Sligo Rovers are back at The Showgrounds tomorrow night in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division.
The game is the first in a fortnight at home for Rovers and another large crowd is expected.
Tickets are available to buy now online via the below link:
https://srfcdirect.com/match-tickets/
Supporters can also pay in on the night at the turnstiles.
Turnstiles open at 6.30pm and cash or card is accepted.
Despite sitting at the foot of the Women’s Premier Division (WPD) after four outings, Sligo Rovers can adopt a positive attitude towards Saturday’s trip to Dublin to tackle DLR Waves at The UCD Bowl, 4pm, writes Conall Collier.
Although the Bit O’Red failed to pick up any points in March, there was a boost for the team when Sarah Kiernan took the League of Ireland goal of the month award for her super strike at Ferrycarrig Park against Wexford.
There was also an encouraging display on the opening day of the season against Shamrock Rovers where an injury-time goal from Republic of Ireland player Áine O’Gorman secured a 92nd minute victory for the Dublin side.
Manager Steve Feeney will welcome back Jodie Loughrey and Alice Lillie who were both on Republic of Ireland duty over the last couple of weeks while Emma Doherty was also kept busy during the international break
Doherty featured for the Republic of Ireland 19s in UEFA qualifying games against Germany, Norway and Croatia.
She was captain of the team and scored in the 4-1 victory against Croatia while Loughrey and Lillie were in the panel for the UEFA 17s qualifiers in France where the Irish women lost to hosts France, but enjoyed wins against Italy and Kosovo.
Last time out in the WPD Sligo Rovers took the lead against Treaty Utd with Doherty showing her predatory instincts with an opportunist goal, but the Limerick side struck two second-half goals to secure a hard-earned victory.
DLR Waves also slumped to a disappointing defeat last time out as Bohemian FC picked up their first win at Dalymount this season with a 3-0 midweek victory against Graham Kelly’s side at the end of March on a night when Sligo Rovers was the idle team.
DLR Waves also finished with 10 players on that occasion as Isobel Finnegan was shown a red card five minutes before the break.
Both teams will be aiming to get back on the winning track at Belfield this weekend and that could produce an action-packed encounter with plenty of goal-scoring opportunities at each end of the pitch.
LAST TIME OUT
Sligo Rovers 1, Treaty Utd 2
Bohemian FC 3, DLR Waves 0
Former Sligo Rovers player Gary Hulmes donated to our ongoing 50KM Challenge this week.
Hulmes, from Manchester arrived in Sligo 46 years ago this week. after being signed by then Manager Billy Sinclair ahead of the 1977 season.
Rovers won the League the following season with Gary going on to score a total of 54 goals in 129 games for the Bit O’ Red.
Hulmes donated €46, one for every year since relocating to the West of Ireland, where he still lives.
You can donate to our Walk via the link below:
A Rovers great, still with love for the club today.
Sligo Rovers 50KM Challenge is now almost at €40,000.
Over 200 supporters in Ireland and abroad are now completing the Challenge and raising money for the club.
Donations can be made by those not interested or not able to participate in the Challenge by clicking the below link:
Just some of the stories include supporter Eamonn Maye taking part from Buenos Aires in Argentina and the McCallion Family, from Strandhill completing their Challenge both here and abroad with Mark McCallion getting kilometres in in Laos in South-East Asia.
The Kearins Family were shown their support when their relation Laura Kearins from New York sent a video message all the way from the American City over the weekend in her Sligo Rovers jersey.
Shane White is competing in the Leeds Marathon in May and is using the 50KM Challenge to train himself in ahead of the big race.
Niall Curneen completed the Carney half marathon at the weekend, taking him over his 50KM target already.
Shaun Dunne from The Bit O’ Red Supporters Trust walked to and from The Showgrounds on Easter Monday from his home in Ballisodare with around 16KM completed on his activity.
Gurteen native Michael Doddy completed a massive 50KM in less than 50 hours between Easter Sunday and Monday. A huge achievement for Michael and just one of the many ways people are using the Challenge to come up with fresh ideas around completing their 50 kilometres.
Gary and Saoirse Kilcullen from Oakfield are doing it their own way. The father and daughter combination are heading to the Sports Complex to complete 2,000 lengths of the swimming pool which equates to 50KM.
You can follow us on Facebook ‘Sligo Rovers 50KM Challenge’ for daily updates and stories from all our participants.
A huge thanks to all those involved and to everyone who has donated so far.
Sligo Rovers will now face two home games in the next two weeks as the Bit O’ Red welcome Drogheda United and UCD to The Showgrounds on Saturday April 15th and 22nd respectively.
This Saturday, the game against Drogheda United will see John Russell’s side face one of the teams that have defeated them so far this season after March’s 1-0 defeat at Weaver’s Park.
Tickets for the game can be purchased online now or at the turnstiles.
TICKETS: https://srfcdirect.com/match-tickets/
Gates open at 6.30pm on Saturday evening.
Rovers the host UCD at The Showgrounds a week later, again at 7.45pm
It was a disappointing end to what started off as a good Easter Weekend with the Bit O’ Red beaten 2-1 in Tolka Park by Shelbourne on Monday night.
The side were on the back of a good win over Dundalk three days previous and Manager John Russell made two changes to the team from that game with Greg Bolger returning in place of Niall Morahan and Daniel Lafferty handed his first start of the season in place of Reece Hutchinson at left back.
The game started on a sour note for Rovers as Estonian midfielder Bogdan Vastsuk barely had a touch of the ball and was forced off after four minutes with a groin injury. Stefan Radosavljevic, scorer of Friday’s winning goal, came on in his place.
Shelbourne started brightly and inside the opening seven minutes had a couple of chances. Tyreke Wilson found himself inside the area on the left but opted to cross instead of shoot, and his cross was cleared.
Jack Moylan found space in the area and shot straight at Luke McNicholas moments later in a frantic opening period.
Rovers went straight down the other end and Will Fitzgerald got in down the left hand side and squared for Radosavljevic who couldn’t divert his shot on target from close range with the goalkeeper Conor Kearns beaten.
Fitzgerald was threatening again, this time Radosavljevic slipped him in down the left and the Limerick man’s shot came crashing off the Shelbourne crossbar and away to safety.
Rovers were well on top at this stage and forced a number of corners, one of which brought the opening goal of the game on 36 minutes.
Fabrice Hartmann’s set piece was met by Daniel Lafferty to score a closer range header to get his first goal for the club, much to the delighted of the 400 Bit O’ Red supporters on Richmond Road who saw their side go in 1-0 up at the break.
Damien Duff made three changes at half-time as he looked to inject some life into his Shelbourne team.
One of those subs, Shane Farrell found himself in the penalty area on 53 minutes but Fitzgerald won possession back and dribbled toward safety. Farrell looked to have pulled him down then but the referee waved play on and the Dubliner crossed to the back post for Matty Smith to control and fire into the roof of the net to level matters.
Five minutes later, Farrell’s long range diagonal pass was intercepted by John Mahon but his header, aimed toward goalkeeper Luke McNicholas ended up in his own net as McNicholas lost his footing and Shelbourne were in front.
Frank Liivak had a shot saved up the other end after the restart and Russell made three changes on 67 minutes with Kailin Barlow, Reece Hutchinson and Eanna Clancy coming on for Lukas Browning, Daniel Lafferty and John Mahon.
Barlow tested goalkeeper Kearns on 74 minutes with a strike from the edge of the area and Fabrice Hartmann’s cross from the right was too high for Max Mata soon after as Rovers pushed for an equaliser.
As Rovers pushed forward the hosts looked to threaten on the counter attack through the likes of Jack Moylan, goalscorer Smith and substitute Jad Hakiki. Greg Bolger was booked for stopping one attack in particular and Eanna Clancy was forced off with a hamstring injury picked up when running back toward his own goal chasing a Shelbourne attacker, Niall Morahan replaced him in the back four.
There were four minutes added on at the end of the game but to no avail as Rovers ended up losing 2-1 in a tight and lively encounter in Dublin.
Next up is a home game with Drogheda United this Saturday at The Showgrounds, with a 7.45pm kick off.
Sligo Rovers will now provide all our female teams at the club with free sanitary products at all training sessions and games on an ongoing basis.
The club have a duty of care to all players and staff and this important step for our Women’s teams at the club will see sanitary products included as part of each team’s equipment which will be placed in a private location for players and staff to access if and when required.
Sligo Rovers currently have around seventy female players and staff within the club and today’s announcement will see products initially sponsored by Healthwise Pharmacy on Holburn Hill in Sligo Town and then provided by the club for the remainder of this season and beyond. New partners may come on board in the future and any interested parties can contact the club.
The Bit O’ Red recently appointed Elaine Crossan as Senior Women’s team Player Liaison Officer and Crossan speaks of the importance of today’s announcement.
‘’First of all, we would like to thank Healthwise Pharmacy for partnering with us by providing essential products for all the Womens teams at the club from Senior to Academy.
‘’This is a great initiative setup to provide extra support to all female players. As a club we have a duty of care to all female players and feel this is a massive step going forward’’.
Products will be provided to our Senior Women’s team and both our Under 17 & 19 Women’s teams as part of this initiative.
Aisling Watters is a coach with our Under 17 team for the past couple of seasons:
‘’I am delighted to hear Healthwise Pharmacy has come on board to supply such important products for not only all female players at Sligo Rovers but also female staff and supporters.
‘’From all at the Under 17 Sligo Rovers Womens team, we really appreciate this initiative and we thank the club and Healthwise for organising it’’.
As a club, Sligo Rovers believe Period products should be available to all female players, staff and supporters (sanitary products have been located in the club’s female toilets for the past number of seasons) at no extra cost to them, just like toilet rolls and soap.
We are grateful to Healthwise Pharmacy for helping us with this and we thank them for sponsoring the initial delivery of products for the club.
Jason Duffy from Healthwise Pharmacy:
“We are delighted to be involved in this wonderful new initiative for all the female players at Sligo Rovers.
‘’We wish all the club all the best for the rest of the season”.
Sligo Rovers are keen to keep enhancing the Women’s game in the region and we want to offer all female players a safe and positive environment to come and play football at a national level.
Since the formation of our Senior Womens team in 2022, the North-West region has been extremely supportive and we look forward to our next Women’s home game on April 29th against Athlone Town at The Showgrounds, which kicks off at 5pm.
As part of our continued Awareness Programme, our Senior Women’s team Away Kit for 2023 will see the team use Black shorts instead of the usual White shorts and no Women’s team at the club will use white shorts going forward.
Sligo Rovers take on Shelbourne on Monday night at 7.45pm in Tolka Park in both team’s second game of a busy Easter Weekend.
Rovers defeated Dundalk at Oriel Park on Friday thanks to goals from Max Mata and Stefan Radosavljevic and Shelbourne drew 0-0 away to fellow Dubliners UCD at The UCD Bowl.
Going into the game, The Bit O’ Red are in third place in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division with Damien Duff’s Shelbourne in 8th but just three points behind the Bit O’ Red in what is proving to be an extremely tight division so far this season.
Manager John Russell was thrilled with his side’s performance in Friday’s win:
”Oriel Park is always a tough venue to play at so to come away with three points was important.
”I felt we managed the game really well. Our team shape and organisation was good, and we were clinical with both of our goals”.
The sides were evenly matched in 2022, with two wins each out of the four games against each other. Rovers won last time out at Tolka Park thanks to goals from Frank Liivak and Aidan Keena in a 2-0 win last September.
Russell is fully aware of the threat the hosts will bring tomorrow night:
”Shelbourne are a well organised side with some good young players. They have been unlucky not to pick up more points in their games so far.
”The league is so tight and the players know you have to bring the right mentality into every game.
”We’re hoping for another big performance tomorrow night”.
Rovers continue without five first team players with Garry Buckley, Mark Byrne, Gary Boylan, Karl O’ Sullivan and Johan Brannefalk all out with knee or ankle injuries.
Sean McAteer is also out long-term and goalkeeper Conor Walsh is close to a return from a recent ankle injury.
The game is Live on LOI TV from 7.45pm and you can hear commentary on Ocean FM.
Rovers are back at home next Saturday night against Drogheda United at The Showgrounds. The game kicks off at 7.45pm and tickets can be bought online now via the link below:
Rovers were back to winning ways on Good Friday thanks to a 2-1 victory at Oriel Park against Dundalk.
John Russell made one change to the side that lost to Bohemians last weekend with Greg Bolger being replaced in midfield by Lukas Browning. Owen Elding came onto the bench instead of Cillian Heaney in the youngsters first appearance in the First-Team match day squad.
The game started with a fast tempo with both sides trying to get the ball down on a quick playing surface.
On 16 minutes, Rovers took the lead. Fabrice Hartmann found space in the middle and slipped in Will Fitzgerald down the left. The Limerick man’s touch was perfect and it set himself up for a low drilled cross into the six yard box and Max Mata was on hand to score from close range.
The hosts came back into the game soon after, forcing a couple of corners which were well dealt with by the Bit O’ Red.
On 43 minutes, Dundalk were awarded a penalty. Rayhaan Tulloch showed some great skill on the left to go by Frank Liivak and he ended up in the penalty area with his back to goal. John Mahon was behind him and the referee Damien MacGraith pointed to the spot, adjudging Mahon to have clipped the winger.
Tulloch picked himself up and his penalty was initially saved by Luke McNicholas but the former West Brom man scored from the rebound and it was level at half time.
The second half was a tight and tense game with both teams looking for an all important second goal.
Conor Malley done well for the hosts, getting into the area but shooting well wide. Max Mata scuffed at a chance after a cross from Fitzgerald again and Frank Liivak couldn’t quite keep his cross down when he was in a good position inside the Dundalk area.
Greg Bolger, Stefan Radosavljevic and Kailin Barlow were all brought on for the last 25 minutes or so and this proved an inspired decision from Russell as both Bolger and Radosavljevic combined in the 89th minute.
Dundalk’s goal kick went short to Alfie Lewis who was disposessed by Bolger who teed up Radosavljevic and the Faroese attacker dribbled into the area past two defenders and shot into the corner past Nathan Shepperd to give Rovers the win and a valuable three points.
Next up is a trip to Shelbourne on Monday night at Tolka Park before two home games against Drogheda United and UCD next Saturday and Saturday April 22nd respectively.
Sligo Rovers are delighted to receive a brand-new Club Kit Van, powered by Porter Ford in Castlebaldwin, Sligo.
The van, which will be used across the club for our Kit & Equipment needs is a welcome addition and will see the Bit O’ Red brand seen nationwide throughout the 2023 season.
Chairman Tommy Higgins says the van is an important part of our logistics and operations:
‘’This is a welcome addition to the club and we are very grateful to everyone at Porter Ford for helping us bring it to fruition.
‘’The van looks great and it will be brilliant to see it travelling around the country with the team and around the region for promotional activity or community work and school visits.
‘’It is something we have been trying for for a while now so, we are delighted to get it’’.
The new 2023 Ford Custom Transit is consistently the best selling van in Ireland and Europe and is the perfect partner for us in our pursuit of points.
David and Ray Porter from Porter Ford are happy to come on board to provide the club with the kit van:
‘’We would like to thank everyone from Sligo Rovers for giving us this opportunity and welcoming us to their family. We are inspired by the club ethos and real feeling of positivity within the club which has made the decision to support the club an easy one to make. The timing is perfect for us as we embark on a new era of commercial vehicles with the Ford Pro service and the beginning of our electrification journey for vans.
The van will be on the road for the first time tonight as the Bit O’ Red take on Dundalk at Oriel Park.
