Sligo Rovers and hosts Treaty United served an exciting Women’s National League (WNL) scoreless draw at the Markets Field yesterday evening, writes Conall Collier.

Treaty went into the game on the back of 11 defeats and will be disappointed not to have won this time out as they rattled the woodwork on a number of occasions and also missed a gilt-edged chance in the 90th minute.

For Sligo Rovers, it was a second clean sheet and they also had a couple of chances, but will be relieved to have picked up another point in their first draw of the season.


Sligo Rovers started on the front foot with a free from Aoife Brennan in the third minute that was saved by Treaty’s Trish Fennelly and soon after Emma Doherty surged through the home rearguard, but she was closed down and the danger was cleared.

Treaty settled into the game and worked the Bit O’Red defence without creating any worthwhile chances.

Gemma McGuinness raided consistently down the left wing and sent in a number of crosses, but didn’t pose any major problems either as both teams worked hard in the sweltering conditions.

Treaty’s Cara Griffin created a great opening in the 19th minute that gave Aislinn Meaney a chance, but her well-struck effort tested the quality of the crossbar and the ball was cleared by a relieved visiting defence.

At the other end, Treaty had a let-off when goalkeeper Trish Fennelly produced a spectacular save to deny Gemma McGuinness midway through the half.

Treaty began to enjoy a period of dominance and were unlucky not to score when a speculative Amy Madden effort from 30 yards thundered off the underside of the crossbar in the 39th minute and Amy Mahon gathered the loose ball.

The hosts remained in the ascendancy until the interval, but failed to make the breakthrough that their attacking play deserved.

Treaty were on the defensive in the early part of the second-half with both Alannah Mitchell and Laoise Brown solid in the central positions while for Sligo Rovers, it was the efforts of Lauren Boles at midfield that earned her side a lot of possession.

Both teams gave it their best shot and worked the respective goalkeepers, but it remained scoreless as Treaty were denied in the 90th minute when Aislinn Meaney saw her effort shaved the outside of the Sligo post.

Treaty Utd – Trish Fennelly; Emma Deegan, Sarah Kiernan, Jessica Casey, Alannah Mitchell, Lauren Keane, Jesse Mendez, Heidi O’Sullivan, Michaela Lawrence, Laoise Brown, Cara Griffin, Amy Madden, Aislinn Meaney.
Sub – Esra Kangal for Madden 79 mins.

Sligo Rovers – Amy Mahon; Leah Kelly, Orna O’Dowd, Gemma McGuinness, Lauren Boles, Emma Doherty, Aoife Brennan, Amy Roddy, Fiona Doherty. Sub – Paula McGrory for F Doherty 70 mins.

Sligo Rovers can confirm that our SSE Airtricity Premier Division clash with Dundalk, scheduled for Saturday June 11th at The Showgrounds has been postponed.

The postponement comes after international call ups involving Dundalk players.

Bit O’ Red defender Nando Pijnaker is also away on international duty. Pijnaker will now not miss any Bit O’ Red fixtures as he returns to Sligo on June 14th ahead of our game against Finn Harps which now becomes our next league fixture on Saturday June 18th at 7.45pm

The Dundalk fixture has not yet been given a new date.

Sligo Rovers travelled to UCD on Friday night in The SSE Airtricity Premier Division.

The sides last met in The Showgrounds in April and played out a 2-2 draw with Rovers’ goals coming from a Max Mata brace.

The Bit O’ Red came into the game following Monday’s last-minute win over Derry City while the students were defeated 2-0 by Shelbourne at Tolka Park.

Interim boss John Russell made no changes to the team from Monday but David Cawley and Robbie McCourt returned to the bench in place of Peter Maguire and Kailin Barlow.

The first half was a quiet affair with little or no chances created by either side.

Liam Kerrigan did find himself with a half chance as a long ball found the winger going towards the Rovers penalty area but goalkeeper Ed McGinty rushed out and cleared the danger.

Aidan Keena was proving problematic for the UCD defence and he worked his way into the area from the left hand side and had a shot blocked down by Sam Todd.

It remained scoreless at half-time.

Rovers’ started the second half with a higher pace to their play and this led to the opening goal nine minutes into the half. Keena again caused problems for the defence as he turned brilliantly in the area and worked a shot on his left foot. Goalkeeper Kian Moore parried the ball into the air and Karl O’ Sullivan was on hand to nod home from close range to give Rovers the lead.

On the hour, referee David Dunne had to be replaced after he got struck in the head by Jack Keaney’s pass and was knocked to the ground. Fourth official Derek Tomney came on in his place for the last half hour or so.

Moments later, Rovers almost doubled their lead. Will Fitzgerald found Adam McDonnell down the left and he squared it towards substitute Lewis Banks, on for Colm Horgan, but the English man couldn’t reach the dangerous cross.

Banks had a shot on target soon after, cutting in from the left and getting a strike away but it was too close to Moore.

Then, on 69 minutes, UCD equalised against the run of play. Rovers were on the attack but UCD cleared and broke up field. Liam Kerrigan’s cross was cleared by Garry Buckley but only as far as Evan Caffrey on the edge of the area. He composed himself and picked our team-mate Dylan Duffy in the box who glanced home from six yards.

Rovers reacted to this and almost regained the lead straight away. Keena found McDonnell on the edge of the area and he turned and fired a shot toward goal but Moore brilliantly tipped over.

The hosts grew into the game from here and broke forward at every opportunity. Half chances fell their way through Duffy again but Rovers cleared.

Aidan Keena came closest for Rovers after this with another effort on goal but again Moore was equal to it.

John Russell brought on Seamas Keogh and Cillian Heaney for the closing stages and ten minutes of added time wasn’t enough for either side to grab a winner.

(Photo: James Fallon )

Sligo Rovers women head for Limerick on Saturday and a first Women’s National League (WNL) assignment at the Market’s Field against bottom-of-the-table Treaty Utd.

The Bit O’Red players have achieved three wins on the pitch, one of those was at home to Treaty Utd last month when two super strikes from Aoife Brennan and one from Emma Doherty gave Sligo Rovers a first home win (3-1).

Rovers recovered from the concession of a Leah Kelly own goal in the 11th minute that gave Treaty Utd the lead on that occasion.

Last Saturday Treaty lost against Athlone Town (1-4), but there were similarities in the Limerick side’s performance and Sligo’s display three weeks earlier when the Bit O’Red lost 0-5.

In each game Athlone were awarded and scored two penalties, but to their credit, Treaty managed a goal against the Westmeath women and that statistic alone should prompt manager Steve Feeney to adopt a cautious approach to the Limerick assignment.

Granted, Treaty’s goal was also a penalty, scored by Héidí O’Sullivan, a goal that brought her side back into contention briefly in the second-half.

Treaty manager Don O’Riordan will have his team well prepared for the visit of the Bit O’Red and will be eager to get something out of the game, but the Sligo Rovers will be focused on picking up another three points.

“We will be confident going to Limerick, confident in the sense that we have produced good performances back-to-back and if we can do the same again, then we have a chance of another win,” stated Feeney.

“Treaty haven’t won a game yet, but they are not going to go through the season like that, they will beat someone, we just have to make sure that we are on our game, if we aren’t, then we will be in trouble.

“Treaty gave us a good game here in the Showgrounds although we won by 3-1, they will approach the game positively and they have nothing to lose anyway, they will work us hard.

“Our players won’t get carried away with the win against Cork last Saturday, they have learned that there are no easy games in the WNL and they don’t expect anything easy in Limerick either,” he added.

One noticeable trait in the performances of Sligo Rovers each week has been the ability within the squad to find some improvement from the previous game and Feeney highlighted one particular aspect.

“From a fitness perspective, the players have improved, but that was to be expected when you have a team starting out in the League for the first time, we have made progress and, for the most part, have improved from game-to-game.

“We have to keep doing that, there is always something that we can work on at training and then we have to bring that to the game each week.

“Against Cork City last Saturday, we started really well, the second-half was more of a disciplined, defensive performance and that was pleasing to see as it’s something we have worked on at training.

“It was great to see Gemma (McGuinness) and Emma (Doherty) linking up for the first goal against Cork, it must be one of the quickest of the season, 40 seconds I think it was.

“We also kept a clean sheet and that was crucial, if we can keep another clean sheet this weekend, maybe get another early goal, then we will have a good chance of getting something out of the game,” he concluded.

TEAMS AND SUBS LAST TIME

Sligo Rovers – Amy Mahon; Leah Kelly, Ruth Monaghan, Orna O’Dowd, Gemma McGuinness, Lauren Boles, Emma Doherty, Aoife Brennan, Amy Roddy, Katie Melly, Sarah Kiernan. Subs – Paula McGrory for Brennan 70 mins, Jessica Casey for Melly 68m, Kerri O’Hara for Kelly and Amy Hyndman for Doherty both 83m.

Treaty Utd – Michaela Mitchell; Alix Mendez, Emma Deegan, Alannah Mitchell, Lauren Keane, Jesse Mendez, Heidi O’Sullivan, Emma Costelloe, Michaela Lawrence, Emily O’Halloran, Laoise Brown. Subs – Cara Griffin for Costelloe 65 mins, Shannon O’Donovan for A Mendez 68m, Eimear Carey for Brown 84m.

FIXTURES – SATURDAY 28^th MAY

Treaty Utd v Sligo Rovers

Bohemian FC v Peamount Utd

Cork City v Shelbourne

Wexford v Athlone

DLR Waves v Galway

There are three more rounds before the mid-season break which is from Sunday 12^th June – Friday 1^st July. 

Sligo Rovers travel to Dublin once again as we take on UCD at The UCD Bowl tomorrow (Friday) night at 7.45pm.

The Bit O’ Red come into the game on the back of a 2-1 win on Monday night against Derry City at The Showgrounds after goals from Garry Buckley and Seamas Keogh, the latter coming with one of the last kicks of the game after 93 minutes.

UCD were defeated by Shelbourne at Tolka Park on the same night.

The last time the sides met was back in April when a 2-2 draw was played out with Rovers’ goals coming from a Max Mata brace.

Interim boss John Russell:

‘’Everyone was delighted to get back to winning ways on Monday. We were aggressive in our play all night and our mentality was spot on. I felt we created a lot of chances and the players fed off the atmosphere in the ground which helped us to go on and get the late winner.

UCD will be a different challenge tomorrow evening. We know they carry an attacking threat having drawn with them at home in our previous meeting.

The players have worked extremely hard this week and are looking forward to the game. Hopefully we will have a big following on the night’’.

In team news, Garry Buckley was forced off on Monday night and will be assessed close to kick off. David Cawley, Robbie McCourt and Max Mata all near a return to the squad having missed out through injury on Monday.

The game is live on LOI TV from 7.45pm and there is Live commentary on Ocean FM.

All six Sligo Rovers Academy teams are in action over the weekend between Saturday and Sunday.

This sees the teams play their final fixture before the break for Summer exams, apart from our Under 19 Women’s team who will have a game next weekend.

On Saturday, our Under 14 boys team take on Derry City at The Vale Centre at 1pm.

Also at 1pm, our Under 17 Men’s team host Dundalk at The Sean Fallon Centre.

Straight after this game, at 3.15pm our Under 17 Women’s team host Peamount United at the same venue.

On Sunday, our Under 15 team take on Shelbourne at 1pm at The Sean Fallon Centre.

Our Under 19 teams are both in action on Sunday afternoon with the Men’s team taking on Cork City at 3pm in Blarney and the Women’s team travelling to Tallaght Stadium to take on Shamrock Rovers at the same time.

Admission to all our home games is as always, free of charge.

At 37, goalkeeper Richard Brush is the oldest member of the Sligo Rovers squad but don’t let that belay his continuing love and enthusiasm for the game. He has seen it all and won it all in trophy laden spells with Rovers and tonight’s opponents Shamrock. Rovers made a recent start to the season and had a blip in form which was dispelled by wins against Finn Harps and Drogheda United and for Brush he feels this just underlines how strong the League is getting:

“One of the oldest clichés in football is that there is no easy game and this year has proved that more than other seasons, there are no easy games in this League. All the clubs are continuing to improve and do things in a more proper fashion and getting this right in terms of budgets and that. You see now a more even spread of players going to clubs so you see lads who normally would only play for the top six clubs going to the likes of Harps and Shels and Drogs and that’s no disrespect to them clubs. It just shows how things are getting tighter in the league and the gap in standards are narrowing. All clubs now have a certain level of strength in depth that they can turn to and has been seen on their day any club can beat another.”

The good start maybe glossed over that Rovers were somewhat of a rebuild in the off season with the departures of Johnny Kenny to Celtic and John Mahon to St. Johnstone and the arrival of a number of new players including ones who are new to the League and Brush feels that it can take time for sides to gel and that the start they had maybe glossed over that fact:

“It’s a fact in this League that the best players move on, we lost Johnny who was our top scorer and then John who was one of our best performers. These aren’t players who are easily replaced and we have signed well but these lads need time to work their way into the team and to adapt to the League. There is no doubt for me that once they find their feet that they are going to be top lads but there was always going to be a wobble as they settle in. When we were playing St. Pat’s we were telling them they are a strong team one of the better sides in the League and then we go out and beat them. Then you go and play the so called ‘lower teams’ and we lost and that was an eye opener for us all and certainly opened the eyes of the new lads that this is not an easy League. It goes back to what I said earlier that every game is tough, there are no easy games.”

While he might be happy to be in a support role to Edward McGinty, injury meant that Brush was called into action for the games against Drogheda away and Harps at home and he enjoyed getting back out on the pitch:

“Yeah I played against Derry towards the end of last season and then when Ed got injured I was in for the games against Drogheda and Harps and thankfully they were two good results for us. In both games especially the game away against to Drogheda we them early on the counter. We knew from previous years that Drogheda away and be a tough place to game and I have played in some torrid games for us there. We got them with three sucker punches inside the opening half an hour. Still you had to be on top of your game as in the second half they missed a penalty which if that had gone in would have put us under pressure and would have made for a different game. Then against Harps Aidan got a hat trick and while Harps pulled a late goal back it was too late for them to rally. That said they were still having a pop when they were three down. You see that more that clubs aren’t writing games off look at the game against Drogheda last weekend. They went two down but didn’t let their heads drop and got back into the game with a dubious penalty but well I’m biased as I’m a goalkeeper and we have to stick together! But even when they went down to ten it was still a struggle to break them down but we did and Garry got us a late winner. You see now that teams will continue to have a go and chase to find a way back into games.”

Now in his 15^th season in Irish football since he first arrived at the Showgrounds after spells with Coventry and Shrewsbury Brush is still enjoying his football and hopeful to keep going for a few more years yet:

“When I was warming up for the game against Drogheda in the Showgrounds one of the guys in the crowd said to me I remember your debut Brushy. That was away against Bray Wanderers, I came on for John O’Hara, that was my introduction to the club and the League. That was the start of it all and everything that has gone in-between and all the clubs that I have played with, it has been great and I have been lucky to have won trophies and played in big European games and hope there are a few more years left yet. But if it was to come to an end after this season then I would have nothing but fond memories of my career all the way through”.

By Keith O’ Dwyer

The Sligo Rovers Academy teams were all in action this past weekend between Saturday and Sunday.

Our Under 17 Women’s team faced the long journey to Oriel Park where they defeated Dundalk thanks to goals from Cara King and Heather O’ Sullivan on a scoreline of 2-1.

Our Men’s Under 17’s were beaten 3-1 against Finn Harps in Drumoghill. Luke Mavrak continued his good scoring form betting Rovers’ only goal.

Alan Farry’s Under 14’s hosted Shelbourne at Sean Fallon Centre on Saturday and they ran out 2-0 winners thanks to a brace from Jamie O’ Malley to bring his tally to four for the season.

On Sunday, our Under 15 side were beaten 4-0 by Derry City in Ballisodare.

Also on Sunday there were two games at The Sean Fallon Centre at Under 19 level.

At 1.30pm, Our Women’s team beat Bray 4-0 with goals from Ciara Henry, Keela Scanlon (2) and Nadine Hargadon.

Later, Declan Boyle’s Men’s team were in Cup action against Bohemians and the visitors won 2-0 in an entertaining game.

Rovers hosted Derry City on Monday night at The Showgrounds in front of 1973 supporters in the club’s first game since the departure of Liam Buckley on Sunday.

Interim boss John Russell made two changes to the team which lost to Bohemians on Friday night, with Paddy Kirk and Adam McDonnell coming into the starting team in place of Robbie McCourt and David Cawley who were both injured.

The game started with a high tempo and Rovers came out of the blocks flying. Good play from Paddy Kirk and Will Fitzgerald on the left saw the winger deliver a dangerous ball into the area inside the opening minute and Derry had to clear it for a corner.

This set the pace for what was to come as a frantic opening half was underway. The front four of Keena, Fitzgerald, O’ Sullivan and McDonnell were causing problems for the Derry defence and forced a number of corners and had some half chances in the first quarter hour.

It was Keena’s neat turn and shot that forced a corner for Rovers on 20 minutes. Adam McDonnell’s inswinger was flicked on by a Derry defender into the path of Garry Buckley who steered the ball home from a yard out. Buckley wheeled away and celebrated by gesturing to his recently born baby Alvey in a nice moment for the defender.

After that Rovers went in search of a second when Karl O’ Sullivan’s shot was saved by Brian Maher who collected the rebound before McDonnell could get there.

Derry then had a massive chance of their own. A Rovers corner was cleared and midfielder Joe Thompson broke clear of the Bit O’ Red defence from half way and was bearing down on goal. Will Fitzgerald tracked him all the way and Ed McGinty flew out of his goal to deny him brilliantly at his feet.

O’ Sullivan tried his luck again soon after but Maher was equal to it in a real entertaining first half.

Just as the fourth official was about to put the board up to show how many additional minutes would be played, the visitors equalised through Jamie McGonigle who finished well in the area despite pressure from Rovers’ defenders.

The second half started with both teams looking to get a hold of possession in midfield but not many clear cut chances coming for either side.

Adam McDonnell had two shots on target just after the hour, the first coming after Niall Morahan won possession in midfield to find Fitzgerald who slipped the midfielder through in the box but Maher saved well. Aidan Keena took the ball down well and found McDonnell just a minute later, his shot on his weaker right foot didn’t have enough to trouble Derry’s ‘keeper.

The game was opening up at this stage with both teams looking for a second goal. Derry had chances with two Will Patching free kicks which McGinty saved, the second right on the edge of the box which curled around the wall only to be denied by a find save by Rovers’ number one.

The best chance of the half fell to Jamie McGonigle. The striker found himself six yards out from goal and he helped it on past McGinty but it fell agonisingly wide of the left upright.

After this it was all Rovers however and John Russell made changes with Cillian Heaney, Nando Pijnaker and Seamas Keogh all introduced for O’ Sullivan, Morahan and Buckley who picked up an injury.

The home crowd were in full voice as we pushed for a winner in the closing stages. Keena tried his luck from distance but his shot was blocked. Heaney and Horgan combined on the right but the full back’s cross went out the back and to safety.

Fourth official Rob Harvey put up the board to show three minutes of added time at the end of the game. Patient build up play from Rovers saw Seamas Keogh pick up possession just inside the area. He jinked his way past two or three Derry defenders before his effort was blocked when it looked like he might score the all important second goal.

He wasn’t to be denied however and a minute later good play on the left from McDonnell and Fitzgerald eventually saw the ball come to Colm Horgan. Horgan played it inside to Keogh who’s first touch beat the Derry defender. Keogh composed himself before firing into the roof of the net to bring The Showgrounds into raptures.

Paul McLaughlin blew his whistle after Derry restarted the game to signal the end and it meant Rovers picked up a valuable three points on a big night at The Showgrounds.

Next up is a trip to UCD this Friday at 7.45pm

Sligo Rovers FC are currently recruiting for the position of First Team Men’s manager.

The club are working through the process and will be speaking to potential targets in the coming days.

If any other parties wish to apply for the position, they can do so by emailing colinfeehily@sligorovers.com before Wednesday May 25^th at 6pm.