We host St. Patrick’s Athletic tonight at 7.45pm at The Showgrounds.

We outline all our Match Night information below:

Turnstiles:

Turnstiles open from 6.30pm.

All Children Under 12 must be accompanied by a paying adult. This is non-negotiable and it is the responsibility of parents and guardians to ensure their children are accompanied arriving to The Showgrounds and throughout the night.

All Children over the age of 12 must enter via the last turnstile on the left hand side which will be sign posted. This new turnstile is for Juveniles only and here they must pay €12 for Category One fixtures and €10 for Category Two fixtures. We remind you that this is an All-Ticket game and there is no entry without a ticket.

Please have your tickets ready for scanning to ensure a smooth and quick entry process. Any duplicate tickets will be refused and may lead to stadium bans for those in possession of one. Tickets will only scan once.

Away tickets are available through the St. Pat’s social media channels or at the away turnstile.

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 CCTV system. The system was instrumental in the club being able to utilise footage from previous anti-social behaviour and, in turn issue this to Gardai and serve stadium bans to some supporters. 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 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 thank you for your co-operation.

Our senior womens team returned to training this week following an extended break for the Womens World Cup.

With no competitive action until an away game with Athlone Town on August 19th, it will give Manager Steve Feeney some time to prepare his side ahead of the return to action.

Following that fixture, Rovers will play host to Bonagee United in the Womens FAI Cup on Sunday August 27th at The Showgrounds at 2pm.

There are no fixtures in our Academy this coming weekend as the League has a free weekend across the country.

It will be a time for coaches and players to take a well earned break ahead of the return of fixtures next weekend.

Sligo Rovers host St. Patrick’s Athletic on Friday night at The Showgrounds in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division.

Rovers come into the game on the back of a 2-2 draw away to Drogheda United last week, having lead 2-0 and controlled large periods of the game.

St. Patrick’s Athletic most recently played a friendly against Cliftonville last Saturday following their Europa Conference League exit a fortnight ago and an FAI Cup win over Longford Town.

The Bit O’ Red must now do without the services of striker Max Mata who earlier completed a move to English League One side Shrewsbury Town.

Fabrice Hartmann is expected to play some part in the game following his return to the club on loan from RB Leipzig. Hartmann trained this week with his Bit O’ Red team-mates and could start.

Manager John Russell takes the positives of recent weeks into Friday’s game:

‘’It was disappointing to come away with only a draw last weekend as the players showed a good reaction after the cup defeat.

‘’Tomorrow night we welcome an in-form St Pats side to the Showgrounds. Our previous games against them have been tight encounters so we’re expecting another difficult game.

‘’It’s important we build on our last two home performances where we took maximum points. We are eager to try and build some momentum and with players starting to return to full fitness this will only enhance our chances’’.

Tickets for the game can be purchased on the gate on the night from 6.30pm or online in advance on srfcdirect.com

Russell is hoping for a good Showgrounds support as we go in search of our third straight home win:

‘’I was delighted to bring Fabrice back to the club and he has given everyone a real lift. He is a player of immense quality and is exactly the type of player we need in the final third.

‘’We’re hoping our supporters turn out in their numbers tomorrow night. They have been with us through the ups and downs this season and we need them now more than ever’’.

In team news, as announced earlier in the week, Will Fitzgerald is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a groin injury along with Garry Boylan who continues to recover from an ACL injury. Mark Byrne is still a few weeks away from a return.

Karl O’ Sullivan is back in the squad after his ankle injury and James Finnerty and Garry Buckley have shown no ill effects after their return in the last couple of weeks and are fit to play.

John Mahon is a doubt with illness but, it is hoped he will recover in time for the game.

Richard Brush and Daniel Lafferty are suspended for the next 2 and 3 games respectively.

Sligo Rovers can confirm that Max Mata has today completed a permanent transfer to Shrewsbury Town in the English Football League for an undisclosed fee.

Mata arrived at The Showgrounds ahead of the 2022 season and has since made 58 appearances for the Bit O’ Red, scoring 19 goals.

At present, Mata is joint highest scorer in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division with 11 goals.

The New Zealander has enjoyed his time at the club and has said that he will forever hold the club in his heart:

”Sligo is a place I will never forget with people who I will always hold dear to my heart, especially at Sligo Rovers. I know I will always have the Bit O’ Red with me in my life. 

”Thank you all very much for my time with the Club, I have appreciated the moments when things went well and the moments that were tough.

”You are loyal supporters who stood by us when we needed it most and for that I am forever grateful”.

Everyone at Sligo Rovers would like to wish Max all the best in his future career and we thank him for his service to the club.

Sligo Rovers can confirm that Daniel Lafferty’s six match suspension has been reduced to 4 matches following a successful appeal from the club today.

Daniel was sent-off against Drogheda United on Friday July 21st in the FAI Cup First Round and following this and taking into account the match official’s report, a six-match ban was handed out.

Sligo Rovers have not commented on the matter publicly due to the fact that an appeal was lodged last week and we felt it necessary to allow this run its course before making any comment.

The club felt this decision was extremely disappointing and submitted a formal appeal along with video evidence of the incident and the aftermath of the incident today at the FAI’s Disciplinary Control Unit’s appeal hearing.

Following this hearing, the FAI have confirmed that Daniel’s suspension has now been reduced to four games and he will return to the Rovers squad for our game against Cork City on September 1st.

We wish to thank the FAI, the DCU and the Appeals Committee for their assistance on this matter.

Sligo Rovers can confirm that winger Will Fitzgerald is expected be out of action for the rest of the 2023 season following a significant groin injury sustained in training recently.

Fitzgerald will now undergo surgery on the injury and we wish him the best in his recovery.

Keep strong, Will.

Sligo Rovers’ next Men’s home fixture is this coming Friday night at The Showgrounds against St. Patrick’s Athletic.

The game kicks off at 7.45pm.

The game was originally scheduled for Saturday evening, however the League moved it forward 24 hours as it will be shown Live on RTE 2.

Tickets for the game can be bought online in advance on srfcdirect.com or simply on the turnstiles on the night from 6.30pm.

Fabrice Hartmann has returned to the club on loan and is expected to feature in the match squad for the big game.

The Bit O’ Red Academy had four games this past weekend on another wet and wintery couple of days.

On Saturday, our Under 17 Womens team travelled East to Oriel Park to play Dundalk.

An entertaining game saw four goals scored in a 2-2 draw, with McKenzie Reynolds and Anna McDaniel on target for Rovers.

Our Under 14’s had a tough day at the office, suffering an 8-0 defeat in Dublin against UCD.

It was the side’s first defeat since June 3rd and one they will bounce back from.

Sunday saw our Under 15 side host Dundalk at The Sean Fallon Centre on a rain soaked afternoon.

An own-goal meant Rovers shared the points with the Louth side.

Our Under 19 Womens side suffered their first defeat since May 21st with a 5-0 defeat at The Showgrounds against Shelbourne.

On Tuesday night, our Under 17 Men’s team are in Cup action away to Derry City at 7pm in Aileach.

The 500 Club members draw for June was made recently by the 500 Club Committee.

These monthly draws see ten members drawn each month for cash prizes, with the top prize being €500.

The 500 Club continues to be one of the club’s most important Fundraisers and we thank the 500 Club committee for their continued hard work.

The following are the winners for June:

1st: €500 – Seamus Gilmartin, Grange, Co. Sligo

2nd: €100 – Paul Mulligan, Rosehill, Sligo.

3rd: €100 – Ben/Abigail Crossan, Rathcormac, Co. Sligo

4th: €100 – Pat McCormack, St. Josephs Terrace, Sligo

5th: €100 – Frank Feighan, Strandhill Rd, Sligo.

6th: €100 – Veronica Drury, Calry, Co. Sligo.

7th: €100 – Jane Nugent, Ballygawley, Co. Sligo.

8th: €100 – Allen Banks, Ballisodare, Co. Sligo.

9th: €100 – Paul Higgins, Monkstown, Co. Dublin.

10th: €100 – John Verdon, Greenfort Estate, Sligo.

We wish to thank all our 500 Club members for their continued support and our 500 Club Committee.