The voting is now open for the Wehrly Bro’s Jewellers Sligo Rovers Player of the Month for August.

The games eligible for this vote are

8-0 win vs Glebe North
2-1 defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic
6-2 win over Limerick
4-2 win over Cork

Vote by clicking here

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Dundalk continued their push for a fifth Premier Division league title in six seasons as they saw off Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds.

Dane Massey and Andy Boyle struck for the Lilywhites, who stretched their lead over second placed Shamrock Rovers to seven with one game extra to play.  

Returning to the scene of their last defeat on home soil back in April, it was Dundalk who hit the opener on the quarter hour after an opening which offered little in terms of chances.

Rovers did have an early penalty appeal turned down. Massey seemed to control an awkward Lewis Banks cross with his chest amid claims for a spot-kick.

This, before Vinny Perth’s team had the lead.

Michael Duffy’s cross, meant for Daniel Kelly was cut out by a Sligo defender. The ball landing only as far as Massey who showed wonderful technique to execute a superb volley past Ed McGinty from 15 yards.

Rovers were defending an eleven game unbeaten run on their home patch and had chances for both Pat Hoban and Dan Kelly to contend with.

Hoban lashed an effort from the edge of the Sligo area across the face of goal after sloppy play from David Cawley. While McGinty held Kelly’s header on the half hour.

Jamie McGrath wasn’t too far away six minutes from the break when he attempted to twist a placed effort into the far corner as the visitors remained on top.

Rovers’ Romeo Parkes pounced on a weak back-pass from Sean Gannon late in the half. But goalkeeper Gary Rogers read the situation in time to close down the Jamaican before he could get his shot away.

The second half was eight minutes old when the champions had their second.

Boyle’s dominant jump allowing him soar above two Rovers defenders to thump Duffy’s corner beyond McGinty.

Two almost became three on 57 when McEleney struck the crossbar from range as Dundalk looked well in control.

McGinty pulled off fine reaction save from a Massey shot which deflected off a Rovers defender on 65.

The visitors struck the woodwork again two minutes later when Duffy had McGinty beaten all ends up. The Derry man’s effort from the instep coming back off the Sligo crossbar as Dundalk continued their drive for that elusive third.

Hoban was next to strike the frame of the goal when his glancing header from a Duffy corner bounced off the top of the crossbar with ten to go.

Sligo Rovers: Ed McGinty; Lewis Banks, Kyle McFadden, John Mahon, Regan Donelon (Niall Morahan 79); David Cawley, Sam Warde, Daryl Fordyce (Niall Watson 75); Romeo Parkes, Ronan Murray (John Russell 55), Kris Twardek.

Dundalk: Gary Rogers; Sean Gannon, Andy Boyle, Sean Hoare, Dane Massey; Chris Shields; Jamie McGrath (Cameron Dummigan 79), Patrick McEleney; Michael Duffy (Lido Lotefa 86), Daniel Kelly (Robbie Benson 72); Patrick Hoban.

Referee: Derek Tomney.

Attendance: 1,655.

Dundalk continued their push for a fifth league title in six seasons as they saw off Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds. 

Dane Massey and Andy Boyle struck for the Lilywhites, who stretched their lead over second placed Shamrock Rovers to seven with one game extra to play.

Returning to the scene of their last defeat on Irish soil back in April, it was Dundalk who hit the opener on the quarter hour after an opening which offered little in terms of chances.

Sligo did have an early penalty appeal turned down. Massey seemed to control an awkward Lewis Banks cross with his chest amid claims for a spot-kick.

This, before Vinny Perth’s team had the lead.

Michael Duffy’s cross, meant for Daniel Kelly was cut out by a Sligo defender. The ball landing only as far as Massey who showed wonderful technique to execute a superb volley past Ed McGinty from 15 yards.

Rovers were defending an eleven game unbeaten run on their home patch and had chances for both Pat Hoban and Dan Kelly to contend with.

Hoban lashed an effort from the edge of the Sligo area across the face of goal. While McGinty held Kelly’s header on the half hour.

Jamie McGrath wasn’t too far away six minutes from the break when he attempted to twist a placed effort into the far corner as the visitors remained on top.

Rovers’ Romeo Parkes pounced on a weak back-pass from Sean Gannon late in the half. But goalkeeper Gary Rogers read the situation in time to close down the Jamaican before he could get his shot away.

The second half was eight minutes old when the champions had their second.

Boyle’s dominant jump allowing him soar above two Rovers defenders to thump Duffy’s corner beyond McGinty.

Two almost became three on 57 when McEleney struck the crossbar from range as Dundalk looked well in control.

McGinty pulled off fine reaction save from a Massey shot which deflected off a Rovers defender on 65.

The visitors struck the woodwork again two minutes later when Duffy had McGinty beaten all ends up. The Derry man’s effort from the instep coming back off the Sligo crossbar as Dundalk continued their drive for that elusive third.

Hoban was next to strike the frame of the goal when his glancing header from a Duffy corner bounced off the top of the crossbar with ten to go.

Sligo Rovers: Ed McGinty; Lewis Banks, Kyle McFadden, John Mahon, Regan Donelon (Niall Morahan 79); David Cawley, Sam Warde, Daryl Fordyce (Niall Watson 75); Romeo Parkes, Ronan Murray (John Russell 55), Kris Twardek.

Dundalk: Gary Rogers; Sean Gannon, Andy Boyle, Sean Hoare, Dane Massey; Chris Shields; Jamie McGrath (Cameron Dummigan 79), Patrick McEleney; Michael Duffy (Lido Lotefa 86), Daniel Kelly (Robbie Benson 72); Patrick Hoban.

Referee: Derek Tomney.

Attendance: 1,655.

We wish to remind supporters that under no circumstances will children under the age of 12 be allowed entrance to The Showgrounds on their own and without being in the presence of a parent or guardian.

From now until the end of the season and beyond we will be strictly enforcing this rule.

We want to allow all supporters an enjoyable and safe experience in The Showgrounds before, during and after our matches.

We will be taking measures to prevent large groups of minors congregating together during the game.

Children over the age of 12 are reminded that there is CCTV in operation throughout the stadium and any anti social behaviour will not be tolerated, with any individuals found to be behaving inappropriately will be ejected from the stadium and stadium bans may be enforced.

We are proud of our supporters and our stadium and we will not allow any poor behaviour to effect the majority’s enjoyment of the game and match night experience.

We also ask supporters to read our ground regulations here: https://www.sligorovers.com/ground-regulations/

Sligo Rovers’ next home league game against Finn Harps has been brought forward a day to Friday 13 September.

Kick-off is 8pm in The Showgrounds.

Our next home game after tonight is Saturday in the FAI Cup against UCD.

Sligo Rovers face Dundalk on Monday night in The Showgrounds in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division.

The Bit O’ Red play their first league game at the grounds in five weeks and come into the game with back-to-back wins in all competitions – including last Friday 4-2 win over Cork City where Romeo Parkes and Ronan Coughlan both scored twice

In team news, Dante Leverock begins the first of a five-match suspension but will also be on international duty with Bermuda for the next two weeks.

Johnny Dunleavy and Danny Kane have late fitness tests ahead of the game.

Liam Buckley said: “Some of the goals we scored were great on Friday. We played very well. We created quite a few chances and passed the ball as we wanted.

“We want to grow our team into a slick passing outfit and we need to improve that. We are by no means the finish article by any stretch. That said , I’m really pleased with the effort and workrate and the players have shown that throughout the year.

“It was obviously a long trip but we tailored our schedule to try to manage the lads and I’m not worried about tiredness.

“We’ll be ready for the game on Monday and a big week. We’d like to produce more of what we saw on Friday and for the lads to have a right belt at Dundalk and see what we can get out of it. We know how hard it’ll be and what is needed to compete with them.     

“We have a small lead over the teams below us and we’d like to grow it and get as many points as we can.

“With two important home matches this week, I’d love The Showgrounds to be as vibrant and as difficult for the opposition as it can be. The support we’ve received this season has been terrific. “

Individual braces from Ronan Coughlan and Romeo Parkes saw Sligo Rovers take all three points from Turner’s Cross

Parkes gave Rovers the lead just past the half hour mark, but City struck back through a Dan Casey strike from a corner.

The Bit O’Red led at the break when Coughlan executed a smart finish in front of the Cork shed, while Parkes made it 3-1 on the hour.

A stunning Shane Griffin effort gave City hope, but Rovers held out and Coughlan was on hand once more to secure the win five minutes from time.

The striker making the most of a Mark McNulty mishap.

Cork City: Mark McNulty; Colm Horgan (Josh Honohan 76), Alan Bennett, Dan Casey, Shane Griffin; Conor McCormack, Garry Buckley; Daire O’Connor (Mark O’Sullivan 53), Karl Sheppard, Joel Coustrain; Eoghan Stokes (Alec Byrne 80).

Sligo Rovers: Edward McGinty; Lewis Banks, John Mahon, Kyle McFadden, Regan Donelon (Niall Morahan 73); David Cawley, John Russell, Kris Twarderk; Daryl Fordyce, Romeo Parkes, Ronan Coughlan.

After the elimination of over 300 players last weekend we are down to the last 63. The team selections for the remaining players for this weeks fixtures are as follows:

Sligo Rovers face Cork City for the final time this season at Turner’s Cross on Friday night in the SSE Airtricity Premier Division.

The Bit O’ Red, fresh from a 6-2 win over Limerick in the Extra.ie FAI Cup, are currently two points ahead of Cork City in the table, with the Rebels having a game in hand.

Niall Morahan returns to the squad following injury. Johnny Dunleavy and Danny Kane are set for late fitness tests. There are no suspensions.

Liam Buckley said: “After the slow start I thought we were comfortable for the rest of the game against Limerick and it was a good win in the end. The Cup is very much off the agenda now because we have two big games over this weekend that will be key for the rest of our season.

“We have that small lead over Cork and if we can get a positive result it will set us up to stay ahead of them. I want us to finish ahead of all of the teams below us in the table and we’ll need some good results to do so. We’d like to get as close to the teams above us as possible too.

“There is a bit of spring in the players after the win last week. It will be a busy period over the next few weeks and while we don’t have huge numbers that doesn’t bother me because the group we have are working extremely hard and relishing the training and the matches.

“Cork have a new manager and there can be a bounce but that makes no difference to us. The result will depend on what we do and our approach to the game and I’d like us to kick on for the rest of the season and turn a few teams over in the league.”

Tonight our under 19 side travel to Roadstone in Dublin to face Shamrock Rovers at the club’s academy facilities in the Enda McGuill Cup semi final.

The Bit O’ Red defeated Cabinteely 3-2 in the quarter final to set up tonight’s clash.

The sides met at the same stage in last season’s competition, with the Shamrock Rovers winning the game 3-0.

Manager Brian Dorrian spoke with us ahead of tonight’s semi final:

‘It’s going to be a tough test for our lads. We done very well in the quarter final, and this is again a tougher test. We know Shamrock Rovers will be strong, they always are at this level, but we go up there with no fear and will give it a good go”.

Rovers have lost a number of players throughout the season as they make the step up to first team football. Liam Kerrigan, Jack Keaney, Ed McGinty, Niall Morahan & Luke McNicholas have all been part of the senior set up throughout 2019, offering them little chance to play at under 19 level.

With a trip to Cork on Friday for Liam Buckley’s men, Luke McNicholas may miss out tonight, with summer signing Cormac Henry expected to continue in goal. Defender Scott Lynch made his senior debut on Saturday night and will be part of tonight’s squad, however Niall Morahan misses out with a knee injury.

‘It’s hurt us a little bit results wise, but we don’t mind as long as lads are progressing into the first team squad. That’s what it’s all about for us. We’re looking forward to the game and the chance of getting into a cup final’