318
• David Finn – South Sligo & Tubbercurry Area – 086 1774448
• Michael Clancy  – Glencar & Sligo Town – 087 2388215
• Anthony Quinn – North Sligo – 086 1963073
• Gary Kilcullen – Sligo Town – 087 6492752

One of the most stylish wingers to grace Sligo Showgrounds, the late Tony Cavanagh, is to be remembered in the next section of the Bit o’ Red Wall at Sligo Showgrounds.

The first phase, made up of 315 individual tiles was erected last year. According to Colin Feehily, chief executive of Sligo Rovers, “plans for a new section, with Joseph Ndo featuring on the first tile, are attracting lots of interest. It’s a great way to celebrate a link with the club and we plan to have all the tiles for the next section of the wall sold and in place for the opening of the new season.”

Belfast-born striker, Tony Cavanagh, was signed by Billy Sinclair after Rovers won the League in 1977. The skilful performances he delivered during his two seasons at The Showgrounds earned him a reputation that remains intact forty years later.

‘Cav’ came to Sligo from Dundalk where he and fellow-winger, Jimmy Dainty, were key players in a side managed by Jim Mc Laughlin. A native of Belfast, he had been coaxed to Oriel Park after a season with Irish League side, Glentoran, by Des Casey.

In Sligo his modest personality and great sense of humour made an instant impression on everyone he met. He lodged with Bridie and Tommy Callaghan in Emmet Place. It was a great address for football because Tommy’s father and namesake had scored the first ever goal for Sligo Rovers in senior soccer.

Cav’s fellow lodger was Donegal-born left winger, Marty Kelly. They became part of the Sligo streetscape – Tony in the long, dark coat and Marty in a blue version. He loved banter and was a regular visitor at lunchtime to the Houze household in Market Street.

But Tony Cavanagh’s reputation was earned by his football skills. He had wonderful ball control, he was a great dribbler and to complement all, he was fearless. Often on poor surfaces, where the pace of the ball was slowed by rain and mud, defenders frequently targeted the jinking winger.

Television coverage of the League of Ireland was very limited, action replays and slow-mo technology didn’t feature and there was no tradition of protecting and encouraging expressive players like Cav.

He frequently played when carrying an injury because football was his full-time work. Several of the Sligo Rovers squad had lined out against him when he played for Dundalk. The likes of Tony Fagan, Paul Fielding, Graham Fox, Tony Stenson, Chris Rutherford, Mick Leonard, Gary Hulmes and Padraig Mc Manus became his close friends after he came to the Showgrounds.

Tony Cavanagh died far too young, aged 54, in August 2003. He was survived by his mother, his two sisters and his two daughters. He was laid to rest in Belfast’s Milltown Cemetery.

The inscription on the Tony Cavanagh tile, sponsored by an anonymous fan, will read

Tony Cavanagh

Classy Winger

We Remember You

As well as enhancing the ground, the Bit O’Red Wall helps to provide funds for Sligo Rovers. It is one more example of the initiatives taken by the club to make the Showgrounds as the beating heart of Sligo and a standard-bearer for the League of Ireland.

It is anticipated that fans may wish to purchase a tile on the wall as a Christmas gift. Shane Crossan is overseeing the work. Tiles may be bought by using the Sligo Rovers website or by phoning Shane at 087-7526445. They are also available between now and Christmas Eve at Barton Smith Sport, Sligo at our official club shop.

To order a tile online, you can click https://srfcdirect.com/fundraising/bit-ored-wall/

Alternatively, to purchase a tile over the phone, or to seek more information, you can contact Shane on the above number.

Every year our loyal outlets across the region are always here to help and support the club with season ticket sales.

This year is no different with our 12 Match Ticket Pack for 2021, with five retail outlets throughout the region in addition to The Showgrounds and our club shop at Barton Smiths.

The following is a list of retail outlets where you can purchase your 2021 Match Ticket Packs.

• Collery’s Menswear, Grattan Street, Sligo
• Lavin’s Menswear, Ballymote
• Collery’s Shop, Beltra
• Tansey’s Centra, Gurteen
• Gerry Kenny Sport, Ballina
• Barton Smiths, Sligo
• The Showgrounds office

We wish to take this opportunity to thank our outlets for their assistance as always.

Our match packs for 2021 were launched this week and has received a huge amount of goodwill and interest to date.

You can purchase your tickets at www.srfcdirect.com or through any of the above outlets.

Sligo Rovers can today announce ticketing information for the 2021 season, providing unique value and based on trying to guarantee supporters being able to use tickets in The Showgrounds.

The club recently wrote to our supporters offering refunds on 2020 tickets.

The loyalty of our supporters was shown when not one season ticket holder applied for a refund of any sort, and we sincerely thank them for that.

We will now introduce a new ticketing system which will be similar to our traditional season tickets, which are always a popular Christmas present for Sligo Rovers supporters at this time of year.

The system is based on offering value and a view point for our fans returning to The Showgrounds, as well supporting local businesses.

We are releasing a 12-match ticketing system, where supporters can buy 12 tickets to our 2021 SSE Airtricity League matches and can redeem them based on numbers allowed attend these fixtures.

If at the end of 2021 you have not used all your match tickets, we will carry those remaining tickets forward to the 2022 season to then be used.

The categories are as follows:

–          Adult 12 Match Ticket Pack (€150) – Click here to purchase

–          Elderly/Concession/3^rd Level Student 12 Match Ticket pack (€100) – Click here to purchase

–          Super Red and Secondary school 12 Match Ticket pack (€55) – Click here to purchase

We are aware that, realistically, our supporters will not all be able to attend every home fixture next season, given that limited attendances due to Covid-19 restrictions are expected to remain in place in the coming months.

The club have also teamed up with some local businesses in Sligo to reward our fans.

We are giving a booklet of discount vouchers for a number of businesses in Sligo to every supporter who purchases a 2021 season match pack. These discounts equal the cost of the match packages.

This will act as a way of creating business for some of our local sponsors and helping them through their most challenging times and allow our supporters to get the best of Sligo retail. It is a vital time to support our business community.

The booklet includes six vouchers, from local businesses The Clayton Hotel, EJ Menswear, Pet Stop Discount Warehouse, Wehrly’s Jewellers, The Riverside Hotel and The Belfry Bar/Embassy Steakhouse.

Our popular Super Red package will again contain a special package for our youngest supporters, including exciting new academy training sessions with the club’s new Head of Academy and club coaches.

If supporters use up their 12 match tickets before the season ends, and the club have further league fixtures remaining in the season, supporters may be permitted to purchase individual match tickets, if restrictions on numbers allow.

Those who have purchased these match packs will be given priority in purchasing any further match tickets or tickets for European matches and cup competitions.

If the attendance permitted to any game is less than the amount of tickets sold, an open draw will be conducted to determine who can attend the fixture. Those who miss out on certain games can use them in 2021.

If the attendance permitted to any game is greater than the amount of match pack tickets sold, the club will then issue a number of individual match tickets for each fixture for general sale.

We are aware that this is a unique ticketing system, however, we feel it is a much more reasonable way of asking our most dedicated supporters to purchase a traditional season ticket, rather than putting a standard season ticket for sale for the usual 18 home game season, taking into account the probable cap on attendances, especially in the early parts of 2021.

We want to thank our sponsors and supporters for their continued support of Sligo Rovers FC.

Tickets are available to purchase here now or in the club store in Barton Smith’s, as well as The Showgrounds.

Sligo Rovers are delighted to announce that the club’s Christmas shop is now open in Barton Smiths Sports located in Sligo Town.

The club shop will be open every day up to and including Christmas Eve.

The opening hours are 9.30am-6pm Monday to Saturday and 2pm-6pm on Sundays.

Sales on our latest range of merchandise have exceeded expectation in recent weeks, with the new Joma apparel proving more popular than ever.

We are aware that some stock lines are now sold out, however we are hoping to have a re stock on items leading into Christmas, please keep an eye on the website daily for updates on www.srfcdirect.com and our social media.

We’d like to assure supporters that anything already purchased online will be delivered in time for Christmas.

We will issue a further update on final postage days soon.

We also have a click and collect service available. You will receive a collection point via e-mail, not immediately, but within 24 hours of your purchase.

For all enquiries contact shane@sligorovers.com

Sligo Rovers would like to thank David and Helen of Barton Smiths for being so accommodating to the club.

We look forward to welcoming you all to the shop in the coming weeks in a safe manner.

Sligo Rovers and Republic of Ireland Under-21 international Ed McGinty has signed a new two-year contract to stay at The Showgrounds for the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

McGinty has excelled for Rovers this season, playing every second of our 21 matches and being a major part of the club’s fourth-place finish in the league.

The 21-year-old made his senior debut in 2017 and established himself as number one midway through the last campaign.

The 2020 season has been a breakthrough one for the Motherwell-born Irish underage international, firstly being called up by Jim Crawford and then starting two qualifiers against Iceland and Luxembourg.

He has been nominated for senior player of the season for Rovers after several man of the match performances.

Speaking to www.sligorovers.com, McGinty said: “I wanted to commit long-term to the club. I feel we’re just getting started. Even though it’s been a long year, there’s a bit of sadness that it is over because I think we’re showing our standing in the league.

“Fourth is not going to satisfy me, I want the club to be challenging at the top in the next couple of years and win trophies. That’s why I’m staying.

“We’ve come from a difficult start, being at the bottom and getting up to fourth place. I thought we did well yesterday and our mindset has to move to now being among the best teams in this league because we are that and we’ve got so much more in us.

“Everything is in place for us to keep progressing, when we start next season we won’t be among the best teams in the division. We’ll have to go out and show it. I’ve signed today because I want to be part of it when we do.”

McGinty has also experienced international football this season, including starting two competitive games.

“Playing in the game was amazing. It was unfortunate what happened to Gav (Gavin Bazunu) and I got the call quite late that I would be starting. I felt a lot of emotions and I was just so proud to be playing for Ireland.  I was nervous of course but it was amazing. It was one of my goals to play Under-21 level. It was brilliant to be part of set-up, and it also showed me how well Sligo do in terms of that as well because we have a top-class set-up too. It’s not far off. I loved working with the coaches and the best players at the level.”

McGinty will play European football next season with Rovers. He has praised the manager and his Rovers team-mates for helping his progress this year.

The 21-year-old referenced Declan McIntyre and Rodney Dalzell for their help in his own development, and Leo Tierney for aiding his mental toughness this season.

His improvements are modestly described but the goalkeeper is keen to hit new heights.

“The gaffer is brilliant, he makes you want to win for him as well as the team and yourself. He brings a presence to us. You can see the impact he has had. He has shown faith in me since early on and that gives me a lot confidence.

“Leo has been the perfect fit for me as a coach. He knows how to work with me and what I need on any given day. So as well as the coaching, there’s no doubt on the mental side of it that he has been a major influence. He can just know on what I need to hear or not and that’s been great to work with.

“I do feel I’m getting better but I also feel there are more levels in me and I can go further. I think that is to come over the next couple of years and I have to keep working to get there.  

“The squad has been amazing, there’s not one bad egg and we’ve done well. I’m looking forward to being part of it again next year. We can’t just accept getting to Europe for a season.”

McGinty also paid tribute to coach Brian Dorrian for his work with the senior and Under-19 side.

“I don’t think people see what ‘Dinky’ does for the club. The likes of Niall Morahan, John Mahon and myself have come into the first-team through Brian’s coaching and one-on-one work with us over the years. There’s many more Under-19 players in the squad.

“I travel with him to Sligo each day and he’s a really big influence in terms of what he brings to the first-team dressing-room, for the spirit and as well part of the coaching staff. He was the one who brought me over from Scotland as a 16-year-old. I’m very grateful to him and he’s the type of guy who creates the environment we have.”

Manager Liam Buckley said: “We’re delighted. There was a lot of interest in Ed, which is no surprise given his performances and elevation to international level.

“It’s an important signing for the make-up of our squad, Ed is a fantastic goalkeeper and he has made steady progress over a period of time. Luke McNicholas is another brilliant goalkeeper that we have here.

“We are in the building process of putting a squad together to improve us and having Ed in that squad is a big part of that. He has done really well for us.

“The international recognition was well-deserved, a great honour and Ed has to aspire to keep progressing. That requires staying dedicated and working hard.

“I want him to grow into a role here and prove next year how good he can be.

“We will continue with the squad building progress. The club and I will be working tirelessly over the next few weeks on that process.”

Tonight we have qualified for European football in 2021, coming from the bottom of the table to defy all expectations.

Our players ran through walls and stood by us, our community rallied to unprecedented levels and we achieved it all together.

Our Rovers, back in Europe, rising again to a new day.

Video by Big Adventure media with thanks to Mark McGuire, Rory Houston, Tommie Gorman, Austin O’Callaghan, James Fallon and the Bit O’ Red Supporters Trust.

Shamrock Rovers overcame Sligo Rovers 2-0 at Tallaght Stadium in the Extra.ie FAI Cup final.  

Aaron McEneff netted twice in the first half of this semi-final, as Sligo, who performed in fits and starts, failed to find the target.

It was the hosts who enjoyed the ideal start as they hit the lead just four minutes in. 

Jack Byrne’s free-kick was deflected away for a corner before the same player’s resulting set-piece was flicked into the path of McEneff by Liam Scales. 

McEneff quickly controlled the ball before turning and smashing it past Sligo goalkeeper Ed McGinty from close range. 

Somewhat startled by their poor start, the visitors turned up a really decent chance to level the tie on the quarter hour. 

What looked like a mis-hit Lewis Banks effort bounced its way into the path of team-mate Junior. But last year’s top scorer snatched at the chance as he blazed over from 10 yards. 

Marshall wasn’t far away from the Hoops’ second on in the 24th minute.

The full-back making the most of slack defending from Regan Donelon who got caught on the wrong side of Marshall. The ex-Glenavon man’s looping header however, sailed narrowly over McGinty’s crossbar. 

Stephen Bradley’s side then enjoyed a short spell of almost total dominance but couldn’t make it count. 

Graham Burke came close but curled one around the Sligo post the half hour after good work again from Marshall down the right. 

After a pedestrian opening, Liam Buckley’s charges then began to dictate play. 

Ronan Coughlan’s snapshot wasn’t too far off the mark in the 32nd minute, while Banks, now a real threat from right back, saw Mannus fall on his effort from long range. 

Now on top, the men from the west spurned their best opportunity of the half. 

Again Banks was the menace as he found Coughlan from out wide. All the striker had to do was put the ball either side of Mannus, but the Limerick native’s header was straight at the Northern Ireland international. 

All of Sligo’s work was however undone on the stroke of half-time. 

Marshall’s ball took a deflection of Niall Morahan before McEneff gathered possession 30 yards from goal. The Derry man drove into the space which opened up in front of him before firing past McGinty for his brace. 

The Bit O’Red enjoyed plenty of the play early in the second period, but it was the Dubliners who fashioned the chances. 

McGinty was able to throw his cap on Sean Kavanagh’s placed effort from the left side after some intricate passing from the Hoops attack in front of the Sligo area. 

While Dylan Watts was unable to make the most of McGinty’s mistake shortly after the hour mark, when the Sligo goalkeeper left his goal line in attempt to keep Kavangh’s cross in play. 

The ball coming off the determined Burke at the end line as it made its way to Watts who could only sky his shot from 15 yards. 

Coughlan screwed wide, what was Sligo’s first real shot in anger of the second period mid-way through the half. Last year’s beaten semi-finalist continuing to struggle to hurt their opponents despite their improvement. 

Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus; Lee Grace, Joey O’Brien, Liam Scales; Rhys Marshall, Sean Kavanagh (Danny Lafferty 75); Ronan Finn (Darragh Nugent 89), Jack Byrne (Neil Farrugia 75), Aaron McEneff; Dylan Watts (Greg Bolger 75); Graham Burke (Dean Williams 82). 

Sligo Rovers: Ed McGinty; Lewis Banks, Garry Buckley, John Mahon, Regan Donelon; David Cawley (Danny Kane 75), Niall Morahan (Darragh Noone 68); Jesse Devers (Alex Cooper HT), Ryan De Vries (Will Seymor 68), Junior; Ronan Coughlan. 

Referee: Paul McLaughlin. 

Sligo Rovers take on Shamrock Rovers in the Extra.ie FAI Cup semi-final in Tallaght Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Kick-off is 2pm for the match to be broadcast on WATCHLOI and Ocean FM.

The Bit O’ Red are competing in the semi-final for the second year in succession.

It’s the first semi-final between the sides in the competition since 2013.

Liam Buckley has led Rovers to their best league season since that year after finishing fourth in the table.

In team news, Niall Morahan and Jesse Devers return from suspension. Ronan Murray and Johnny Dunleavy miss out through injury.

Liam Buckley said: “Winning was all that counted on Wednesday. It wasn’t a performance we were overly happy with and we certainly need to improve on that. But in the FAI Cup, it’s all about the result and winning in whatever way you can. The most important thing was we progressed.

“The players will one day look back on their career and what they won during it, and that means medals and trophies. It’s why we’re here. There’s a lot at stake so hopefully we can give a performance. I can’t tell you hard how our players have worked. That’s in the gym, at home, at training, being away from their families and all throughout a challenging year. I’m glad they got the reward of finishing fourth and I would love them to have a FAI Cup final as well. We know what is at stake here.

“We’ve reflected back on our last game against Shamrock Rovers on what improvements we can make from it. That said, we played them four times last year, won one, drew two and lost one I think. It was a tight game at the start of the year, even with all of the injuries we had. There wasn’t a lot in it. They played well the last day, there is no doubt about that with a 4-0 scoreline. I’m hoping it can be a bit tighter at the weekend.

“We’ll go with a plan to try to progress to the final. Playing Wednesday to Sunday is not absolutely ideal, we’d like a week of course, but it’s not an issue for us. It’s a semi-final, we go there with a plan in place to get the result. We’ll be as ready as we can be.   

“We know Shamrock Rovers are best team in the league by a stretch. I’m sure they will cause us problems and we have to curtail what we can. We know the run they’ve been on but we don’t think they’re unbeatable. We’ve got a lot of quality players in our group as well. The players have shown that and I feel there is more to come from us. This is a stage to show it.

“It’s a great game to be involved in and while I know there won’t be supporters, we’re all aware they’ll be looking at WATCHLOI. We appreciate all the good wishes and we’re going to give it our all to try to get through to the final.”

Sligo Rovers will head to Tallaght to face Shamrock Rovers in the first of this Sunday’s FAI Cup semi-finals after they overcame Derry City at the Showgrounds.

Only a penalty shoot-out could separate the sides after two hours of football which failed to provide a goal.

Sligo did miss one of their four penalties but misses from Conor McCormack and Walter Figueira left Ibrahim Meita with the pressure kick, which he fired wide, and so the hosts prevailed 3-1 from the spot kicks. 

Despite having their recent training regime hit by several Covid cases since their last outing over two weeks ago, it was the visitors who started this game the livelier.

James Akintunde provided Ed McGinty with his first test of the evening three minutes in. McGinty keeping hold of Akintunde’s header after the striker rose to meet Ciaran Coll’s cross.

This was also a sluggish looking Sligo’s first game since their win over Dundalk at Oriel Park 16 days previous.

A combination of McGinty and Ronan Coughlan proving just enough to keep Gerardo Bruno’s free-kick from creeping in at the front post 23 minutes in as Liam Buckley’s men struggled to find their feet.

City enjoyed the better of this opening half but could have fell behind through a sucker punch on 33 as Rovers carved out their first opportunity.

Ex-Derry ace Junior’s disguised ball played Coughlan in, but City net minder Peter Cherrie spread himself well to block Coughlan’s drive from the angle. While Garry Buckley’s well struck volley from the resulting corner reminded Declan Devine’s charges of Sligo’s potential fire power. The stand-in centre half shooting narrowly over.

Despite spending the opening 45 on the back foot, the hosts manufactured another chance to open the scoring in the opening moments of the second period. But the unmarked Alex Cooper failed to find his bearings as he mis-judged the flight of Coughlan’s flick to the back post from a Regan Donelon cross.

Another Bruno set piece, this time from 25 yards, had McGinty scurrying again on 65. The ball sailing narrowly over the Ireland U21 international’s crossbar.

Akintunde was next to go close on 71, but wrapped his weighted effort past the far post having slipped the ball past John Mahon, as the powerful marksman made his way goalwards from the sideline.

McGinty’s goalmouth continued to attract much of the focus as City passed up further chances.

The rookie goalkeeper did well to deflect Stephen Mallon’s effort away for a corner before Cameron McJannett smashed a close range header off the crossbar from the resulting set piece.

Substitute Walter Figueira could only fire straight at McGinty shortly after his introduction. While McGinty was equal to anything Adam Hammill could throw at him in added time after the winger bossed his way past two challenges.

Sligo fashioned the best chance of a hard fought half-hour of extra time when Junior looked favourite to finish from close range from a corner. But a number of Derry bodies managed to block down the headed effort.

And so to the shootout where the mis-firing Figueira and Conor McCormack meant Ibrahim Meita had to score to keep his side in the tie. But the substitute could only drag his deciding spot kick wide of the Sligo goal.

Sligo Rovers: Ed McGinty; Lewis Banks, John Mahon, Garry Buckley, Regan Donelon; David Cawley (Darragh Noone 85), Will Seymore; Alex Cooper, Junior; Ronan Coughlan, Ryan De Vries (Danny Kane 90).

Derry City: Peter Cherrie; Colm Horgan, Eoin Toal, Cameron McJannet, Ciaran Coll; Stephen Mallon (Walter Figueira 80), Conor McCormack, Jack Malone (Ciaron Harkin 61), Adam Hamill (Conor Clifford 110); Gerardo Bruna (Joe Thomson 80), James Akintunde (Ibrahim Meite 87).

Referee: Neil Doyle