All five academy teams are in action this weekend, as the league tables begin to take shape in each division.

All our academy boys teams take on Finn Harps, starting tonight with the under 13 game at The Sean Fallon Centre. The squad have been out of action competitively since August 23rd but two friendly wins since then sets them up for this evening’s game. Kick off is 7.30pm, however this game is behind closed doors with only on parent per player allowed entry.

On Saturday, The Under 15 squad travels to Drumoghill, Donegal to face The Harps at 2pm. The team have been in fine form so far this season, with three wins from three in the league.

At 1pm at The Sean Fallon Centre, Ryan Casey’s Under 17 squad host the same opposition, behind closed doors. The sides met a fortnight ago in Donegal with Rovers running out convincing winners. With three games remaining in the group, this is an important game for both sides.

Our Ladies Under 17 team take on Donegal at 5:30pm in Leckview Park, Letterkenny. The game was postponed back in August and a positive result on match day one last week against Shamrock Rovers sets the girls up nicely for this tough encounter. The Bit O’ Red fought back from 3-1 down last Saturday, showing great determination and never say die attitude.

To round up the weekend, the under 19’s play Finn Harps on Sunday at 2pm at The Sean Fallon Centre. The sides met just last Saturday at Finn Park with the hosts winning 5-2. The game is again behind closed doors.

We wish all our staff and players the best of luck this weekend.

Sligo Rovers can announce a successful application for LEADER Programme funding to prepare a masterplan to assess all aspects of the football club and infrastructural development.

The application process began last year, with the club receiving confirmation of its success recently.

Sligo Rovers have since began a tender process to create the masterplan – which will be of multiple cost of the strategic plan created in 2017 and a result significantly more detailed.        

A total of 12 applications were received, with Rhatigan Architects winning the tender based on specifications required and set out. 

Rhatigan Architects have experience of developing a number of masterplans for the likes of IT Sligo, Ballyhaise Agriculture College, as well as developing dedicated sports facilities such as Sligo racecourse.

The masterplan will examine the external environment for the football club, such as economic conditions in the country and Irish football.

Internally, footballing performance and structures, underage structures, quality and extend of promotional campaigns of the club and reach of community, with potential growth areas, will also be examined.

Infrastructural development based on a benefit to the community of Sligo and the west of Ireland will be a key component of the masterplan.

The grant will cover a substantial part of the cost of the masterplan, with the club set to use the upcoming Annual Draw for part of the rest of the cost.

Sligo Rovers chairman Tommy Higgins said: “We are delighted to secure the LEADER Programme funding for this project which is vital for the future of the football club. The funding will allow for creation for a thorough and detailed masterplan

“The masterplan will allow us to create a vision for the football club based on the use of The Showgrounds as a facility and a footballing philosophy to capitalise on the enormous potential of our academy, our brand name and the legacy of the remarkable story of Sligo Rovers. It will also assess the day-to-day running of the club and the improvements that can be made.

“As a supporter and now chairman, I have seen the growth of the football club over the last decade. We have a fan-owned club with a focus on community that will stay as such, and we believe it is the time to take the club to a higher level and bring further benefits to our region.

“This masterplan will guide that vision. Over the coming months Rhatigan Architects will engage with various stakeholders and a sub-committee for the project is being finalised.

“We are informing our supporters and the wider public of being successful in the application and that such work will be ongoing over the coming months. I’d like to thank LEADER and all that tendered for the project, as well as Sligo County Council for their ongoing support of the football club and their desire to see us further flourish as a vital part of the community.”  

Sligo Rovers manager Liam Buckley said the red cards were decisive in the 3-1 victory over Finn Harps on Monday night as well as Ronan Murray’s introduction in The Showgrounds.

After 60 minutes where Rovers threatened to be better than Harps, it was the visitors who had more of an influence on affairs.

But repeated fouling from the visitors led to inevitable red cards, which helped the Bit O’ Red secure the win.

“There wasn’t a lot in the game for an hour, a draw was probably a fair result, a fairly scrappy game,” Buckley told RTE Sport.

“It’s probably as poor as we’ve played this season for the first hour. You need a break, the sending-offs had a big baring. That said, we have to play better. For the first hour it was in fits and starts. I would expect us to do better and hopefully we can do over the next few weeks.

“The last half hour we got back into it. It was fairly feisty, to put it mildly. But from where we at, it was just an important win for us. We picked up results over the last few weeks and we’ve a bit of momentum going. Hopefully we can continue with that. “

Murray showed his class with the second goal and causing all sorts of problems for Harps.

 “He’s on his way back [from injury]. He’s a top player. That’s why we have him in our group. He has come on and done the business for us.”

“We are not getting ahead of ourselves. It’s amazing what can happen over a few weeks. We’ll keep our feet on the ground. We have Pat’s next.

“It’s such a fickle business. If you don’t turn up you can get turned over. In fairness to the boys they are putting in some serious shifts every week. Hopefully that continues and we push on from there.”

View a selection of images from Sligo Rovers’ 3-1 win over Finn Harps in The Showgrounds. Photography by James Fallon.

Sligo Rovers continued their impressive post-lockdown form despite not being at their best, as they saw off nine-man Finn Harps at the Showgrounds.

Mark Russell replied to Ryan De Vries’ first half opener, but a super strike from substitute Ronan Murray and a late Ronan Coughlan penalty sealed the win for Rovers who move into third.

Coming off the back of five wins in their last six, Sligo Rovers looked for a reverse result to their opening night defeat to the Donegal side.

And despite a slow start, it was Liam Buckley’s charges who struck first on seven minutes.

David Cawley’s free down the right flank released Lewis Banks. The ex-Stoke City man linked up with Jesse Devers whose cross was initially misjudged by Coughlan.

The striker’s blushes were spared however when attacking partner De Vries arrived to slot past the wrong-footed Mark McGinley who had already committed himself.

Cawley wasn’t too far away from doubling Rovers’ lead just the past the quarter hour. His bending free-kick from close range found its way past the Harps wall, but skipped just past the bottom of McGinley’s right hand post.

Sligo net minder Ed McGinty earned his first call up to the Irish under 21 squad recently. The Scottish born goalkeeper showing why, when he pulled off a magnificent reaction save from an Alexander Kogler header after Ryan Connolly had picked out the Austrian marksman in front of goal on 19 minutes.

Harps will look to their considerable experience to try and keep them in top flight football for 2021.

Central to their hopes is Barry McNamee who wasn’t too far off with an effort on 20 minutes which almost sneaked inside the far post after work down the left from Connolly.

Russell laced a volley over McGinty’s crossbar before the break, while the second period was seven minutes old when Kolger screwed Russell’s cross past the post as the visitors looked to make their mark.

Harps’ hard work finally paid off just short of the hour when Shane McEleney’s long throw caused panic in the Sligo penalty area. Russell on hand to blast past McGinty on the spin after Rovers failed to clear their lines.

Harps then lost Mark Coyle to a second yellow before boss Horgan was sent to the stands in the aftermath.

Sligo introduced Murray to proceedings on 66 minutes and the Mayo native had his first goal of the season seven minutes later.

Both Junior and De Vries had shots blocked down by a tenacious Harps back line. Murray was not to be denied however, as he stepped up to curl a delicious effort past McGinley from the edge of the area.

Rovers put the game beyond Harps’ reach five minutes from time when Coughlan coolly dispatched the penalty he himself won, as Harps were reduced to nine with Kosavar Sadiki cautioned for the second time.

Sligo Rovers: Ed McGinty; Lewis Banks, Kyle McFadden, Teemu Penninkangas, Regan Donelon; David Cawley, Niall Morahan; Ryan De Vries (Darragh Noone 75), Junior, Jesse Devers (Ronan Murray 66); Ronan Coughlan.

Finn Harps: Mark McGinley; David Webster (Karl O’Sullivan 74), Kosavar Sadiki, Stephen Folan (Gareth Harkin 81); Adrian Delap (Shane McEleney HT), Sam Todd; Ryan Connolly (Adam Foley 81), Mark Coyle, Barry McNamee; Alexander Kogler (Raff Cretaro 75), Mark Russell.

Sligo Rovers begin their second and final round of matches in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division when taking on Finn Harps in The Showgrounds, kick-off 7:45pm, live on WATCHLOI.

Rovers met Harps in February of this year where Ollie Horgan’s side emerged with a 1-0 success.

There is just a five-point gap between the sides and they both come into it on the back of successive victories, Rovers against Dundalk and UCD, Harps versus Waterford and Bray Wanderers.

It sets up an exciting fixture, the fourth last home league match in The Showgrounds this year.

In team news, Danny Kane (ankle), Darren Collins (ankle), Sigitas Olberkis (hamstring) and Johnny Dunleavy (knee) are out.

Alex Cooper (ankle) is a doubt and will be tested pre-game. Kyle Callan-McFadden has recovered from a hamstring injury sustained in the UCD game.

Liam Buckley said: “The first game was a disappointing outcome. It led on to us being bottom of the table for months on end which didn’t sit well with any of us. We’ve moved up the table somewhat but we can still improve.

“With the way things are, you can quickly find yourself back down there, or you can move further up. We look at things on a game-by-game baiss and we know how difficult this will be because of that night last February.

“Harps have picked up more results recently which isn’t a surprise, so this is another hard game as they all are.

“It is good to have a bit of normality with training where we are playing one game a week. John Mahon and Garry Buckley trained all week again and have done for a couple of weeks now.

“They are ready to come in, they could have featured in UCD but we wanted to get them as sharp as we could and not take any chances.

“Will Seymore was also back in the squad last week. It gives us more ability to tweak things when needed. There’s competition which is what we want.

“I was pleased with the number of chances created in UCD. We scored three goals. You’re not going to take all the chances you create and the important thing is continuing to come up with the opportunities.

“We are a work in progress, there is room for improvement, I have no doubt about it. Collectively there is still a lot more to come and we are seeing it in patches. We’d like to find that on a consistent basis.”

Ronan Coughlan was voted Player of the Month for August by Bit O’ Red fans in a hotly-contested vote, pipping the equally-impressive Kyle Callan-McFadden.

Buckley said: “Ronan has done very well for us, he’s worked his socks off and scored goals.

“A number of players have done very well and it’s about the team overall, not one or two individuals.

“We’re looking for a team performance every game and we feel if we can get them then we can move further up the table. That’s what we’re all looking for.”

Three games took place today (Saturday) at academy level.

At 2pm, Danny O’ Leary and our under 17 WNL team welcomed Shamrock Rovers to The Sean Fallon Centre. An entertaining game ensued with six goals shared evenly between both teams.

Sarah Kiernan’s goal kept Rovers level midway through the second half before two Shamrock Rovers goals looked to secure three points for the away side. The Bit O’ Red however wouldn’t give up and were rewarded when Kiernan grabbed her second of the game before a late Alison Langdon-Long strike made it three all.

This was a great game between two evenly matched sides. Credit must go to Rovers’ girls never say die attitude and fitness levels, given the lack of match practice in 2020.

Brian Dorrian’s under 19 side suffered a 5-2 defeat at Finn Park, Ballybofey this afternoon. Goals from Cillian Heaney and Ben Edeh proved only to be consolations. The two sides meet again next Sunday at The Sean Fallon Centre.

Alan Farry took his under 13 side North this morning to take on Ballinamallard United in a friendly. The boys ran out 4-2 winners thanks to an own goal added to strikes from Danny Woodrow, Callum Lynch and Darragh McKeon.

Our under 15 & 17 teams had the weekend off from competitive action.

Saturday sees our under 17 Women’s National League side finally open their season with a game against Shamrock Rovers at The Sean Fallon Centre.

Our opening two fixtures were postponed against Peamount United and Donegal, so the girls are eagerly awaiting tomorrow’s fixture.

Danny O’ Leary has had some time to work with the squad since arriving in August with training sessions at both at The Showgrounds and our partner IT Sligo’s training facilities. Unfortunately, the game is strictly behind closed doors with just one parent per player allowed watch the game.

Brian Dorrian takes his under 19 side to Finn Park to take on Finn Harps at the same time tomorrow in a curtain raiser to the senior fixture on Monday night at The Showgrounds.

It’s the team’s second game of the season and they will be hoping for an improved result than the 2-0 defeat against Derry City on match day one.

Our under 17 and 15 teams both have a weekend off from competitive action.

Alan Farry takes his under 13 squad to our friends at Ballinamallard for a friendly at 12 noon on Saturday.

We wish all players and staff the best of luck and wish to again thank all our underage sponsors:

Pure Telecom

EJ Menswear

Ivor Park Painter and Decorators

O’ Connor Cabins

Verus Metrology

The poll is now open for the Wehrly Bros Jewellers Player of the Month for August.

We are including the game with Derry City, plus wins against Shelbourne, Waterford FC, Dundalk and UCD.

Click here to vote.

The poll closes on Sunday.

Thanks to Wehrly Bros for sponsoring the prize. Wehrly Bros. Jewellers, located on O’Connell Street in Sligo, offer a comprehensive range of fine jewellery for all occasions. Shop online here

The revised fixture list for the remainder of the SSE Airtricity League season has been released.

Matches have been changed in order to facilitate the WATCHLOI service where each match has its own television slot.

Our game with Bohemians has been brought forward to Friday 18 September at 7:45pm, and will be live on RTÉ2.

The FAI Cup draw will then follow that match. That quarter-final tie will be on 13 November.

Our remaining two home league games after Bohemians will be 5pm kick-offs.

They are Sunday 11 October vs Derry City and Saturday 24 October vs Cork City.

Click here for the fixture list or here for the Sligo Rovers fixtures.