Sligo Rovers suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat at home to Dundalk in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division at The Showgrounds on Saturday.

Keith Ward headed home from inside the six yard box after 85 minutes to seal a late win for the Lillywhites.

The game had been fairly even up until that point, with Rovers having the more clear cut chances throughout the opening 85 minutes.

Max Mata headed toward goal on 21 minutes but his header was saved by Nathan Shepperd.

Mata was close again a few minutes later as Hartmann’s pass almost found the striker but he couldn’t reach it on the slide.

Rayhaan Tulloch tested Luke McNicholas soon after with a long range effort which the Mayo native had to tip around the post.

The biggest chance came when Mata headed Will Fitzgerald’s cross into the ground and over the bar before half-time when it looked like he might score the opener.

The second half was a tight affair with not many clear cut chances for either side.

Mata was again threatening when Johan Brannefalk found him in behind but Shepperd again saved and Stefan Radosavljevic’s rebound was blocked down.

The opening goal of the night came when Rovers had a corner which was cleared away by the visitors.

Archie Davies long cross found its way to the back post where Darragh Leahy played a one-two before delivering for Ward to nod home the winner.

It was a dissapointing end to the game for Rovers who face Shelbourne at home next Saturday night at The Showgrounds.

The club’s 50KM Challenge ‘Walk With Rovers’ will come to and end tomorrow, Sunday.

Over 220 participants signed up for the Walk since the start of April and have now raised a brilliant €60,000 for the club.

Donations can be made up until the end of May online via the following link:

https://www.idonate.ie/event/marchwithrovers

Supporters young and old got behind the Challenge and took part with family, friends and colleagues throughout the world.

It really brought people together over the last number of weeks and the club kept participants updated with a series of emails and social media posts.

The club will discuss the merits of running this Challenge again in 2024.

We thank everyone for their continued support and ask those who haven’t had a chance to donate to do so if you can by the end of May.

Hosts Bohemian FC fielded an unchanged side from the previous week’s victory in Cork while the Bit O’Red made a number of changes with Leah Kelly, Fiona Doherty and Kate Nugent all missing out.

Into the starting 11 came Alice Lillie, Sarah Kiernan and Keri Loughrey as Sligo Rovers went in search of a first point of the season.

The first-half was played at a hectic pace with the hosts on the front foot.

Sligo Rovers goalkeeper Bonnie McKiernan produced a brave save in the third minute at the feet of Kira Bates-Crosbie and soon after the hosts had a good effort over the bar from Rachel Doyle.

McKiernan was in action again in the 22nd minute when she saved smartly to deny Erika Burke after possession was lost as the Bit O’Red tried to play out from the back.

Two minutes later Sligo Rovers conceded a corner and when the ball was sent in by Rachel Doyle, the end product was a powerful header to the net for the lead goal from Lisa Murphy.

Sligo Rovers upped the tempo and exerted a lot of pressure in the run up to the interval with Jodie and Keri Loughrey and Casey Howe all pushing forward without any return on the scoreboard as the hosts held on to lead at the interval.

Both sides had chances in an evenly-contested second-half with McKiernan saving well on the hour for Sligo Rovers while at the other end Emma Doherty had a couple of half chances.

However, the Bohemian FC defence held out and took another three points.

Bohemian FC – Rachael Kelly; Lynn Craven, Katie Burdie, Lisa Murphy, Ciara Maher, Fiona Donnelly, Kira Bates-Crosbie, Rachel Doyle, Erica Burke, Mia Dodd, Sarah Rowe.

Subs – Katie Lovely for Burdis 25 mins, Niamh Prior for Doyle 65m, Aoife Robinson for Rowe 89m.

Sligo Rovers – Bonnie McKiernan; Alice Lillie, Sarah Kiernan, Amy Roddy, Keela Scanlon, Lauren Boles, Emma Hansberry, Casey Howe, Keri Loughrey, Emma Doherty, Jodie Loughrey.
Subs – Leah Kelly for J Loughrey 64 mins, Kate Nugent for Roddy 65m, Ciara Henry for K Loughrey 79m.

Referee – David Dunn.

We host Dundalk tonight (Saturday) at 7.45pm at The Showgrounds in The SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division.

We outline all our Match Night information below:

Turnstiles:

Turnstiles open from 6.30pm.

Buy tickets in advance: https://srfcdirect.com/match-tickets/

Or pay on the turnstiles. Card payments accepted at certain turnstiles.

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.

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 Brand New state of the art CCTV system. 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 potentially 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.

We wish to thank all supporters for their support in recent weeks and for the atmosphere created both at home and away.

We thank you for your co-operation

Sligo Rovers host Dundalk at The Showgrounds on Saturday night in a game that is eagerly anticipated by the Bit O’ Red supporters.

The Bit O’ Red come into the game on the back of a 1-0 win against St. Patrick’s Athletic on Monday while the visitors Dundalk defeated UCD 2-0 at The UCD Bowl.

Performances over the Bank Holiday weekend against Shamrock Rovers and St. Patrick’s Athletic were highly praised by supporters and Manager John Russell knows his side will need to perform like that again on Saturday:

”We all know the importance of this game against Dundalk.

”The league is so tight at the moment and our main focus is to start putting a run of results together.

”Our performances last weekend give us confidence going into this home game. We should have a few players back from injury and everyone is fully focused on getting another positive result”.

The game could see over 3,000 supporters attend The Showgrounds once again this year, a crowd which will bring over overall attendance so far for 2023 to in excess of 20,000 so far in the 2023 season.

Russell stresses the importance of a large home support to bring a good atmosphere to the game:

”The supporters have come out in their numbers so far this season and we’re expecting another big crowd this Saturday night. We need everyone to continue to get behind the team.

”This group of players relish playing in front of big crowds and they feed off the energy and noise created in the ground. Hopefully we can deliver a top performance on the night”.

In team news, Rovers once again must deal with some injury concerns going into the weekend.

Karl O’ Sullivan will be out of action for around 12 weeks after recent ankle surgery. Garry Buckley is progressing in his recovery from an ACL injury and is hoping for a return to full training within the next six weeks. Mark Byrne is expected back later in the Summer while Gary Boylan may miss the remainder of the season with his ACL injury.

Bogdan Vastsuk, Fabrice Hartmann and Eanna Clancy are back in training and should feature in the squad Saturday night while Greg Bolger and James Finnerty are both expected to miss the game through injury.

The game kicks off at 7.45pm and tickets are available online at srfcidrect.com or at the turnstiles from 6.30pm.

Our Match Programme against Dundalk tomorrow is another content packed edition with 64-pages to read for supporters.

The game is sponsored by a Sligo Junction in Collooney who are big supporters of the club down the years. Sligo Junction Mace

The Match Ball is sponsored by John McDonagh and his family who will be in attendance on the night as guests of the club.

Foleys Bar and Off Licence are After Match Reception sponsors as always.

The Match Programme also includes all of the following great content:

– Notes from John Russell and Tommy Higgins

– ‘Join The Club’ by Conall Collier

– Kailin Barlow Interview with Conall Collier

– Ballymote Celtic feature (Guests from Sligo/Leitrim)

– Sligo Rovers Women update

– 50KM Challenge update and photos

– Rovers Summer Camps- Elvis Rocks Sligo

– Stars abroad, Irish Youngsters to light up the Premier League

– 20 Questions with Richard Brush

– Sligo Rovers Pen Pics and Quiz

– John Mahon pull-out poster

– Dundalk player profiles

– Joe Molloy’s feature on Sligo Rovers V Dundalk

– List of 2023 Associate Sponsors

– Oran Gethins tribute

– Lucky Envelope winners

– You reds- photos from UCD game and our Birthday Party pictures

Programmes are available inside the turnstiles from 6.30pm tomorrow for just €5

You can buy your programme online and have it emailed to you by clicking the link below 👇

BUY PROGRAMME: https://srfcdirect.com/dundalk-match-programme-may-6th/

SEASON PROGRAMME BUNDLE (€35): https://srfcdirect.com/2023-match-programme-bundle/

Programmes emailed later this evening and tomorrow.

Our 2023 Summer Camps are now sold-out.

Anyone looking to go on the club’s waiting list is asked to email shane@sligorovers.com

We wish to thank everyone for their continued support and we look forward to starting our Summer Camps in July.

Sligo Rovers are delighted to announce details of our upcoming Summer Camps, which will take place for eight weeks in The Showgrounds.

The Summer Camps will commence on Monday July 3^rd and will finish on Friday August 25^th.

The cost is €75 for one child, €130 for two children from the one family and €185 for three children from the one family.

The camp will run from 10.30am-3pm daily.

Each participant will receive an official club training top, meet and greet with members of the first team squad and a certificate from the club.

Places are limited and all bookings must be completed online via the link below.

Book 1 Child: https://srfcdirect.com/products.php?product=Sligo-Rovers-camp-1-child-Summer-2023&showHidden=true

Book 2 Children: https://srfcdirect.com/products.php?product=Sligo-Rovers-Camp-2-children-from-1-family-Summer-2023&showHidden=true

Book 3 Children:  https://srfcdirect.com/products.php?product=Sligo-Rovers–Camp-3-children-from-1-family-Summer-2023&showHidden=true

For more information email Shane@sligorovers.com.

Our Academy teams are all in action this weekend apart from our Under 14’s who have a weekend off.

Saturday sees two games down for decision at Under 17 level with our Men’s and Women’s teams both in action.

Our Under 17 Women host Longford Town at 1pm at The Sean Fallon Centre. The sides met earlier in the season in Longford with Rovers winning 1-0.

Anthony Elding’s Under 17 Men’s side take on Galway United away from home at 2pm. The lads had two games last weekend, picking up a win over Athlone Town and suffering a narrow defeat against Shamrock Rovers on Monday.

Sunday will see our Under 19 Men’s team take on Longford Town away from home at Midday. The side are in good form having won their last two games and are unbeaten since April 2nd.

Our Under 19 Women’s team host Galway United at 4.30pm at The Sean Fallon Centre on Sunday and are also in great form with four wins from their last five games.

Darryl Keaney’s Under 15’s host Athlone Town at 1pm on Sunday after two free weekends in the last couple of weeks. The game is also at The Sean Fallon Centre.

Three games to go for Sligo Rovers until the mid-point of the Women’s Premier Division is reached and the quest for a first win of the season continues, writes Conall Collier.

A trip to Dalymount Park on Saturday for a showdown with mid-table Bohemian FC will produce another challenge for the Bit O’Red.

In four outings last season against the Dublin women, Sligo Rovers didn’t manage a victory against the Dublin side – three times in the WNL as it was then, and also in the FAI Cup.

However, last weekend there was another encouraging display from the Bit O’Red as they hosted Athlone Town, but there was no reward in terms of points.

Bohemian FC made the trip to tackle second from bottom Cork City and got back on the winning track with a 3-1 victory. After a heavy defeat the previous week.

On the plus side for Sligo Rovers, the players can approach Saturday’s assignment without any fear as they will be well aware that the performances on the pitch merit more of a return than what’s reflected in the League table.

The pressure will be on the hosts who will be expecting to pick up another three points without too much difficulty and they will be looking to the likes of Mia Dodd, Lisa Murphy and Erica Burke for the goals.

That trio found the net against Cork City last weekend for a victory that made amends for that heavy defeat by Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium in the previous outing.

For Sligo Rovers last weekend, Casey Howe hit a wonder goal against Athlone and Emma Doherty had a couple of half chances.

Keela Scanlon continues to impress for Steve Feeney’s side and will be buoyed by her selection during the week as ATU Sligo Women’s player-of-the-year accolade.

On the doubtful list for Sligo Rovers are the quartet of Katie Melly, Aoife Brennan, Fiona Doherty and Kate Nugent.

Kick-off at Dalymount Park is at 3pm and there will be another long journey the following weekend with a trip to Turner’s Cross to play Cork City.