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.

Sligo Rovers are delighted to announce that Under 19 Men’s midfielder Sean McAteer has agreed a long-term deal at Sligo Rovers through a scholarship with Atlantic Technological University.

Each year, the University offers a limited number of Sligo Rovers players a fee-waiver scholarship which is matched by the club with support to the player throughout the seasons they are studying.

Sean is now a Sligo Rovers player for the last four years and will continue to develop with the club and University for the coming three years.

ATU is one of Ireland’s largest multi-campus universities with campuses across Sligo, Donegal, Mayo and Galway. The new university is built on the foundations of over 50 years in higher education and offers academic excellence and the opportunity to participate in sport at a national level.

Bit O’ Red Head of Academy Conor O’Grady:

‘’Sean has been a great ambassador for the club since his time here. He joined us at the start of our Under 15 campaign four years ago and has developed himself on and off the pitch and has a bright future.

‘’Sean has been an important part of our Under 19 Men’s team this season and the lads now have a Cup Semi-Final to look forward to at the start of October, one which Sean will be a key part of.

‘’The link up between the club and the University is a massive one for us all and one which will keep developing in years to come to help our young players’’.

McAteer will now be part of ATU Sligo’s Senior Men’s team who will compete in the Third Level Colleges League and Cups throughout the academic year, which starts in the coming weeks.

Dr Chris O’Malley, Vice President, Research, Innovation & Engagement at ATU Sligo commented:

“Atlantic TU is delighted to support players like Sean in achieving his goals in sport and academically. We believe in the investment and development of scholarship programmes that allow talented players to achieve a University degree while pursuing sport at an elite level. We value our partnership with Sligo Rovers in providing these opportunities for our students. We wish Sean every success with his studies and on the pitch.”

FAI football facilitator at ATU Sligo, Colm Jinks, is delighted with the new addition to the Men’s Soccer Club at the University:

‘’The partnership works for everyone – It is great to have a player of Sean’s ability here with us, not only at ATU Sligo but to continue their development at Sligo Rovers.

Sean is a local lad who has played for Sligo/Leitrim, Merville United, Summerhill College, Sligo Rovers and now joins us here at Atlantic Technological University Sligo to become part of our Senior Men’s squad ahead of the new campaign. Sean is a welcome addition to our squad’’.

The nominees for Men’s and Women’s Senior Club Player of The Year were announced on Tuesday with a public vote taking place on our social media channels.

There are six players up for the award at Senior Men’s level with striker Aidan Keena, top goalscorer in the league so far this season alongside team-mates Nando Pijnaker, Paddy Kirk, Shane Blaney, Will Fitzgerald and Max Mata.

Supporters have until Friday at Noon to cast their vote, the winner being presented with the award at Friday night’s game against St Patrick’s Athletic.

VOTE: https://vote.easypolls.net/635168127e59a7005ff08cbd

Our Women’s team Player of The Year will be between seven players.

Strikers Paul McGrory and Emma Doherty are joined by defender Orna O’ Dowd and midfielders Leah Kelly, Gemma McGuinness and Lauren Boles with goalkeeper Amy Mahon completing the list.

The Women’s Senior team are coming to the end of their first ever season at Women’s National League level and are currently in 8th position in the league ahead of our final game of the season against DLR Waves on Saturday afternoon. Again, supporters have until 12 Noon on Friday to vote.

You can vote for you Womens Player of The Year below:

https://vote.easypolls.net/6357fda37e59a7005ff18292

Sligo Rovers hosted Derry City at The Showgrounds on Monday night in our penultimate home game of the 2022 season.

The game ended scoreless but it wasn’t short on chances and a tight game could have went either way after a pretty entertaining stalemate.

Rovers came into the game off the back of a 3-3 draw on Friday night against Dundalk whereas Derry City hosted Shelbourne at The Ryan McBride Brandywell on the same night, also picking up a point in a 1-1 draw.

Shane Blaney was brought back into John Russell’s starting team in place of Colm Horgan in the only change from Dundalk.

The opening twenty minutes or so proved to be cagey as both sides felt their way into the game, playing some neat and tidy football without creating any clear cut chances.

The tempo in the game rose after this and Rovers began to dominate. Will Fitzgerald won a free kick on the edge of the Derry penalty area and Adam McDonnell forced Brian Maher into a good save.

The ball was recycled by Rovers down the left and a cross found Lewis Banks who headed it to Aidan Keena and his effort was again brilliantly saved by Maher.

Moments later it was Keena versus Maher again. This time Rovers won possession back by pressing Derry in possession and Keena drove towards the box and fired a left footed shot toward goal but the Derry stopper was equal to it.

The visitors had a couple of half chances soon after as Mark Connolly’s header was comfortably gathered by Richard Brush from a corner and striker Cian Kavanagh had a shot from a tight angle on the left, again saved by Brush and the game remained goalless at the break.

Karl O’ Sullivan was introduced at half time for Kailin Barlow who had been booked in the first half.

The second half began much like the first half with both sides keeping possession and probing forward when they could.

Derry probably shaded the possession in the early stages of the half, knowing a win was needed to bring their title challenge to Tallaght Stadium on Sunday but Rovers stood strong at the back and looked a potent threat on the counter.

Max Mata replaced Frank Liivak on the hour and Derry also made changes with Jamie McGonigle and Michael Duffy sprung from the bench by Ruaidhri Higgins.

Mata had a chance soon after as Robbie Burton’s corner found the New Zealander in the box and his header was deflected wide by a defender.

Greg Bolger and Eanna Clancy replaced Burton and Shane Blaney inside the last twenty minutes and both sides looked to get forward in search of a winning goal.

Derry forced a couple of corners inside the last ten minutes but these were well dealt with by Brush and his Rovers team mates and the biggest chance of the half fell to Mata in stoppage time as the Bit O’ Red almost snatched all three points.

Karl O’ Sullivan carried the ball down the right wing and crossed brilliantly for Mata who cushioned a right footed effort toward goal but it fell agonisingly wide of Maher’s left post.

Neil Doyle added five minutes at the end of the game but it wasn’t enoough for either side to find the winner and the result means Shamrock Rovers were crowned Premier Division Champions for 2022.

Next up for Rovers is a home game with St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday night at 7.45pm, our final home game of the season.

Cara King was chosen as our Womens Under 17 Player of The Year for 2022 and was presented with her award by our Under 17 Womens Main Sponsors Avenue Mould Solutions at last night’s Senior Men’s game against Derry City at The Showgrounds.

Presenting the award was Gemma McDonagh from Avenue.

Cara has had many impressive displays throughout 2022 and helped her team reach the Under 17 Women’s Semi-Final where they lost to Cork City a fortnight ago.

Avenue Mould are based at Finnisklin and employ around 90 people and remain and important employer in the county.

The company are Under 17 Womens sponsors from this summer to at least the end of the 2023 season.

We wish to thank Avenue Mould for their support and we congratulate Cara on winning her award.

Sligo Rovers are thrilled to announce that midfielder Kailin Barlow has extended his stay at the club until the end of the 2025 season, meaning the young Sligo man will stay at the club for at least another three seasons.

Barlow has broke into the first team this year, making his debut against Finn Harps as a second half substitute at The Showgrounds back in June and has since played a number of games for the team domestically and in Europe.

Barlow made his first competitive start against Wexford FC in the FAI Cup back in July and made his full SSE Airtricity League debut against Dundalk on Friday night at Casey’s Field in our 3-3 draw with The Lillywhites.

Kailin has scored 13 goals at Under 19 level this season under manager Declan Boyle and has been an important part of the club’s academy set up through the last number of years, since joining as an Under 15 player.

Manager John Russell is pleased to secure Barlow’s signature:

‘’I’m delighted that Kailin has extended his contract with the club.

‘’Kailin has huge potential. He has already shown his quality in our league games this season as well as during our European run in the summer.

‘’He has a real willingness to learn and improve which is essential for all young players. I’m sure the fans will be excited to see him develop and progress over the next few seasons’’.

Barlow:

‘’I am over the moon to have extended my contract here at the club.

‘’I have played a good few games this season and for me it’s just about keeping my levels up and improving under the management here and progressing again next year and beyond and helping the team.

‘’I have supported the club since a young age and, I love playing in front of the supporters and hopefully I can keep getting as many games as I can and, we can all do well together.

‘’The Academy here has been a big part of my development and young players will always have a chance to progress into the first team as we’ve seen down the years and that was very important for me.

‘’We want to finish the season strong and get as many points as we can”.

The Bit O’ Red are in League action this evening against Derry City and Barlow will once again be part of John Russell’s matchday squad for the fixture.

We host Derry City tonight at 7.45pm at The Showgrounds in The SSE Airtricity League 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/ (Home fans only)

Away tickets are with Derry City FC

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 take on Derry City tomorrow (Monday) night in our penultimate home game of the 2022 League of Ireland Premier Division season.

It will be Rovers’ second game in three days following our 3-3 draw in Dundalk on Friday night.

The Bit O’ Red were twice ahead in the game after Frank Liivak opened the scoring after twenty minutes and Max Mata put us ahead again with seven minutes remaining after Aidan Keena had brought us level following two Dundalk goals in between his and Liivak’s strikes.

Former Rovers player Keith Ward got on the end of a John Martin knock down in stoppage time to bring Dundalk level but, Rovers can be happy with their overall performance and manager John Russell looks forward to another game tomorrow night.

‘’We were all disappointed to concede a late equaliser on Friday night but, the players put in a really good away performance and there were good signs again on our progress.

‘’Tomorrow night we welcome Derry who have been in great form in recent months.

‘’It will be a tough game but it’s one we’re all looking forward to.

‘’We want to finish the season strong’’.

The sides have met on three occasions so far in 2022 and nothing separates them in terms of results. A 0-0 draw back in February was followed by a 2-1 win at The Showgrounds for Rovers thanks to a 90^th minute Seamas Keogh winner.

Will Patching’s free kick back in September was enough to earn his side a 1-0 win at The Ryan McBride Brandywell in the last meeting of the teams.

Garry Buckley (Knee), Mark Byrne (Knee), David Cawley (Hip), Shane Blaney (Ankle) and Luke McNicholas (Knee) remain out with injury.

After a tough 90 minutes on Friday night, Russell may make some changes to freshen the team up as we go into our final three games of the season and remain in fifth spot in the League table.

We will remember our former security member Rodney Horan before the game with a minute silence after his passing this week. We extend our deepest sympathies to his family and friends at this time.

Gates open at 6.30pm.

Shelbourne took the Women’s National League points with a 2-0 win against Sligo Rovers at Tolka Park to stay in the title-race with one game remaining

Sligo Rovers were on the backfoot for most of what was a must-win encounter for the hosts and they scored early and late to seal the victory in an encounter they dominated.

Abbie Larkin had Shelbourne in front after only three minutes when she finished to the net from a Jess Gargan cross.

Shelbourne dominated the remainder of the half and had plenty of chances, with Noelle Murray going close and Sligo ‘keeper Amy Mahon making a number of saves.

Amy Boyle-Carr had a half-chance for Sligo Rovers in the 39th minute when she tested Amanda Budden while at the other end Murray should have increased Shelbourne’s lead when she waltzed into the penalty area and blazed over the bar.

Shelbourne had to settle for a 1-0 interval lead, but resumed smartly and Larkin headed a good chance over the bar soon after the restart.

Amy Boyle-Carr created another good chance in the 55th minute when she ran almost the full length of the pitch before firing narrowly wide.

However, the pattern remained with Shelbourne continuing to dominate without hitting the target.

Megan Smyth-Lynch had a chance midway through the half, but once again Amy Mahon saved.

The hosts continued to labour in their efforts for a second goal and Larkin was yellow-carded for a challenge on Lauren Boles.

Then Alex Kavanagh was cautioned for her reaction after referee Declan Toland awarded a free to the Bit O’Red in the 73rd minute.

Shelbourne continued to squander chances with Murray off target in the 80th minute, but Larkin eventually added a second goal in the 81st minute.

Shelbourne – Amanda Budden; Jess Gargan, Jessie Stapleton, Pearl Slattery, Shauna Fox, Alex Kavanagh, Abbie Larkin, Noelle Murray, Megan Smyth-Lynch, Keeva Keenan, Leah Doyle.

Subs – Rachael Graham for Kavanagh 78 mins, Jemma Quinn for Murray and Heather O’Reilly for Keenan both 85m, Emma Starr for Smyth-Lynch 88m.

Sligo Rovers – Amy Mahon; Leah Kelly, Aife Haran, Amy Roddy, Sarah Kiernan, Lauren Boles, Gemma McGuinness, Paula McGrory, Katie Melly, Emma Doherty, Amy Boyle-Carr. 

Subs – Kerri O’Hara for Kelly 78 mins, Amy Hyndman for Boyle-Carr and Fiona Doherty forMelly both 85m, Laura McLellan for McGrory and Aoife Brennan for E Doherty both 87m.

Referee – Declan Toland.
Assistant-referees – Alan Dunne, Fintan Butler,
Fourth official – Sarah Dyas.

Report: Conall Collier

Photo: Sportsfile

Sligo Rovers travelled to Casey’s Field in Dundalk on Friday night in our second-last away game of the 2022 League season to play Dundalk in front of just over 2,000 supporters.

Rovers were without a number of players due to injury with Garry Buckley, Mark Byrne, Luke McNicholas and David Cawley all out for the remainder of the season and Shane Blaney and Niall Morahan injured also.

Lewis Banks came into the back four in place of Blaney to partner Nando Pijnaker at centre back. Kailin Barlow was handed his first league start by manager John Russell in place of Niall Morahan.

Both sides looked to keep possession early on and little or no chances were created until Rovers forced a corner and Adam McDonnell’s cross was headed onto the Dundalk post by Kailin Barlow but Frank Liivak followed up and blasted the rebound into the top corner to give Rovers the lead.

The lead lasted around fifteen minutes as Dundalk midfielder Alfie Lewis equalised with a fine effort from twenty yards, his left footed shot finding the top corner of Richard Brush’s net.

The sides remained level at half-time at 1-1.

Nine minutes into the second-half and the hosts took the lead. Bruno Hauge ran down the right wing and his cross went all the way to the back post for youngster Ryan O’ Kane to take a touch, steady himself and fire home.

John Russell brought on Max Mata in attack in place of Kailin Barlow after an hour and Rovers looked to push forward to find a leveller.

Aidan Keena dropped a little deeper with Mata the lone striker and it was Keena who found space on the left before dribbling into the area past two Dundalk defenders and firing an unstoppable shot into the far left corner to level matters again on 76 minutes.

Rovers regained the lead just six minutes later. Max Mata got on the end of Frank Liivak’s through ball and the New Zealander steadied himself and rolled it into the corner past goalkeeper Shepperd, much to the delight of the travelling Bit O’ Red supporters.

Karl O’ Sullivan and Seamas Keogh were introduced in the final few minutes in place of Robbie Burton and Liivak as John Russell looked to bring on some fresh legs.

There seemed to be little danger of a home equaliser until the 92nd minute. Andy Boyle sent a long ball forward and striker John Martin won the flick on and it fell to Keith Ward who side-footed it home past Brush to give his side a share of the spoils.

Next up we host Derry City on Monday at The Showgrounds at 7.45pm.

Photo: Sportsfile