Sligo Rovers get our May bank holiday weekend underway against league leaders Drogheda United this Friday evening at the Showgrounds, kick-off 7.45pm. Amid one of the busiest periods of the season, this will be the men’s senior team’s sixth game in four weeks and the first of two games in four days ahead of Monday’s trip to face Shamrock Rovers.
Table-toppers Drogheda are the opposition on Friday night and the Bit O’Red are boosted by the return of striker Wilson Waweru who is available for selection for the first time since he sustained a serious achilles injury, last September.
In further team news, manager John Russell will prepare for Drogs without centre half Ollie Denham and utility man Oskar Van Hattum, both of whom are injured.
Rovers hold a strong record against United at the Showgrounds. You need to go back to summer 2021 to find the Louth side’s last win in Sligo. While Rovers twice beat Kevin Doherty’s charges at home in 2024.
However, our visitors have already beaten Rovers this term. Goals from Josh Thomas, Darragh Markey and Luke Heeney saw the hosts overcome Rovers at the newly named Sullivan and Lambe Park back in February. Since then Drogheda have soared and are currently joint top of the Premier Division along with our Connacht neighbours Galway.
Acknowledging their achievements so far this season, Rovers boss Russell says Friday’s encounter with the FAI Cup holders will be a test as tough as his team have come up against this year.
“Drogheda are on the up at the moment and will be our hardest opponent yet this season”, he says. “They’re really on form right now, despite their result against Galway last week.They have goals all over their team and we saw that up there back in February.
“Kevin has done an amazing job and they’ll be looking to recapture that momentum they had straight away after last week. But we’ve had a very positive week in training and we’ve spoken about how we’ll deal with the game.
“It was encouraging for us to be able to bring the likes of Stephen Mallon and Francely Lomboto from the bench last weekend and to see the impact they made. However, we don’t want to be in the position of having to chase a game and we’ve been working hard the last few days on being the team in control.”
Speaking on the impending return of goal-scorer Waweru, the Rovers boss had praise for his backroom staff given the early return of his fellow Galway native.
“Our medical team did a great job getting Wilson back so early”, he said. “We had thought it might be a midsummer return for him but he was back running and striking a ball ahead of schedule and that’s down to both the work of the medical staff and the player.
“Wilson has all the ingredients of a top striker and we’re delighted to have him back. Of course, we won’t rush him but it does almost feel like having a new player in. He gives us something different and provides further competition with Francely, Cian Kavanagh and Owen Elding.”
David Goulden