Sligo Rovers travel to PRL Park on Saturday evening to tackle title-chasing Peamount Utd in a crucial Women’s National League (WNL) encounter having already lost twice on the pitch to the Dublin side this season.

However, that opening day victory for Peamount was reversed and the Dublin club forfeited three points over fielding an ineligible player.

That error could yet prove very costly for Peamount as they currently sit in third place some six points adrift of leaders Wexford with five games remaining.

The form of the Sligo Rovers players has been noted also with striker Emma Doherty playing twice for the Republic of Ireland Under 19’s against Portugal this week and captaining the team on Thursday.

The focus for the Bit O’Red will turn to the trip to Dublin to tackle a team that last Saturday knocked defending champions and leaders Shelbourne off top spot when they grabbed a 1-0 victory at Tolka Park with a 77th Stephanie Roche winner.

That’s the challenge facing a Sligo Rovers side that hasn’t won in the last four WNL outings, the previous victory was achieved against Shelbourne at the Showgrounds at the end of July.

Apart from that victory, Sligo Rovers also defeated Wexford when the current leaders visited the North West in June.

That type of form suggests that, on a good day, Sligo Rovers can compete with the best.

Scoring goals hasn’t been a major problem for Steve Feeney’s side, six in the last four games, but the concession of 14 goals tells its own story.

“We’ve conceded goals too easily, it has been a problem all season for us and it’s an area we have to improve on,” commented the Bit O’Red manager.

“If we can make it more difficult for teams to score against us, then we are going to have a chance, it’s as simple as that,” he added.

On a positive note, the form of Paula McGrory who has scored five goals in the last three games is one area where Sligo Rovers may pose questions for Peamount.

“It’s great to see Paula getting the goals, but her overall game shows that she is as good as anyone in the League,” said Feeney

“We have a decent squad of players, we have a decent tally of points, but we have been on 19 now for a while and it would be nice to get on to 20 or 22 with this visit to Dublin.

“If we can defend a bit better than we did last week against Galway in the second-half, then we won’t be too far off the pace,” he concluded.