Sligo Rovers ended our home season in this year’s SSE Airtricity League with a narrow 1-0 win over St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday night at The Showgrounds.

The win secures a top five finish for Rovers.

John Russell made two changes to the side that drew 0-0 with Derry City on Monday, with Greg Bolger and Colm Horgan replacing Robbie Burton and Shane Blaney respectively.

The game started with the visitors wasting a good chance for the opening goal. Nando Pijnaker overhit a back pass to Richard Brush and the goalkeeper was chased down by Pats’ striker Eoin Doyle who just couldn’t squeeze the ball home.

The remainder of the half was pretty even with both sides pushing forward as much as possible, the next best chance again probably falling to the away side as Chris Forrester went through one on one with Brush but his effort didn’t have the legs to roll over the line and Lewis Banks cleared.

Kailin Barlow went close for Rovers soon after but it remained scoreless at the break.

Seven minutes into the second half came the game’s biggest talking point. Aidan Keena dribbled into the penalty area and Paddy Barrett closed him down and was adjudged to have fouled the Rovers’ striker and referee John McLaughlin pointed to the spot and gave Rovers a penalty.

Keena picked himself up and blasted the ball high into the net to give The Bit O’ Red the lead.

With Dundalk ahead against Bohemians, St Pat’s knew only a win would do if they were to have any hopes of a top three finish. Tim Clancy pushed everyone forward for the last ten minutes but a combination of strong defending and good goalkeeping from Brush meant that Rovers never really came under a massive threat and saw out the game comfortably enough meaning John Russell’s side are now guaranteed fifth spot in the table.

We play our last game of the season away to Bohemians next Sunday at 7pm at Dalymount Park.

Our Academy Player of The Year awards were presented last night at our Senior Men’s game against St. Patrick’s Athletic.

The winners were:

Under 19 Men’s: Sean McAteer who was presented with his award by Head of Academy Conor O’ Grady. Sean has been impressive in midfield this season and has secured a scholarship at ATU Sligo, which began in September.

Under 19 Women’s: Katie McGuire was selected as Under 19 Women’s Player of The Year and presented with her award by Brian McIntyre from Overstock, who sponsor the team. Katie finished top goalscorer in 2022 for the team with an impressive 15 goals.

Under 17 Men’s: Daire Patton, who attends Summerhill College was the winner of this award. Daire was given the award by Bit O’ Red goalkeeper Luke McNicholas before kick-off. Daire plays in midfield and chipped in with a number of goals in 2022.

Under 15: Ballymote native James Lavin was the winner of our Under 15 Player of The Year this season. James is a strong tackling defensive player and impressed throughout the year with a string of good performances. James received his award from Luke McNicholas also.

Under 14: Jamie O’ Malley was our top scorer at Under 14 Level in 2022, scoring 8 goals competitively. Jamie picked up his award off Luke McNicholas also, just before the game.

We wish to thank all our Academy sponsors:

Ej Menswear

Ivor Parke Paintors and Decorators

Overstock

Avenue Mould

O Connor Cabins

Paul Gallagher

Sligo Rovers are aware of incidents which took place at half time during last night’s 1-0 win over St Patrick’s Athletic at The Showgrounds.

The incident has been captured on our CCTV cameras and we have identified a number of those involved and they will be subject to lengthy stadium bans.

The Showgrounds is a welcoming, family friendly stadium and incidents like this will not be tolerated and those involved in such incidents are not welcome at our club.

We wish to thank our supporters for their support of the club in 2022 and we will not allow our supporters’ fantastic reputation be tarnished by a minority of supporters who come to cause trouble.

Ends.

Striker Emma Doherty has been selected as Wehrly Bros/Sligo Rovers Young Womens Player of The Year for 2022.

The Donegal striker has been one of the standout strikers in the league this season and finished the year as Sligo Rovers’ top scorer with 11 goals so far, before this afternoon’s game with DLR Waves in which she will be looking to add to her tally.

Emma has also secured a scholarship at ATU Sligo this year which sees her extend her Bit O’ Red stay for three seasons.

Congrats, Emma.

Midfielder Lauren Boles has been named Wehrly Bros / Sligo Rovers Womens Player of The Year for 2022.

Boles has been an ever present in the Bit O’ Red team this season, with many top performances throughout.

She topped the polls in an online fans vote this week which sees her take home the award.

Boles will be presented with the award this afternoon ahead of our final game of the 2022 season.

Congrats, Lauren.

Manager Steve Feeney assesses the 2022 Women’s National League season for Sligo Rovers

Steve Feeney was handed the manager’s bib for the debut season of Sligo Rovers in the Women’s National League only a week before Christmas Day 2021.

The first manager of the Sligo Rovers Women’s team was tasked with assembling a panel some 80 days before the scheduled kick-off against high-flying Dublin club Peamount Utd in early March.

Some eight months and 27 games later (26 in the WNL and one FAI Cup), Feeney will send his players out for the final game of the season against DLR Waves on home turf at the Showgrounds this Saturday.

There were lots of highlights and lowlights in a campaign that brought the team to venues in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Athlone and Wexford as the WNL expanded to 10 teams with the inclusion, for the first time, of Sligo Rovers.

At all times, Feeney adopted a positive demeanour on the sideline and was always looking for areas where the team could improve.

“There were some heavy defeats, some games where we could have won and didn’t and some games that we were given no chance in and we won,” he commented.

“It’s easy to say that the wins at home against Shelbourne and Wexford were the highlights, and they were important.

“At the start of the season no one involved in the WNL would have given us any chance at all against either of those clubs and against most of the other clubs as well.

“However, the biggest highlight for me was the fact that towards the end of this season, this month, we were going to places like Shelbourne and Wexford with the expectation that we might get results.

“The girls have given a good account of themselves throughout the season and at this stage, the last game of 2022, everyone is now aware that they won’t get it easy against Sligo Rovers,” he added.

The commitment that was, and is, required from everyone involved, but especially the younger players, is not lost on the manager either.

“It was a huge commitment for the players, almost 30 competitive games, training started back in January and we are now at the end of October, realistically that’s 10 months of training and playing,” he pointed out.

“Obviously, for the players there is the two nights a week with us, but they also have to do their own training and recovery sessions, watching diet and all that sort of thing.

“That would have been new to a lot of the girls, they would have been in good condition anyway, but it’s a serious step up to play week-in, week-out in the WNL

“The players are a credit to themselves, they took on what was a big challenge, a big commitment, and you can see that they took it on as they showed gradual improvement throughout the season, that speaks volumes about them as individuals.

“It’s also great to see players like Emma Doherty, Kerri O’Hara and Alice Lillie getting recognised for international selection, that’s not just this season, but over the last few years, they’re three very good players.

“What stands out about that trio, and it’s also true across the squad, is the attitude and the willingness to keep going in a game, even when it’s not going your way,” he added.

Looking to the future, and more immediately to next season, Feeney is well aware that the task is not going to get any easier simply because the team has enjoyed a reasonable debut campaign in the WNL.

“Hopefully, we can push on and build for next season, but it doesn’t follow that we will automatically improve just because we have the first season behind us,” he stressed.

“We will have to work harder if we want to improve our position, finishing eighth this season, but it won’t be easy, that’s for certain.

“This year we were an unknown quantity, the new team in the WNL, next season we will be just one of the teams trying to improve our position, all the other teams will have the same goal.

“One positive will be the fact that we have a decent panel of players, we also have a good idea now of what to expect.

“We have the chance now to get organised in the off-season and get a proper pre-season into most of the players.

“This season, most of the girls only joined up a few weeks before kick-off and indeed some of them signed a week before the start, that wasn’t ideal.

“A better preparation will help us, but that’s all, it will help us, but it doesn’t mean we will improve on that aspect alone, we will have to find improvement in all sectors.

“We probably lacked a bit of conditioning early in the season, we won’t have that issue for 2023.

“For this season, I’m grateful to everyone who was involved and the commitment and effort that everyone made, it would be nice to get a big crowd for this last game of the season and to get a result as well,” he concluded.

Striker Max Mata has been named as Wehrly Bros/Sligo Rovers Young Player of The Year for 2022.

The New Zealander has settled into life in Sligo well this year following his move here in February.

Max has scored nine times and made a good contribution throughout the season and is under contract at the club for the next two seasons.

Mata will be presented with his award before tonight’s game.

Well done, Max.

Bit O’ Red striker Aidan Keena has picked up the Wehrly Bros/Sligo Rovers Player of The Year for 2022 after a fans vote saw him top the online poll.

Keena has been in flying form throughout the season with 19 goals in all competitions, making him top scored in the league so far.

Keena has scored important goals all season, most notably perhaps with goals against Bala Town and Motherwell away from home in Europa Conference League qualifiers and an impressive hat-trick against Finn Harps back in March at The Showgrounds.

Keena will be presented with his award this evening ahead of our game with St Patrick’s Athletic.

Congratulations, Aidan

Last home game in a memorable inaugural Women’s National League (WNL) season for Sligo Rovers as they welcome DLR Waves to the Showgrounds for a 3pm kick-off on Saturday.

With home wins already secured against the top two, Wexford and Shelbourne, the Bit O’Red will be aiming to produce some of that form once more as they host a team that hit seven goals last week against Treaty Utd.

DLR Waves hit the front against Treaty after just eight minutes through Kate Mooney and they added a second on 22 minutes through Nicole Keogh while Katie Malone made it 3-0 before the break.

DLR maintained the tempo and within three minutes of the restart had a fourth, Mooney shooting home, a fifth followed after 65 minutes when Shauna Carroll finished from close range and Kerri Letmon made it seven with a brace in added time.

That should be a stark warning for Sligo Rovers manager Steve Feeney who will be keen to finish the season on a winning note after solid performances away from home against the aforementioned top two and title contenders in the past fortnight.

Feeney also saw his team go close to grabbing a win last time out in a five-goal thriller against DLR Waves at the Belfield Bowl as Kate Mooney claimed an 81st minute winner for the hosts.

Gemma McGuinness had Sligo Rovers in the lead after only 10 minutes when she raced through the DLR defence and finished confidently past Eve Badana.

DLR countered, but it wasn’t until the 40th minute that Sophie Watters headed the equaliser.

The second-half was only five minutes old when DLR hit the front after substitute Avril Brierley capitalised on a loose ball in the penalty area, but on the hour the Bit O’Red levelled when Emma Doherty rifled to the net.

The Rovers were denied a lead goal by the crossbar after a surging run by Kerri O’Hara and DLR countered swiftly to create an opening, but the danger was averted.

Paula McGrory then had a chance for the Rovers, but her effort skimmed the bottom of the post before Kate Mooney rocketed a header to the net in the 81st minute to seal a thrilling win for the Dublin side.

Undaunted, the visitors had one last chance in added t ime when Gemma McGuinness found space in the DLR penalty area, but her shot was saved.

Another action-packed encounter is on the cards on Saturday as both teams look to finish the season on a winning note.

LAST TIME
DLR WAVES 3, SLIGO ROVERS 2

TEAMS
DLR Waves – Eve Badana; Lynn Craven, Jess Gleeson, Fiona Donnelly, Rachael Doyle, Kerri Letmon, Katie Malone, Aoife Brophy, Sophie Watters, Oleta Griffin, Sara McKevitt. Subs – Avril Brierley for McKevitt 8 mins, Kate Mooney for Letmon and Orla Fitzpatrick for Doyle 72m, Nadine Clare for Donnelly 82m.

Sligo Rovers – Amy Mahon; Leah Kelly, Orna O’Dowd, Amy Hyndman, Gemma McGuinness, Lauren Boles, Emma Doherty, Amy Roddy, Kerri O’Hara, Fiona Doherty, Paula McGrory. Subs – Helen Monaghan for O’Hara 75 mins, Aoife Brennan  for F Doherty 81m, Katie Melly for Kelly and Sarah Kiernan for Hyndman 86m.

Sligo Rovers host St. Patrick’s Athletic tomorrow night at The Showgrounds in our final home game of the 2022 season.

Rovers were last in action on Monday night at the same venue, drawing 0-0 with Derry City, three days after a 3-3 draw against Dundalk away from home.

The sides met at The Showgrounds back in May which saw the game end in a 1-1 draw, Aidan Keena on target for the Bit O’ Red.

Both sides have a win to their credit in the other two fixtures between the sides this year, with Rovers winning 2-1 back in February and Pats winning 1-0 in August, both at Richmond Park.

Sligo Rovers Manager John Russell expects another tight game on Friday night:

‘’All our games against St Pats this season have been tight encounters.

‘’We’ve been in good form and it’s important we carry that into the game tonight as we know it’ll be a tough test with St Pats chasing third spot in the table.

‘’Our supporters have been brilliant this year so the players will be eager to put on a top performance in front of them in what is our last home game of the season’’.

In team news, Rovers are without long-term absentees Garry Buckley, Mark Byrne, Luke McNicholas and David Cawley.

Niall Morahan is not expected to be fit in time and Shane Blaney, who limped off against Derry on Monday night is in a race against time to return to the side on Friday.

Friday night will see a number of presentations made before the game and at half time.

Our Academy Players of The Year will be presented with their awards and our Senior Men’s and Young Men’s Players of The Year will also receive their accolades prior to kick off.

Gates open at 6.30pm.