Jack Keaney’s superb second half set piece settled the tie as an in-form Sligo Rovers beat Shamrock Rovers at the Showgrounds.

Following a scoreless first half, it was Daryl Fordyce who opened his Sligo account with a special effort on 55 minutes.

Aaron Greene replied with his own piece of magic eleven minutes later, but it was youngster Keaney who settled the tie with a 35 yard free kick on 74 minutes.

In a game which produced three wonderful goals, it was Sligo who created the best of the early opportunities.

Regan Donelon had Alan Mannus worried just three minutes in when his volley flashed past the post less than three minutes in.

While the sun seemed to startle the Hoops net minder when he fumbled Fordyce’s header from Donelon’s searching cross.

The former Linfiel man relying on his defence to clear the danger at the second call.

Stephen Bradley’s men when settled, began to find space and runners in front of the Sligo back line.

Ronan Finn’s superb cross-field ball found Greene who managed to get a low drive off. But Sligo goalkeeper Mitchell Beeney did enough to block the effort away with his legs.

Dylan Watts flashed an effort across the face of goal a quarter of an hour in as the Dubliners continued to trouble on occasion.

Liam Buckley withdrew injured full-back Johnny Dunleavy mid-way through the half, but the switch didn’t affect Sligo in the short term.

Ronan Coughlan’s speculative effort from all of 35 yards, took a touch off a defender’s foot on its way over. Mannus left flat-footed as he watched the ball sail narrowly over the far side of his goal.

While David Cawley couldn’t keep his glancing header down after he beat his marker to another Donelon cross from the left.

Donelon was involved again six minutes into the second half when he stung the palms of Mannus with a long range drive.

But the stopper could do little about Sligo’s opener.

With nowhere to go, Coughlan pulled the ball back to Fordyce who curled a stunning 25 yard strike past Mannus’ reach.

The league leaders had their reply eleven minutes later.

Greene’s super close control allowed him to keep hold of Trevor Clarke’s cross, before the attacker executed a classy overhead kick to tie the contest.

But the westerners were back in the lead, settling the game on 74 with style.

Keaney, who scored a stunner in Dundalk on the opening night, did it again when he smacked his set piece from all of 35 yards beyond Mannus and into the top corner.

Sligo Rovers: Mitchell Beeney; John Mahon, Dante Leverock, Johnny Dunleavy (Kris Twardek 26); Lewis Banks, Regan Donelon; David Cawley, Jack Keaney; Daryl Fordyce (Niall Morahan 90); Romeo Parkes, Ronan Coughlan.

Shamrock Rovers: Alan Mannus; Joey O’Brien, Lee Grace, Roberto Lopes, Trevor Clarke; Ronan Finn, Greg Bolger (Joel Coustrain 85); Dylan Watts (Dan Carr 77), Aaron McEneff, Jack Byrne; Aaron Greene. 

Referee: Graham Kelly.

Attendance: 2,053

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

Rovers go into the game on the back of a 2-0 win over UCD. 

Kyle Callan-McFadden is out with a hand injury and likely to miss next week’s game with Waterford but should return afterwards.

Liam Buckley said: “We did quite well against UCD. We were on top throughout and stuck at it. It was important to get three points.

“We could have been a small bit tidier in the final third but you see the threat that is there. Everyone is looking up the table apart from Shamrock Rovers – we all want to be picking off the sides above us and now we look to Waterford if we can. Every team in this league is dangerous and I expect the teams below us to be doing all they can to get at us. 

“We want to be in a better position so getting wins is what we are looking at. I know there’ll be a big crowd from both clubs for this game and it should be a good one to look forward to. That said it’s the result we want. I see improvement and signs that we can win more games. The players have put in a great effort so far this season in terms of application and in training and they are good enough to beat any team in this league. That’s what they want to prove on Saturday.”

Tottenhams defeat to West Ham and Southampton failing to defeat Bournemouth last weekend resulted in 18 casualties, meaning that just five are left standing as we approach round 10.

Listed below are the five who remain standing and in the running for the €1,000 top prize.

Gerard	Burns
Daniel	Kelly
Peter	Kerins
Jessica	Farry
Alan	Jinks

Gerard Burns Selections To Date: Newcastle Liverpool Chelsea Bournemouth Arsenal Leicester Tottenham Watford Man City

Daniel Kelly Selections To Date: West Ham Arsenal Wolves Leicester Crystal Palace Chelsea Tottenham Watford Liverpool

Peter Kerins Selections To Date: Newcastle Southampton Brighton Leicester Arsenal Chelsea Tottenham Liverpool Man City

Jessica Farry Selections To Date: West Ham Leicester Chelsea Bournemouth Man City Tottenham Burnley Watford Liverpool

Alan Jinks Selections To Date: Newcastle Liverpool Man United Man City Crystal Palace Chelsea Tottenham Watford Wolves

The best of luck to all remaining players and may the best man/woman win!

The following are the fixtures for round 10:

Everton vs. Burnley

Bournemouth vs. Tottenham

West Ham vs. Southampton

Wolves vs. Fulham

Cardiff vs. Crystal Palace

Newcastle vs. Liverpool

Chelsea vs. Watford

Huddersfield vs. Man Utd

Arsenal vs. Brighton

Man City vs. Leicester

Vote for the Wehrly Bros Jewellers Sligo Rovers Player of the Month for April

Rovers had wins over Dundalk and UCD in the month, draws with Finn Harps, Cork and Waterford and defeats to St Pat’s and Bohemians

The winner will receive a Bulova watch sponsored by Wehrly Bros Jewellers

Vote here

The Dublin Supporters Club have asked us to remind all the fans in the capital that their race night, sponsored by The White Hag, takes place on Thursday night in Toners Bar in Baggot Street.

The DSC want to thank all of you that have bought horses in preparation. They have sold a record total for this event.

Liam Buckley and Dave Campbell of the management team will attend on the night.

You can enter the raffle on the night and you can get tickets here if you can’t make it. Prizes include White Hag packages, vouchers and Sligo Rovers merch.

https://www.sligorovers.com/product/dublin-race-night-raffle/

Thanks to Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan MEP who is a commercial partner of Sligo Rovers for this weekend’s game with Shamrock Rovers and advertiser in the Dublin Race Night on Thursday.

We look forward to welcoming MEP Flanagan to The Showgrounds on Saturday.

He said: “I’m excited to see the Bit O’ Red against Shamrock Rovers. As I said recently on the Tonight Show, as a Sligo Rovers fan there really is only one Rovers. It should be a great night in The Showgrounds. See you all then.”

The 2019 Sligo Rovers Easter camps concluded on Friday last which marked the end of two incredible weeks of fun, football and laughter for everyone involved.

Over 300 children descended on The Showgrounds for the camps, which ensured The showgrounds was a hive of activity over the Easter holidays.

The Breakfast Club sold out for both weeks for the first time in its history, while the camp itself was attended by over 300 participants over the two weeks.

Camp coordinator Shane Crossan spoke of his delight and appreciation on how well the Easter Camps went and is very much looking forward to the Summer Camps already. He added:

“I would like to thank the coaches, parents and most importantly the children for making the 2019 Easter Camps such a success. Without their support, hard work and good will the camps would not have been as successful”.

One parent in particular summed up the Sligo Rovers camps on the last day by stating:

“as a club Sligo Rovers are making it affordable for children in the North-West to play football and the positive atmosphere here at the camp itself is a credit to everyone involved. We live in Kildare but we will most certainly be back here for the Summer”

Sligo Rovers would like to wish all of the children that attended the very best of luck in their final term of school and we look forward to welcoming them all to the Summer Camps in eight weeks time. Details of the clubs Summer Camps will be available in the next two weeks.

We would like to thank both the Match Sponsor and the Match Ball Sponsor from last Fridays home league game against Finn Harps.

The Match Sponsor on the night was Nathaniel Lacy & Partners while the Match Ball was sponsored by the Sligo Super Cup.

Our thanks to both Nathaniel Lacy and the Sligo Super Cup for their kind sponsorship and continued support of the club as a whole.

• 

• 

Sligo Super Cup 2019, played over three days at the Showgrounds last weekend, proved to be an outstanding success, with 16 top class games, 55 goals, and a fairy tale ending.

Huge crowds marvelled at the high standard of attractive and creative football as elite academies from across Ireland and the UK battled it out for the prestigious title.

In the end, the honours rested with the courageous Donegal Schoolboys League, who defied all the odds to defeat hotly fancied reigning champions, Dublin District Schoolboys League, in a thrilling final.

On their way to the final, Donegal had claimed the scalps of top rated academies Derby County and Aberdeen to justify their place as worthy Sligo Super Cup champions.

The local Sligo/Leitrim Schoolboys League also enjoyed an excellent tournament. They were unfortunate to go down by the only goal of the game to the DDSL before facing Leeds United in one of the best games of the weekend.

A highly impressive Leeds team raced into a three goal lead at the break, but the local lads produced a stunning second half revival, scoring twice late on and just narrowly missing out on securing a draw.

They had much better luck in their final group game, romping to a 3-0 win over Glenavon and then beating the Mayo League on penalties in the play-offs to secure a very creditable fifth place finish.

Among the stand-out games was the meeting of the DDSL and Leeds United, both knowing that victory would guarantee a place in the final. A terrifically entertaining game ended with the Dubs winning through by the odd goal in three.

In the other group, Aberdeen were favourites to advance after rattling in nine goals in victories over Derby County and Mayo, but they met their match against Donegal, with the Ulstermen coming from behind to record a shock 2-1 victory for a place in the final.

It left Leeds and Aberdeen playing off for 3rd and 4th place, with the Scottish side edging a tense contest by 2-1.

And so to the marvellous final showdown. With terrific atmosphere generated by the enthusiastic followers of both teams, the DDSL looked set for a three-in-a-row victory when they took a 1-0 half time lead. But Donegal refused to yield, equalising early in the second half and then surviving a massive onslaught from the Dubs as the game went into extra time.

With the sides still locked at the end of a breathtaking contest, a penalty shoot-out was required to seal the deal. The Donegal lads held their nerve to win 3-1 and so record a famous victory.

There was some consolation for the Dublin team when their multi-talented midfield player, Christopher Conlon was named player of the tournament.

A big innovation this year was the live streaming of eight of the matches on the Sligo Super Cup Facebook page by Full Time Productions, with big audiences tuning in all weekend.

Another unexpected treat for the young lads (and many of their parents!!) was the attendance of Westlife star, Nicky Byrne, who was there to support his son, Rocco, who played in goals for the DDSL.

Nicky kindly agreed to present the coveted trophy and medals to winners and runners-up, thus adding another feather in the cap for what proved to be an outstanding weekend of youth football.

Tournament Director, Packie Lynch, thanked all who helped to make the tournament such a huge successs.

“This was our third year and it proved to be the best tournament yet, with record attendances and positive feedback all round. We started with only a logo three years ago and now we have a brand. We are already planning for next year’s tournament and look forward to seeing the Sligo Super Cup continuing to grow in the years ahead,” he said.

Sligo Rovers put six points between themselves and the relegation play-off spot with a valuable win over a flat UCD at the Bowl.

Dante Leverock’s second league goal of the season and David Cawley’s goal straight from a corner, helped Rovers towards their fourth victory of the season.

Sligo, with just one win in their last five, started the brighter and had half chances through both Cawley and Ronan Coughlan.

UCD’s first sight at goal arrived 18 minutes in to a first half which lacked cutting edge in front of goal.

Conor Davis’ whipped free kick from distance forcing Rovers goalkeeper Mitchell Beeney to palm the ball over his crossbar.

Romeo Parkes seemed like the away side’s beacon of hope in what was a frustrating opening period for Liam Buckley’s men.

He could only head straight at Conor Kearns mid-way through however after latching on to Regan Donelon’s swerving cross.

Beeney was again tested before the break.

The ex-Chelsea man looked uncomfortable in dealing with Davis’ next go at goal. But did just enough to scramble the low drive around his post.

The Westerners should have gone ahead after the re-start.

Parkes’ through ball teeing up Coughlan just yards from goal, but there was too little intent in the effort as Kearns easily gathered.

The opener did arrive on Sligo’s next visit to the UCD goalmouth.

Coughlan returning Donelon’s corner, which was only half cleared, back into the area for the imposing Leverock to head home for his third goal in all competitions.

The lively Parkes fired over from the angle on 73 after his deft touch took him into space on the Students’ right side.

Sligo had their insurance goal ten minutes from time.

Cawley’s corner caught the UCD backline sleeping as the set-piece drifted all the way to the back post before sneaking in.

Collie O’Neill’s under-par charges did have the chance to cut Rovers’ lead three minutes from time.

But Richie O’Farrell, in space, could only slice his half-volley wide of the target as the Dubliners continue to sit second from bottom.

UCD: Conor Kearns; Evan Farrell (Sean McDonald 80), Liam Scales, Josh Collins, Mark Dignam; Paul Doyle, Richie O’Farrell; Neil Farrugia, Timmy Molloy (Gary O’Neill 66), Kevin Coffey (Yoyo Mahdy 70); Conor Davis.  

Sligo Rovers: Mitchell Beeney; Johnny Dunleavy, Dante Leverock, John Mahon, Lewis Banks; Kris Twardek (Liam Kerrigan 87), Jack Keaney, David Cawley, Regan Donelon; Ronan Coughlan (Ronan Murray 58), Romeo Parkes.  

Referee: Sean Grant.