Sligo Rovers produced a battling Women’s FAI Cup quarter-final performance for a sensational 1-0 victory against Bohemian FC at Dalymount Park this afternoon.

The all-important goal arrived in the 77th minute following a sustained period of Sligo Rovers pressure when Jodie Loughrey’s shot deflected to the net off Emma Hansberry.

The opportunity came after Emma Doherty’s initial effort following a corner was blocked by an under-pressure Bohemian FC rearguard and the ball bobbled around in the penalty area.

With only one all season, the Bit O’Red went into this encounter on the back of two defeats in the Women’s Premier Division and also having failed to beat the Dublin side twice this season.

However, on this occasion the skill and determination of the Sligo Rovers players was rewarded with a memorable victory and a place in the last four as they remain unbeaten in this season’s competition.

The warning signs were there for the hosts as the sides went in scoreless at the interval after the Bit O’Red mostly dominated the opening 45 minutes.

Emma Doherty flashed a header just wide of the target early on while Sarah Kiernan’s corner bounced off the Bohemian FC crossbar with Rachael Kelly scampering across the line.

Emma Hansberry was also denied an opportunity with a timely intervention by a home defender.

It wasn’t all one-way traffic and Sligo Rovers ‘keeper Bonnie McKiernan produced the save of the half with a flying save that denied Rachel Doyle.

Steve Feeney’s side started the second-half on the front foot with Hansberry, Boles and Doherty all going close before the hosts had a chance when Lynn Craven was narrowly off target from close range in the 59th minute.

Both sides continued to search for the opening goal and it was the Bit O’Red that looked more likely to score as the clock ticked.

Central to the victory was a solid defensive performance and Lauren Boles dictating a lot of the play.

The crucial goal duly arrived in the 77th minute when Loughrey’s shot deflected to the net off Hansberry.

The hosts had a chance soon after that was narrowly wide while at the other end Emma Doherty’s opportunist effort went the wrong side of the post.

Bohemian FC – Rachael Kelly; Lynn Craven, Katie Burdis, Lisa Murphy, Ciara Maher, Fiona Donnelly, Kira Bates-Crosbie, Rachel Doyle, Mia Dodd, Katie Lovely, Katie Malone. 

Subs – Anna Hegarty for Doyle 77 mins, Abbie O’Hara for Bates-Crosbie 84m.

Sligo Rovers – Bonnie McKiernan; Alice Lillie, Sarah Kiernan, Leah Kelly, Eimear Lafferty, Emma Hansberry, Lauren Boles, Keri Loughrey, Casey Howe, Jodie Loughrey, Emma Doherty.

Subs – Keeva Flynn for Lafferty 62 mins, Paula McGrory for K Loughrey 85m.

We host UCD tonight at 7.45pm at The Showgrounds in our next League game.

We outline all our Match Night information below:

Turnstiles:

Turnstiles open from 6.30pm.

All Children Under 12 must be accompanied by a paying adult. This is non-negotiable and it is the responsibility of parents and guardians to ensure their children are accompanied arriving to The Showgrounds and throughout the night.

All Children over the age of 12 must enter via the last turnstile on the left hand side which will be sign posted. This new turnstile is for Juveniles only and here they must pay €10 as per Category Two fixtures.

Please have your tickets ready for scanning to ensure a smooth and quick entry process. Any duplicate tickets will be refused and may lead to stadium bans for those in possession of one. Tickets will only scan once.

Seating:

Seating is first come, first served in all areas of the ground. Seats with names on them must be respected as these are Gold Season Ticket members who have paid for their seat to be reserved all season. Anyone found sitting in a seat that is not theirs will be asked to move. While this game is not valid for season tickets, we ask that you do not sit in a seat with someone’s name on it.

Security:

Members of our security team will carry out on the spot checks on bags and persons entering the ground. Alcohol and Pyrotechnics are not allowed and will be confiscated on entry. We ask supporters to please help the club in this regard and refrain from attempting to get in with any prohibited items.

CCTV:

CCTV is again in operation throughout the evening using our CCTV system. The system was instrumental in the club being able to utilise footage from previous anti-social behaviour and, in turn issue this to Gardai and serve stadium bans to some supporters. Security personnel and An Garda Siochaina will be monitoring the system and anyone found to be behaving in a way which contravenes our ground rules will be removed and banned from attending future games.

Car Parking:

There are limited spaces available at The Showgrounds astro turf car park. This will be closed once full, which is expected to be early in the evening. Supporters should note the club have come to an agreement with Nazareth House for official Match Night use of their grounds which has over 200 parking spaces. There is a charge of €2, with proceeds towards the upkeep of their grounds.

Flares:

Leave your flares at home. These are not wanted and anyone found with flares will be banned from attending future matches. These cause needless fines for the club, money which is raised by our volunteers and fellow supporters.

Pitch:

It is an offence to enter the field of play at any stage. This includes children. It is parent/guardian’s responsibility to ensure children do not encroach on the pitch at any time.

Annual Draw:

Our 2023 Annual Draw takes place on the pitch at half-time. Tickets are €10 and the top prize is €5,000. Tickets can be purchased here: https://srfcdirect.com/annual-draw-ticket/

All are welcome.

Match Tickets are still available here: https://srfcdirect.com/match-tickets/

Our Academy teams are all in action this weekend with six games taking place in total.

On Saturday afternoon, our Under 14 side host Athlone Town at our partners ATU Sligo at 1pm.

At the same time, at The Sean Fallon Centre, our Under 17 Men’s side host St. Patrick’s Athletic in the Under 17 Men’s League.

Our Under 17 Women’s side also face the Dubliners, with Darren Kelly’s side travelling to Blanchardstown for a 1pm kick-off.

Our Under 15’s are in Athlone Town Stadium to face Athlone Town at Midday, also on Saturday.

Sunday sees our Under 19 Men’s side take on Athlone Town away from home at 3pm while our Under 19 Women host Shamrock Rovers from 4.30pm at The Sean Fallon Centre.

Another Women’s FAI Cup quarter-final journey to Dalymount Park for Sligo Rovers to tackle Bohemian FC on Saturday, 3pm, writes Conall Collier.

Twelve months ago, the Bit O’Red made the same journey after they received a first-round walkover from a non-League team, this time around they negotiated another non-League team when they defeated Bonagee Utd by 11-0.

Bohemian FC also negotiated a non-League team in the first round with a 3-0 victory against Cabinteely at the Carlisle Grounds in Bray.

The Bohemian FC goals were scored by Lisa Murphy (two) and Fiona Donnelly, but the 11-0 win for the Bit O’Red sent both Casey Howe and Emma Doherty to the top of the scoring charts with five goals apiece.

Amy Hyndman scored the other goal for the Bit O’Red.

Both Doherty and Howe will be eager to stay at the top of the charts, but they will also be focused on helping Steve Feeney’s side make it to the last four of the competition.

However, the Dublin club has not lost to Sligo Rovers in six previous outings, four in 2022 and two already this season.

That type of form suggests that the Dalymount Park club will extend that run to seven by 5pm on Saturday evening.

The Dublin women enjoyed a 1-0 victory at Dalymount in May with Lisa Murphy hitting the target while at the other end Emma Doherty had a decent chance to equalise, but Rachael Kelly saved for the hosts.

Significantly, both Sarah Rowe and Erica Burke featured in that Bohemian FC victory, but will be absent this weekend.

The sides met in the Avenir Sports Cup at the Showgrounds in June and the Dublin women won that by 3-1, but it was a bizarre type of contest with a brace of first-half own goals and a penalty claim in each half waved away.

Sligo Rovers had to wait until Casey Howe converted a 92nd minute spot-kick for a consolation goal.

Both teams also lost last weekend, but the real surprise was the 5-0 victory that Athlone Town recorded against the Dublin women in what was the team’s heaviest defeat this season.

Perhaps an indication that the absence of Burke and Rowe is a major setback.

Sligo Rovers also lost last weekend when they conceded four goals without reply at Tallaght Stadium.

That was mainly a defensive performance from Sligo Rovers with very few chances created, although the Bit O’Red fashioned a couple of openings and failed to finish.

That has been an ongoing challenge for Sligo Rovers this season with a return of 11 goals in the Women’s Premier Division, a tally they matched in the FAI Cup against Bonagee Utd.

One player who will have an extra incentive to make sure the Bit O’Red progress to the last four is Emma Hansberry, twice capped for the Republic of Ireland at senior level.

Emma has also played in four FAI Cup finals and would be more than happy if she can help get the Bit O’Red across the line on Saturday at Dalymount Park.

“We’ve always had good battles with Bohs, we know that if we show up on the day and play the way we can, we can be a match for anyone,” she commented in an interview with Tony Magner that will be included in the special FAI Cup quarter-final match programme for Saturday’s game.

The game will be live on LOITV, kick-off at 3pm.

The teams will meet again in the Women’s Premier Division at the Showgrounds on Saturday, 30^th September.

Our Women’s senior team take on Bohemians on Saturday afternoon at Dalymount Park in the 1/4 Final of the Sports Direct Women’s FAI Cup.

The game takes place at 3pm and will be broadcast Live on LOI TV.

Sligo Rovers fans in the area can pay on the gates on Saturday afternoon, with tickets just €5.

All support for the team would be greatly appreciated as we look to progress to the semi-finals.

Sligo Rovers take on Derry City on Friday September 22nd at 7.45pm at The Showgrounds.

The game was originally scheduled for 7.45pm on the Saturday but was recently moved forward 24 hours.

Supporters wishing to attend the game can pay on the night on the turnstiles or in advance online via the link below:

https://srfcdirect.com/match-tickets/

Supporters wishing to attend this Saturday night’s SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division fixture between Sligo Rovers and UCD can buy their tickets online now on the club’s online store.

Tickets are available here: https://srfcdirect.com/match-tickets/

The game takes place at 7.45pm at The Showgrounds and gates will open from 6.30pm.

The Club’s 2023 Annual Draw will take place on the pitch at half-time.

Supporters can also pay on the gate on the night by cash or card.

Our Academy had five games on Saturday and Sunday with all teams in action other than our Under 19 Men’s team who had a weekend off due to International matches taking place.

On Saturday, our Under 17 Women’s team hosted Dundalk at 1pm at The Showgrounds and the girls were on the end of a narrow 1-0 defeat.

Rovers Under 14’s were in action away to Dundalk at Oriel Park and the hosts ran out 3-1 winners on the day, with Conor Whittaker’s goal proving to be only a consolation.

Finally, our Under 17 Men’s side had a good away win against Finn Harps on Saturday afternoon.

Goals from Conor Reynolds, Conor Cannon and Niall Kenny were enough to seal the three points.

Sunday saw two games take place with our Under 15 side at home to Drogheda United at The Sean Fallon Centre and our Under 19 Women’s side away to Wexford Youths.

The Under 15 game was an entertaining one with six goals shared between the teams in a 3-3 draw.

Rovers goalscorers on the day were Cead McGrath, Liam McLaughlin and Oisin Keenan.

Our Under 19 Women suffered a 4-0 defeat against a strong home side at Ferrycarrig Park.

Our 2023 Annual Draw is coming into its final week of sales, with €63,000 now raised so far by our brilliant volunteer sellers in addition to our online sales on srfcdirect.com

The draw takes place at the UCD game next Saturday night at The Showgrounds.

The top prize is €5,000 and will be won by one of our entrants who has purchased a ticket for €10.

If you can, we’d encourage you to support our draw by purchasing a ticket now online via the link below:

https://srfcdirect.com/annual-draw-ticket/

There are other top prizes such as a huge €2,500 voucher for West Coast Orthodontics in Sligo Town and a €1,000 voucher for Petstop Discount Warehouse.

Vouchers for stays at The Connaught Hotel, Clayton Hotel Liffey Valley and the Silver Tassey Hotel in Letterkenny are also up for grabs.

Corporate match tickets for a Liverpool home game at Anfield are also on offer which will be a great prize for any football fan.

There are also vouchers for Kate’s Kitchen in Sligo, Elverys Sports and Ticketmaster.

We’d like to thank all our supporters for getting behind the draw once again this year.

Ticket sellers are heading to Manorhamilton later today so if you’re about the area, your support will be appreciated.