Steve Feeney and his Sligo Rovers Women’s senior team face a long journey to Wexford on Saturday to take on Wexford Youths at Ferrycarrig Park at 6pm.

The hosts are vastly experienced having played in the league for a number of seasons and will prove to be a tough test for Rovers, however The Bit O’ Red come into the game full of confidence following two strong performances against Shelbourne and Treaty Untied, the latter ending in a 3-1 win last Saturday at The Showgrounds.

Wexford are currently in third position in the Women’s National League table, one spot ahead of The Bit O’ Red and three points better off.

Manager Steve Feeney:

‘’It was fantastic to get our first win in the showgrounds last Saturday against Treaty United. It was great to see another good turn out and its brilliant to see how people are getting behind the team. 

The players put in another big performance showing the two sides of this team, two sides that will be very important throughout the season. In the first half we played some really good football at times and scored three very good goals with Aoife Brennan’s free kicks rightly being the highlight. In the second half the players showed a desire and togetherness to defend well and restrict Treaty to a few chances while still offering a treat on the counter-attack to see out the game and get the three points. 

This weekend we travel to Wexford to take on the reigning Cup champions, who are a very good side with some really talented players and I’m sure they will be hoping to challenge for the league title this year. We look forward to another exciting challenge and it’s another opportunity for the players to show their qualities against a top team.’’

In team news, Sarah Kiernan is out due to illness and Kristen Sample, Paula McGrory, Helen Monaghan and Emma Hansberry will all be assessed before the trip to Wexford.

The game will be Live on LOI TV from 6pm.

The Bit O’ Red Academy have another action-packed weekend upcoming with five games taking place between Saturday and Sunday afternoon.

Our Under 17 men’s team host Galway United at 1pm at The Sean Fallon Centre on Saturday. Darragh Reilly’s side were defeated 4-0 in Derry last weekend and will be looking to pick up some points at home.

At 2pm in Letterkenny, our Under 15 team face Derry City. Rovers are currently in good form with four wins from the opening five games in the group in 2022.

At the same time in Dublin, Aaron O’ Connor’s Under 17 women’s team face Bohemians at Oscar Traynor Centre. The girls go into the game on the back of a scoreless draw at home to Athlone Town last Saturday and currently have seven points from a possible eighteen so far this season.

On Sunday, both our Under 19 squads are in action.

At 2pm at The Sean Fallon Centre, our men’s side host Dundalk. The lads enjoyed a 2-1 win away from home last Sunday in Athlone and can make it three wins from three games with a win on Sunday.

Our Under 19 women’s side face a long trip to Marlay Park in Dublin to play DLR Waves at 3pm. The girls won 4-0 at home to Donegal last weekend and currently have thirteen points from a possible eighteen this season.

As always, all home fixtures at The Sean Fallon Centre are free to watch and all support is welcome.

Our Academy teams were in action over the Easter weekend with both our Under 17 and 19 Men’s and Women’s teams all playing across Saturday and Sunday.

There were no fixtures at Under 14 or 15 level as both squads had a well earned rest after a busy period.

On Saturday, Our Under 17 Women hosted Athlone Town at MacSharry Park. Both sides created a number of chances but couldn’t take them, meaning the game ended scoreless.

At the same time, our Under 17 Men’s team travelled to The Melvin Centre to play Derry City. It was a tight encounter with the hosts leading 1-0 going into the last fifteen minutes. Unfortunately for The Bit O’ Red, Derry scored three late goals to add a gloss to the scoreline when in fact it was probably a tighter game than the score suggested.

Sunday saw both Under 19 teams in action with Declan Boyle’s Men’s side taking on Athlone Town away from home at 3pm. An early goal from Patrick Montgomery put Rovers ahead. The hosts levelled soon after but Peter Maguire scored from a corner in the second half to secure three points in a 2-1 victory.

At 4.30pm, our Under 19 Women defeated Donegal 4-0 at Sean Fallon Centre thanks to goals from Eimear McIntyre (2), Lara Swann and Ciara Henry. This leaves Rovers on 13 points from a possible 18 so far this season.

Sligo Rovers manager Steve Feeney was understandably delighted with the performance of his team in Saturday’s Women’s National League game against Treaty United at The Showgrounds.

The home supporters were treated to two superb goals from Aoife Brennan as the hosts recorded a first home win in their debut season, an achievement that the manager felt was important.

“It was great to get that first home win, we played well and we played some nice football, at times,” commented Feeney.

“I thought the Treaty Utd goal was against the run of play, but we had to respond to it and we did.

“It was a game I thought we could win, but when we conceded that own goal after about 10 minutes we had to work hard to get back into the game.

“Overall, the first-half, I felt we deserved to be ahead at half-time, we got the goals and that was important.

“Two brilliant frees by Aoife (Brennan) and a great effort from Emma (Doherty) gave us that 3-1 half-time advantage.

“We knew, after the break, that it would be difficult against the wind, a lot of long balls from Treaty.

“Our back four, and particularly Amy Mahon making her first start bewteen the posts, they were all excellent

“The overall workrate of the team was superb, we played football in the first-half, but it was the commitment and desire that got us through the second-half.

“We were missing Emma Handberry today, she scored that great goal from a free a few weeks ago here against Bohemians, but today Aoife took the responsibility.

“We also have Sarah Kiernan and Emma Doherty who can also take the frees, but they decide amongst themselves.

“It was also a first start for Amy (Mahon), she only turned 18 a few weeks ago and she came in there today for her first senior game.

“She’s new to the squad, one of the last players we signed, she was superb today, that’s the best way I can describe her performance,” he added.

Looking ahead to the next outing, Sligo Rovers will travel to play a Wexford side that beat Cork City 5-1 on Saturday.

That will present another big challenge for this improving Sligo Rovers team that pushed champions Shelbourne all the way to added time at Tolka Park a fortnight ago.

“We have Wexford next Saturday and that will be a tough game for us,” admitted Feeney.

“We will prepare as best we can and see if we can get something from the game.

Now, after six games, I think we actually have a stronger squad that I realised at the start.

“The togetherness in the team, it’s a great boost and it was evident against Treaty from the players who came in.

“There is great determination amongst the players and there is also lots of ability and that’s starting to come though now,” he added.

PHOTO: SLIGO ROVERS MANAGER STEVE FEENEY AFTER THE WIN AGAINST TREATY UTD. PHOTO: MICHAEL MELLY / BIT O’RED PHOTOGRAPHY

Sligo Rovers made the short journey to Ballybofey on Easter Monday as we met Finn Harps for the second time this season.

The sides met back in March at The Showgrounds with Rovers winning 3-1 thanks to an Aidan Keena hat-trick.

Both sides were away from home on Friday night. The hosts coming back from a goal behind to draw 2-2 with Bohemians in Dalymount Park and Rovers defeated narrowly 2-1 against Dundalk at Oriel Park.

Liam Buckley made five changes to his starting eleven from that game in Dundalk with Greg Bolger, Lewis Banks, Garry Buckley, Aidan Keena and Will Fitzgerald all replaced in the team by Niall Morahan, Colm Horgan, Shane Blaney, David Cawley and Mark Byrne.

The Bit O’ Red started well and forced a number of early corners. The was good attacking play from Rovers particularly down the left with Mark Byrne, making his first start of the season, causing problems for the Harps defence along with Max Mata and David Cawley with Paddy Kirk also getting forward from left back.

On 18 minutes, the first real chance of the game fell to Cawley who forced Mark McGinley into a fine save with his feet after working space in the area. Just two minutes later Cawley was instrumental again as his perfect through ball found Byrne in behind but McGinley produced another big save to deny him. The ball fell to Mata in the box but he couldn’t quite get control of the ball and his shot was also saved by the Harps’ goalkeeper.

Rovers weren’t to be denied for long however and were rewarded on 25 minutes. Kirk’s ball found Mata who held it up well before turning and feeding it to the left to Byrne. His pass in behind the defence found the on rushing Cawley who dinked it over the Harps keeper toward goal. Regan Donelon, facing Rovers for the first time since his move to Harps, got back and cleared it off the line but his clearance hit Karl O’ Sullivan and fell into the net for the winger’s first goal for the club.

Referee Paul McLaughlin had his card out moments later. Bastien Hery was booked for a poor tackle on David Cawley and as both teams came together in the aftermath, Ethan Boyle and Shane Blaney were both carded.

Rovers went in 1-0 up at half-time and in truth it could well have been a couple more.

The second half started slowly with Harps having long range shots from Donelon and Mark Timlin sail over Ed McGinty’s crossbar early on. Max Mata was replaced by Jordan Hamilton on the hour for Rovers as Liam Buckley made his first change of the evening.

Harps pushed forward in the last quarter of an hour and forced some corners. McGinty stood tall for Rovers and claimed some high balls sent in from the Harps wingers with little in way of real chances being created.

One big chance did fall to Timlin however as a clearance was charged down by Harps and Mihaljevic got in down the right. His cross found Timlin but somehow a Rovers defender got back to block his effort and put it behind for another Harps corner.

Liam Buckley introduced Will Fitzgerald and Greg Bolger in the last ten minutes and Rovers saw out the game well with Harps pushing forward and McGinty again claiming some high balls to see us through and earn a vital three points.

Next up is Drogheda United on Saturday evening at The Showgrounds. The game kicks off at 7.45pm.

Sligo Rovers travel to Finn Park in Ballybofey tomorrow night in the second North-West derby of the season. (Kick off 6pm)

Last time out at The Showgrounds, Rovers ran out 3-1 winners after a strong performance from the team including a Man of The Match display from Aidan Keena who bagged a hat-trick.

Six points currently separate the sides with Rovers in fifth and Harps in ninth position after ten league games each.

Both sides were away from home on Friday night with The Bit O’ Red falling to a 2-1 defeat to Dundalk at Oriel Park and Harps fighting back from 2-1 down in Dalymount Park against Bohemians to rescue a point in stoppage time through Mark Timlin.

Rovers manager Liam Buckley looks ahead to the game:

We know Finn Park is a tricky place to go. We always have good hard battles against them and Ollie and his staff will no doubt have them ready to go tomorrow night.

I felt we played well on Friday night for large spells. We could have taken the lead if we had taken our early chances but we need to defend those goals a bit better.

We are looking forward to Monday night’s game and we want to do well and try and kick on again into the coming weeks.

In team news Rovers will assess the fitness of Jordan Hamilton and Robbie McCourt after the pair missed the game with Dundalk through injury.

The game is live on LOI TV and on Ocean FM.

Two super strikes from Aoife Brennan and one from Emma Doherty gave Sligo Rovers a first home win in the Women’s National League today against Treaty Utd writes Conall Collier.

Manager Steve Feeney had to make a number of changes due to the unavailability of a number of his squad. Amongst those missing were Yasmin Connolly, Keela Scanlon, Helen Monaghan, Fiona Doherty, Emma Hansberry and Kristen Sample who was on coaching duty in Malta with the Republic of Ireland u-16 girls.

That gave Amy Mahon a first start between the posts and she produced a top class display in front of the home supporters.

Former Sligo Rovers manager (Men’s team) Don O’ Riordan returned to The Showgrounds at the helm of the Limerick side that came into the game in bottom position in the table without a win in four outings.
 
Rovers had a couple of early chances with Sarah Kiernan and Emma Doherty going close from frees, but a Leah Kelly own goal in the 11th minute that gave Treaty United the lead and left the hosts facing a stiff challenge.

The Limerick side held on to the advantage until nine minutes from the interval when Aoife Brennan levelled from a superbly-struck free on the edge of the penalty area.

Scarcely 60 seconds later, the hosts hit the front from Emma Doherty’s fine finish after she beat the offside and gave Treaty ‘keeper Michaela Mitchell no chance.

And it got better for the Bit O’Red on the stroke of half-time when Brennan rifled another free to the top corner to give the hosts a valuable 3-1 interval advantage.

Wind-assisted Treaty resumed smartly after the resumption and Mahon produced a smart save to deny Heidi O’Sullivan in the 50th minute.

The Bit O’Red worked hard to take control with Lauren Boles, Gemma McGuinness and Orna O’Dowd particularly effective as the hosts were tested by a determined Treaty side.

Jesse Mendez, Lauren Keane Laoise Brown and Emily O’Halloran all battled tenaciously for the Limerick women in an effort to peg back the hosts.

Treaty went close midway through the half following a series of corners, but they were unable to make a breakthrough.

With 10 minutes remaining Treaty forced another series of corners that posed problems, but the hosts survived and countered with Doherty denied by Treaty ‘keeper Michaela Mitchell who advanced smartly out of her area.

O’Sullivan was denied a late goal for Treaty when her effort thundered off the crossbar, but it was the Bit O’Red supporters who were celebrating at the end,
 
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 84 mins.

Referee – Michael Connolly.
Assistant-referees – Alan Dunne, Keenan Deering.
Fourth official – Joe Hession.

Sligo Rovers travelled to Oriel Park on Friday Night in The SSE Airtricity Premier Division.

The two teams were seperated by just a point leading into the game with Rovers in fourth and Dundalk in fifth position in the league table. The two sides were evenly matched in our last meeting on March 5th at The Showgrounds when the game finished scoreless.

Before the game, The Bit O’ Red team held a Pride flag in memory of Michael Snee and Aidan Moffitt who lost their lives earlier this week in Sligo.

Rovers started brightly and had some chances through Aidan Keena and Max Mata early on. Mata got onto a loose ball in the area but his close range shot was blocked by Andy Boyle. Moments later Keena got onto a Will Fitzgerald flicked header but couldn’t manage to keep his lobbed effort on target.

Dundalk went close through Daniel Kelly soon after and they took the lead on 35 minutes when Patrick Hoban scored from close range following Stephen Bradley’s cross which Ed McGinty couldn’t gather.

The hosts had their tales up and made it 2-0 on the stroke of half time. Kelly was played in behind and cooly slotted under McGinty to double his sides lead.

Liam Buckley made two half time changes with Greg Bolger and Aidan Keena replaced by David Cawley and Niall Morahan in midfield.

Rovers tried their best to get back into the game and had some half chances throughout the second half.

Mata was lively in attack with substitute Cawley getting forward at every opportunity. Will Fitzgerald rounded goalkeeper Nathan Shepperd to score but he was flagged offside in the build up.

The hosts had some chances too with Darragh Leahy’s header testing McGinty and captain Hoban also testing the Rovers ‘keeper.

Mark Byrne was introduced for Karl O’ Sullivan on the right for the final fifteen minutes. Byrne and Lewis Banks combined on the right as Rovers’ kept pushing for a way back into the game.

Paddy Kirk’s long throw in four minutes from time found Mata in the box and his looping header found the net to give Rovers hope for the closing stages.

Chances fell to Kirk who shot over from the edge of the area and the impressive Mata who’s header went wide from Byrne’s cross in the 92nd minute and soon after referee Neil Doyle brought the game to a close.

Rovers travel to Finn Harps on Monday at 6pm.

Sligo Rovers travel to Oriel Park on Friday to take on Dundalk in The SSE Airtricity Premier Division.

The game signals the start of the second series of fixtures with Rovers currently in fourth position after nine games. Dundalk lie just a point behind The Bit O’ Red in fifth place under new manager Stephen O’ Donnell.

The sides met at The Showgrounds on March 5^th in a game that ended scoreless.

Liam Buckley will be looking for a performance from the team which he hopes can continue the sides good away record this season.

”As a club we are in a top four position and will endeavour to improve. With five points separating six teams from third to eight, competition for European places will be immense, a challenge we are all looking forward to.

Dundalk have also made a positive start to the season and have added a lot of new faces to their squad, they will also be looking forward to improving and achieving a top four spot. This will be a tough game for both teams. Oriel park is always a tough venue but one we enjoy going to.

Our travelling support will be very important to us and we look forward to representing them with a performance they can be proud of”.

In team news, Aidan Keena is available and both Robbie McCourt and Jordan Hamilton will do late fitness tests.

The game kicks off at 7.45pm and is live on LOI TV and Ocean FM Sport will have commentary.

Last three:

Rovers: UCD (Drew 2-2), Bohemians (Lost 1-0), Shelbourne (Lost 1-0)

Dundalk: St Patrick’s Athletic (Drew 0-0), UCD (Won 2-0), Drogheda United (Lost 1-0)

Sligo Rovers are happy to back The Big Step’s campaign to end all gambling advertising and sponsorship in football. The Bit O’ Red are the 25^th club to back in the campaign in the UK and Ireland, and the second club that play in the League of Ireland Premier Division to back the campaign, joining Drogheda United – meaning 20% of the league are now advocating for a ban on gambling ads in the sport.

The announcement adds to the growing resistance against gambling advertising in football in Ireland. Last year Ireland’s President, Michael D. Higgins, described gambling adverts accompanying sporting events as “dangerous” and said they were causing “so much damage to families”.

Last week, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) announced that celebrities are to be banned from appearing in gambling adverts in the UK from October. Also last week, it was revealed that a piece of research submitted by the English Football League to the UK Government as part of the Gambling Act review was “flawed”, “misleading” and “undertaken to draw a pre-determined conclusion”.

This came after 20 football clubs, including Drogheda United, signed an open letter to the UK Government calling on them to ban all gambling adverts and sponsorship in football. In the letter, the clubs stressed they were not reliant on gambling revenue, in stark contrast to the gambling industry narrative.

Tommy Higgins, Chairman of Sligo Rovers, said:

 ‘’Sligo Rovers is a proud community club which welcomes people of all ages and all walks of life and it’s important to us to do all we can to help protect our supporters, players and everyone associated with the club in any way we can. We feel this small step of not accepting any sponsorships from gambling companies may go a small way to helping what is a huge problem in our society. As a club, we are not in a position to refuse sponsorships too often however we feel the negative aspect of this advertising far outweighs any monetary value to the football club’’.

Earlier this year the club pledged not to take gambling sponsorship money and issued the following statement:

“Sligo Rovers have taken the decision not to accept sponsorship from gambling companies.

“The Bit O’ Red have turned down two large sponsorship offers from gambling companies in the last number of months as we move to formalise this policy.

“As a community-funded club, we believe it would be irresponsible to accept these proposals.

“Sponsorship is a critical aspect in the running of Sligo Rovers and turning down five-figure sponsorship offers is not a straight-forward decision, particularly given the club is self-funded with no individual benefactor like many others in the League of Ireland.

“The ethos of our club is to be inclusive and open to welcome all ages and demographics. We feel such advertising, directly aimed at our supporters and particularly to our young fans, could have a detrimental outcome going forward and not in the spirit of the football club.”

A 2021 Gambling Awareness Trust study estimates there are up to 50,000 people addicted to gambling in Ireland which has a population of almost 5 million. Those addicted to gambling are up to 15 times more likely to take their own lives than members of the general population. Gambling advertising is rife across all levels of football, with research showing that gambling logos can appear 700 times during a single televised game of football. Consequently it’s estimated a gambling brand is visible up to 89% of the time on Match of The Day, which is watched by millions each week.

Mark Wall, a Labour Party senator, introduced a bill last April to completely ban gambling advertising in Ireland. In March 2022, the bill passed the second stage in Seanad Éireann and there is now a real chance there will be strong restrictions implemented.

The Big Step is a campaign to end all gambling advertising and sponsorship in football, led by people harmed by gambling. The campaign is part of the charity Gambling with Lives, which was set up by families and friends that lost loved ones to gambling-related suicide. Research suggests there are up to 650 gambling-related suicides every year in the UK.

James Grimes, Founder of The Big Step, said:

“We were thrilled to see that Sligo Rovers implemented a policy that would see them reject all gambling partnerships and we are even more delighted to have their full support for our campaign.

A fifth of all top-flight clubs in Ireland now advocate for our cause and that number will grow. Gambling advertising is on it’s way out of the game and we know that clubs can survive without it. We of course encourage governments in both the UK and Ireland to act, but we also urge every club in both countries to follow the lead of the 25 clubs – including Sligo – and say no to the gambling industry.”