Sligo Rovers open their home season on Friday night when St Patrick’s Athletic visit The Showgrounds.

Rovers are looking to pick up their first points of the season after a narrow defeat to Finn Harps last week.

Tickets are available here.

The Bit O’ Red Wall will open on the night which features 315 tiles purchased by fans, installed on a wall in the ground with an array of messages to acknowledge their support of the club.

The Saints were also beaten 1-0 last week in another tight encounter against Waterford FC.

Liam Buckley has been hampered by injuries again this week.

Danny Kane had a procedure on a foot problem on Monday and will not return until late next month at least while it heals.

John Mahon (broken leg) and Regan Donelon (shoulder) miss out.

Lewis Banks (muscle injury) is also unlikely to be available.

Liam Buckley said: “It was a sub-standard performance by both ourselves and Harps last week in truth. The pitch didn’t help but that isn’t an excuse, we lost the game and you just have to take what you can and move on and we have done.

 “We want a performance from the lads. I know my expectation of them and what they are capable of.  It’s a lot different from what we saw last week, so I’m looking for them to go out and show it.

“We’ve stayed off our pitch for over 16 weeks and trained on it on Tuesday for the first time. It’s playing well and hopefully the weather is good on Friday night.  

“Pat’s were beaten last week so they’ll be looking at this one certainly to get a result. We have to be at it from the start and we’ve had a good week of training to prepare for it.

“We’ve been beset by injuries in defence and it is bad luck when you consider the impact injuries we have had in pre-season.

“In essence we are missing an entire back four of first-choice players so that is difficult to manage with a squad of our size. But what can you do? You get on with it, and more so, we stick together first and foremost.

“The dressing-room here is brilliant and I’m delighted we’re at home, we’ll need our supporters to get behind us.

“We were all disappointed last week and we’ll approach the game with a mindset to bounce back and get our season up and running.”

Sligo Rovers are delighted to announce a unique agreement between two of the region’s best-known businessmen.

With the club at heart, both Eamon Cunningham of EJ Menswear and John McKeon of PetStop Discount Warehouse have come together over a four-year period and will sponsor both the club’s Under-19 squad as well as a stand at The Showgrounds, formerly known as the Railway End.

For 2020-21 EJ Menswear will be primary kit sponsor for our Under-19 team as Pet Stop will take naming rights for the stand, which now becomes The Pet Stop Stand for the same period.

In 2022/23, they pair swap around and PetStop will become Under-19 sponsors with the stand becoming The EJ Menswear Stand.

Club CEO Colin Feehily spoke today at the announcement of the deal “This is a really new, unique partnership which we are thrilled to be able to announce.

“Eamon and John are no strangers to us here, with both heavily involved in numerous fundraisers throughout the years, most recently with the Beat It Fashion Show back in October, which was a huge success.

“It proves that the club is in the hearts of people in the town and community, this is really a unique sponsorship arrangement.

Eamon Cunningham, owner of EJ Menswear: “I am delighted to support the club for the next four years. I’ve been a season ticket holder for years now, and we are proud to be involved.

“As it turned out, myself and John were both interested in sponsoring the stand, so instead of missing out on it, we came up with this idea which will work well for everyone.”

John McKeon of PetStop said: “I am proud to see the company name in the stand, it will be great to come here with staff, family,  and friends and be able to sit here. I always sit in that stand.

“I’ll look to remember the 1983 cup final, which meant a lot to me personally.

“We will be doing something with the design of the stand which we hope supporters will like. I’m looking forward to it.”

Everyone at Sligo Rovers wish to thank Eamon, John and all their staff for their continued support.

The #bitored’s match with Shamrock Rovers on Saturday 7th March in The Showgrounds will be broadcast live on Eir Sport.

Kick-off moves from 7:45pm to 8pm for the SSE Airtricity League game.

Sligo Rovers begin their home season this Friday night in The Showgrounds against St Patrick’s Athletic.

Rovers take on the Saints at 7:45pm, with tickets available at turnstiles. Both sides were defeated 1-0 last week in close matches.

Tickets are also available

The Bit O’ Red Wall will also be launched on the night.

‪We visited Ballymote Celtic youths last night as we kicked off our local youth club visits for 2020.‬‪

Ballymote will be guests at Friday night’s game against St Patrick’s Athletic and will take part in half time games on the pitch.

‬‪Thanks for having us guys and to Scott Lynch, Will Seymore and Darragh Healy.

The Bit O’ Red are issuing a notice to supporters and a supporter group in relation to the use of pyrotechnics.

It reads:

As you are aware, during last Friday’s match with Finn Harps in Finn Park in Ballybofey, pyrotechnics were used by Sligo Rovers supporters

As you are also aware, these are banned from League of Ireland football grounds and their use results in Sligo Rovers receiving a fine from the Football Association of Ireland.

This happened on several occasions last year. We have repeatedly warned supporters about using pyrotechnics and have grown extremely frustrated that the message has been ignored.

The club was fined on several occasions last year, totaling thousands of euro and today we have received notification of a citation which will result in another fine. This is emanating from the Finn Harps game where pyrotechnics were used and thrown onto the pitch, one of which engulfed in flames on the pitch and had to be extinguished and removed by a steward.

In 2019 €495,000 was fundraised for Sligo Rovers and, in order to get through the year, the club committee and fans had to go to extreme lengths to generate this money. Every cent was needed.

For our own supporters to repeatedly instigate these fines totally contradicts and insults this work. We understand why you use pyrotechnics but this is not an acceptable reason to do so given we have been fined on each occasion and puts our future in jeopardy as well as endangering other fans.

We will no longer accept such incidents with just a warning. We have identified some of those who used them in Ballybofey and know these are repeat offenders. 

We will be introducing a number of sanctions if any supporter uses pyrotechnics at home or away matches for the rest of the season.

(a)    Refusing entry to individuals from home matches. This will not be temporary. It will be permanent

(b)   Ensuring the same supporters are not permitted to away matches
 

(c)    The closure of the Jinks Avenue Stand for home supporters if pyrotechnics are used in this section by our fans.

We will be represented in all part of the stadium to monitor it on Friday and other games. Please adhere to our request or do not attend Sligo Rovers matches in the future.

Regards,

Sligo Rovers Management Committee

Sligo Rovers defender Danny Kane has had a minor foot procedure and will return next month.

The Bit O’ Red defender was troubled by the injury in pre-season with club management and medical staff opting for Kane to undergo the procedure to cure the problem.

Liam Buckley said: “Danny played last Friday’s match with Finn Harps but he was in and out of pre-season because of this issue.

“It’s something from an operation he had before he came to the club that was inserted that is now causing discomfort at this stage.

“The recommendation we had from the medical side of it is that he have it dealt with. We booked him in for the first possible moment and that day was last Monday.

“He did well in Ballybofey especially when you consider he has been playing with this pain but it’s right to get it done now.

“It was a small procedure and Danny will sit out while we wait for it to heal.

“It won’t take too long and we hope to see him back in a few weeks and we’ll see an even better version of him.”

Sligo Rovers midfielder Niall Morahan emerged as a bright spot in the opening night of the season match with Finn Harps and is looking to help the Bit O’ Red respond this Friday night in The Showgrounds.

Rovers were beaten 1-0 in difficult conditions in Ballybofey and were denied a draw late on by a good save from Harps goalkeeper Mark McGinley.

The Bit O’ Red play the first home match of the season against St Patrick’s Athletic from 7:45pm on Friday.

Morahan, speaking to www.sligorovers.com today, said Rovers have to take some of the fallout from the game into the match in Sligo on Friday.

“We were looking to kick off with a win and we knew that it was a tough place to go and it was going to be a battle. We didn’t come out on the right side of it and it was bitterly disappointing for us all.

“It was hard to take, but we know it has to be better from us and there is a lot more to come from the players we have. We’ll move on from it but probably have to take a lot from the game too.

“It’s the first game and you have to pick yourself up. We also lost a very tight game in tough conditions and there’ll be a lot more games like that so we have to quickly learn how to get points from them.”

Morahan did well in the game in which it was hard to keep the ball for long period, particulary in the second period as the pitch deteriorated.

Asked about his own outing, he said: “In a way I was happy with my own performance but I wanted the win more than anything else. The boys and I have to kick on Friday and put in the shift to get it.

“You have no time to sulk. You have to pick yourself up and not feel sorry for yourself. Pat’s lost as well last week so it’s a big game. This can be a game for us to hopefully get our first three points.

“There were some positives and you can take them into the Pat’s game and we should also take the way we felt after the game. We all want to change it for Friday in The Showgrounds.”

Morahan had been hoping for a more positive feeling following the conclusion of pre-season so the Harps defeat was a blow – but the Republic of Ireland Under-19 international is looking for a response for Friday and to put their hard work to better use.

“Pre-season went well. It was tough but everyone came back looking fresh and sharp. Liam and John had us doing all the right work and we are ready to go last Friday in terms of fitness. That wasn’t the issue in terms of the game last week. Our fitness levels will stand to us this season.

“The home support here is always phenomenal and hopefully there will be a big crowd behind us. We’d like to have the 12th man or whatever you call it because while we are going to lift ourselves all week, we need their backing too.

“We want to be straight into Pat’s from the start, we’re the home team and we should be setting the pace. We’ll be looking to play to the best of our ability.”

Sligo Rovers have teamed up with local sports shop Barton Smiths which will allow supporters to purchase club gear in Sligo Town.

The club have enjoyed a great partnership with Barton Smiths in recent years, most noticeably with the club operating its Christmas Shop from the premises.

Supporters can now purchase the clubs brand new home and away jersey in Barton Smiths and also some general merchandise such as hats and scarfs.

Sligo Rovers would like to thank David Smith and his staff for stocking our merchandise and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Barton Smiths in the months and years ahead.

Sligo Rovers begin their home season this Friday night in The Showgrounds against St Patrick’s Athletic.

Rovers take on the Saints at 7:45pm, with tickets available at turnstiles. Both sides were defeated 1-0 last week in close matches.

Tickets are also available at www.sligorovers.com/match-tickets

The Bit O’ Red Wall will also be launched on the night.