Sligo Rovers will look to rediscover their winning form this Saturday as they take on Waterford at the Showgrounds, kick-off 7.45pm. 

This Premier Division game is Rovers’ biggest of the season to date, as John Russell’s side look to potentially break into the top three. The Blues and the Bit O’Red sit third and fourth respectively with the same number of games played, level on points with Waterford ahead only on goal difference. 

Sligo will look to pick up their first win in three in all competitions following recent defeats to both UCD and Drogheda United.

This will be the fourth and final time this season that the teams will lock horns. 

The visitors have the upper hand in the head-to-head stakes with two wins over Rovers this year, while ten man Sligo beat Keith Long’s side at the RSC back in March. 

In team news, Nando Pijnaker is again expected to miss out having missed the defeat to Drogs following a head injury received in the recent FAI Cup loss to UCD. 

Winger Stephen Mallon will face a late fitness test. While Stefan Radosavljevic joins John Mahon and Conor Reynolds on the treatment table. 

This game sees the teams at the opposite ends of the form table take each other on. With four victories from their last five league outings, Rovers are currently the in-form club in the top flight, while 

Waterford sit bottom of that list having been beaten in four of their last five. 

Russell, who returns to the dugout following a three game ban, is paying little heed to stats and knows how big Saturday’s clash is. The Rovers boss also says that last week’s drubbing at Weaver’s Park is now out of the system.

“The Drogheda game is history now and there is absolutely nothing we can do now to affect that result”, he says. “We have moved on and I am happy with how the players have reacted this week in training.”

“What we can do now is affect the outcome of Saturday’s game and the games between now and the end of the season. Right now, our full focus is on Waterford and it’s a massive game. Both teams are inseparable on points and it promises to be a cracker of a game between two teams who play attacking football so we’re hoping for a big crowd to encourage the players as they can affect things too.  

“The players have reacted well to recent setbacks and we’re looking forward to Saturday. Waterford can really open you up if you’re not on your game and we’ve seen that from them this season. They have plenty of goals in their team and we need to be ready to go from minute one.” 

David Goulden

BY JIM GRAY

Gerry O’Connor has been going to the Showgrounds, man and boy, for more than 40 years, following a near century old tradition of local soccer people worshipping at the ancestral home of Sligo Rovers. It’s a ritual which has been fervently practiced by generations of Sligo men, women and children. Simply put, they are what it says on the tin: supporters.

But in recent years, Gerry has occupied a slightly strange space. He’s still attending the Cathedral of local football, but his mode of worship has slightly changed. He rarely sees a home game these days. He’s too busy being a supporters’ supporter.

Gerry is one of the driving forces of the Bit O Red Supporters Trust (BORST), a unique collection of Rovers’ die-hards whose innovative – and often inspirational – leadership has provided a skin-tight connection between the club and its support base, an umbilical cord which ensures the club is never separated from its lifeblood.

As a community fan-owned club, Rovers could never afford to be aloof from those who provide its heartbeat – the people who go to the games, fork out hard-earned cash for various fund-raisers, promote off-field activities, in many cases live and breathe the bit’o’red. BORST is the manifestation of that abiding connection.

It’s always easy to support successful teams but not so much when the trophy cabinet  perpetually harbours more dust than silverware. But, of course, it’s in those lean seasons when tangible backing is most needed. Typically, BORST was established in such meagre times.

It was during one of the club’s fallow periods, around 2005, with the team drifting somewhat aimlessly from one uneventful season to the next, that Alan Kearins and Gary Kelly established BORST. Maybe they lacked a precise vision of where this supporters’ group could go or how it could help, but they were determined to pull a collective blanket around supporters to see if it could extend its protection to the club. A sort of build it and they will come approach.

Some years later, the group was reinvigorated with the addition of new members, fresh ideas, and a club that was open to building meaningful connections with its fan base. The original founders were joined by people like Gerry O’Connor, Gary Kilcullen, Ian Rooney, Donal Kelly, Brenda Kearins, Sue Brennan, Shaun Dunne and Caitriona and Grainne Oates. They harnessed their collective love of the club to become one of the most powerful supporters’ groups in the country.

Although they don’t have a register of members or a formal policy Constitution, BORST is very clear about its mission.

“Our three pillars are fan engagement, providing a voice for fellow supporters, and maintaining an open line of communication with the club. Providing fan services at game has become a huge priority, and it’s developing all the time”, Gerry O’Connor explains.

An early initiative was the provision of a club house at the Showgrounds. The original idea was “just to give people a place to stand in out of the rain to have a cuppa on a bad night”, according to Gerry, but it has become a hive of activity on match nights as supporters mix and mingle, swap opinions or even orations, the essence of a supporters’ get-together.

The origin of the club house illustrates the innovative thinking of the group.

“It was an old prefab classroom in an Athlone school,” Gerry reveals. Through quizzes and various other fund-raisers, the group rustled up an impressive 20,000 euro to purchase and refurbish the pre-fab building, with almost all of the manual labour carried out by the Trust members themselves.

Not content to rest on its laurels, the Trust has since established a thriving merchandise shop, where Gerry’s background in retail ensures a full stock of a vast array of Rovers’ clothing and other paraphernalia. They also run a sweet/coffee shop in the main concourse and three other shops dotted around the ground. In recent months, packed fan-zones have become another regular feature. In all, about 25 BORST volunteers are on duty for each home game, many of them not witnessing a single minute of action on the pitch.

“These shops help to generate badly needed income, 100% of which goes directly to the club. It means practically all of the money spent in the ground on match night stays in the ground,” Gerry points out. “But it’s not just about the money. It’s really about improving the match day experience for supporters.”

A hugely popular spin-off has been the BORST Podcast, launched during COVID, whose weekly broadcasts keep supporters both informed and entertained.  Dyed-in-the-wool Rovers fans Conor Lynch, Ronan Flanagan, Shane McGoldrick, James Coleman, Gerry O’Connor, and Fionn Teyssou keep the show afloat, never afraid to tackle difficult issues and offering fans the opportunity to have their say, whatever it might be.

“We get terrific feed-back,” Gerry confirms. “About 500 supporters tune in each week, and we have a feature, Shouts from the Shed End, where people can leave a short voice-note. We get a diverse range of opinions. Some can be pretty harsh if the team has played poorly, and while we don’t edit anything, we are very conscious that people involved in the club, players and officials, are always doing their very best and we do not want to expose them to abuse or personal insult. It’s something we’re always sensitive about.

“At the same time, it’s an important forum to connect fans, to allow them express opinions, and to reach out to fans all over the world. It has become a very important part of what we offer fans.”

Other social media platforms also provide massive exposure for the activities of BORST. Recently, they put up a short clip of an opponent stepping on the toes of Kalin Barlow during a game. It garnered an astonishing 35 million views.

“It just shows you the potential that’s out there. We want to tap into all of that, to spread the Rovers gospel far and wide,” Gerry says.

Indeed, the increasing interest from far-flung fans has become a surprisingly strong feature of the Rovers’ family in recent years, so much so that BORST is currently in the process of establishing a North American Supporters Network. People like Joe Lima in California, Mark Brisky in Utah and Sean Rourke in Alabama, along with Chris McManus and eight other US-based fans, are working on a number of different projects aimed at uniting the Rovers banner Stateside.

Closer to home, the BORST interaction with Rovers has been enhanced by the election of two of its members, Shaun Dunne and Donal Kelly, onto the club’s Management Committee.

“It was important from the beginning that we had a solid relationship with the club,” Gerry explains. “As a fan-owned club, the people who run it realise they have an obligation to stay in touch with the ordinary supporters. An early goal of ours was to have representation on the management committee, and it’s such a positive development that we now have two members on the board. It means we are constantly in touch with the club, there is a clear path of communication, and supporters are now an integral part of the day-to-day running of the club. That’s massively important.”

With the club’s centenary on the horizon, the common thread in nearly 100 years of dogged resilience, often in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, has been the unbreakable loyalty of its supporters. BORST is the modern manifestation of that admirable tradition, and its members are steadfastly writing their own history.

It was a shocking performance and result last Friday night. There is no other way to describe it.

Football is an emotional game. The psychology of dealing with pressure is a skill that players and staff continually refine. Football isn’t just about what happens on the pitch, it’s about the emotions it evokes in the fans. From the elation of a late Ellis Chapman wonder goal to beat Derry City at home to the devastation of last Friday nights hammering, football takes supporters on an emotional rollercoaster.

As I sat in the stands last Friday night with our head strength and conditioning coach Tom French, where we served the last of our three-game suspension, I was filled with lots of emotions. Probably the same emotions of all our away fans and our supporters tuning in on LOITV. Anger, frustration, embarrassment.

In the aftermath of these difficult moments, it is my job as manager to take a step back and take an objective view. Analyse what happened, learn from it, help the players and staff and move forward.

We have the youngest squad in the league. They are learning the game while also learning about themselves. I believe you only truly learn about yourself in tough moments or in tough times. It tests your character, and it can allow you to build your resilience.

As some players were substituted on Friday night, I watched their body language closely. I also watched to see if they shook Ryan Casey’s hand as they entered the dugout. They did. At the final whistle, I watched as the players and staff approached our away supporters. They stood and applauded. They took the flak. Win, lose or draw this group are consistent in their actions. They showed their character.

Everyone is hurting. The journey home was one of the toughest I’ve ever experienced. But when you step back, you need to remember that this is the same group of players who have delivered some special nights. They have exceeded expectations so far this season. This same group of players have been lauded by the fans as ‘getting it’ and ‘leaving everything on the pitch’ when it comes to playing for this club. Everyone can have a bad performance or a bad night. It’s how you respond.

We have an opportunity to respond on Saturday night in front of our own supporters in the Showgrounds.

Up the Rovers!

John Russell

Sligo Rovers make the trip to Weaver’s Park this Friday evening for the second time this season to take on Drogheda United in a crucial Premier Division clash, kick-off 7.45pm.

Following FAI Cup disappointment against UCD last Saturday at the Showgrounds, attention reverts to the league campaign where the Bit O’Red are in fantastic form with five wins in their last six league games.

Friday’s clash will be Rovers’ third game against Kevin Doherty’s outfit in 2024. Rovers beat Drogs in both Premier Division meetings between the sides at the Showgrounds this year in March and June. While it was United who came away with the spoils following Sligo’s last visit to Weaver’s Park back in April.

In team news, Connor Malley returns to the squad having missed that defeat to the Students last weekend. While both Nando Pijnaker and Ollie Denham will be assessed before the game having picked up knocks in the same game.

Winger Stephen Mallon will not travel due an injury sustained during the week. John Mahon and Conor Reynolds are some way off a return.

Manager John Russell will serve the third of a three game ban, meaning Rovers will again be led from the line by assistant manager Ryan Casey. 

Russell reveals that his players are still hurting having been knocked out of the cup, but wants his squad to use that disappointment as the fuel required to spur them on in the north east.

“We saw last week that if you don’t show up and be at it from the start, then you will get turned over and that goes for any team in this league, both divisions. 

“Drogheda have already beaten us this year so we know we cannot afford to be anything but fully focused and prepared for this game. They are only two points off Dundalk and they know a few points will push them up the table as the league is so tight. It’s a home game for them in front of their own fans and they’ll really be up for this one. So it’s going to be tough for us but the players are keen to get going and forget about the UCD game. The best way to recover from a loss is to win your next game. 

“We want to keep this league run going. The players have been excellent in the league lately and we’re delighted with how they have performed and the wins they have picked up so we want to keep that feeling rolling into Drogheda and beyond.”

David Goulden

Focus at the Showgrounds this weekend returns to the Sports Direct FAI Cup as Sligo Rovers vie for a place in the last eight of the country’s premier cup competition. UCD are the opponents on Church Hill this Saturday at 7.45pm.

The Bit O’Red are the form team in the country at the moment, having won six of their seven games on all fronts since the mid-season break. Defeats of Shelbourne, Galway, Bohs, Derry and Shamrock Rovers have lifted Rovers to fourth, level on points with third placed Waterford in the Premier Division standings. 

Rovers progressed to the third round of the FAI Cup courtesy of a comfortable three goal win over Munster Senior League outfit Cobh Wanderers in the last round, while Saturday’s opponents enjoyed a great four nil victory over Gorey Rangers in the same round.

Rovers are still without long-term injured duo John Mahon and Conor Reynolds. While Stefan Radosavljevic and Conor Malley have both returned to training this week and are expected to be part of the match day squad. 

Winger Simon Power will be monitored in the lead up to the game and a decision on his fitness will be made on the day of the game. 

Rovers will again be led from the dugout by assistant boss Ryan Casey as manager John Russell serves the second of a three game ban. 

Previewing the tie, Russell knows Rovers will hold the favourites tag going into this one but insists his side will show no complacency despite facing First Division opposition. 

“UCD are absolutely flying at the moment and look very good to make the play-offs so there’s no way we can prepare for this one other than with thorough professionalism”, he warned. 

“They have Premier Division experience with players like Ronan Finn who will probably be the most decorated player on the field on Saturday. They also have plenty of young talent as always, with the likes of Eanna Clancy who was brilliant for us last season when we needed him. This is a one-off tie and any team in the last 16 will fancy their chances against anyone else. 

“We’re on an excellent run at the moment but I can guarantee that as always, our players will be well prepared and doing everything we can to progress. The players know that a win on Saturday means you’re just two games away from an FAI Cup final, the Aviva Stadium and all that goes with that. It’s a huge carrot to chase.” 

Over three thousand supporters were in attendance for last week’s win over league leaders Shels and Russell is hoping for another big crowd and Rovers look to overcome the Students. 

“Anyone who was in Sligo last Saturday saw how the crowd and the atmosphere pushed the players on. There were times when Shels were really pressing us, but the backing from the stands gave us that extra ten percent to see them off. We’ll need that support again on Saturday.”  

David Goulden

Leo Gray recently met Rovers Football and Social Responsibility Officer, Jamie Murphy

Sligo Rovers – the community club. The football industry has been contaminated by so much empty rhetoric in recent years that it’s easy to be dismissive of some of the over-hyped virtues attached to the once beautiful game. But in Sligo Rovers’ case, they do what it says on the tin. No exaggerated fuss, no fanciful fanfare, just plain down-to-earth meaningful interaction with a fan-base and community whose unconditional support and genuine affection has kept the show on the road – often against overwhelming odds – for close to 100 years.

The connection between club and community is infectious, you can smell it, inhale it, almost reach out and touch it. It’s everywhere, in schools, shopping centres, on the streets, in the workplace, it’s rural, it’s urban, it’s more transmissible than a rampant virus. And, thankfully, there’s no cure. It’s raged for almost a century and shows no signs of relenting. If anything, it’s more feverish than ever.

Harness it all, embrace its positivity and share its unifying, restorative power and what have you got? You’ve got a football and social responsibility mandate. Add in a passionate force of nature in the person of Jamie Murphy and you’ve got the very personification of what Sligo Rovers Football Club is all about. Three months into his demanding but massively rewarding role as the club’s Football and Social Responsibility Officer, Jamie has been overwhelmed but not surprised by the phenomenal buy-in from the community and the enthusiastic backing from within the club to his many ground-breaking initiatives.

He explains: “Sligo and the entire North West region has always been a progressive and open area, willing to accept and take on different ideas. The scale of the support I’ve received since taking on the job and the reaction to our projects has been exceptional and very much appreciated. It’s encouraging to realise that there’s such a depth of goodwill and interest in all the initiatives we’ve been involved in. But I can’t say I’m surprised by that. It only re-enforces everything I’ve felt about the club, the fan-base and the wider community in Sligo and across the North West.”

Hailing from the Maugheraboy area of Sligo town, and living in Manorhamilton, County Leitrim, for the past number of years, Rovers are in his DNA. As a giddy child, he’d skip down the road to the Showgrounds to watch his heroes, share in the agony and occasional ecstasy of supporting his home-town team.

The love never left him, but there were other passions, different causes to highlight and protect. He became a Secondary School teacher, and taught history at the Ursuline College in Sligo, before taking up a position as a social worker with the Sligo Traveller Support Group where he became a strong advocate for support for Mental Health issues within the Traveller community. It was a tough job but he relished the challenge and was unremitting in his commitment to it.

He had no desire to leave the role but the attraction of becoming Sligo Rovers first Football and Social Responsibility Officer was irresistible.

“I have always been passionate about social justice, discrimination, anti-racism, inclusivity, helping the marginalised. And I’m a strong believer that football can be a vehicle to deliver in very real terms on all these issues. And so the role with Rovers was the perfect fit. It embodied everything that I’m passionate about,” he says.

“I understand the values of the club, that it’s deeply rooted in the community and that the love for Rovers passes down from one generation to the next. I’m part of that process myself, it’s where I come from, it’s where I belong. Everything at the club is inter-connected. Of course, the ninety minutes of football at the Showgrounds every Saturday night is the pinnacle but I believe, and everybody at Rovers shares this view, that the club is about more than just football. It’s about inclusivity. Nobody, from whatever background, race or social status, should feel they can’t be part of this wonderful club. We are a community club in every sense of the word.”

Although it’s not the prime objective of the work he does, there is a spin-off in terms of attracting new supporters and volunteers to the club as a result of the initiatives introduced under the Social Responsibility Programme.

For example, quite a number of men whose first interaction with Rovers came through the Integration Football initiative are now volunteers at the Showgrounds. The programme involves refugees, asylum seekers and members from the Direct Provision Centre. They’ve been welcomed to the Showgrounds, encouraged to engage in social and sporting pursuits and now have a real and interesting connection with the community which otherwise might have been denied them.

“I like to work from the bottom up, talk to the men, get to know them and what they want. Then I try to work on a programme that suits them. That’s the key to the Integration Football Programme and it’s gone down so well that many of those taking part are now solid Sligo Rovers fans, a lot of them coming on board as club volunteers,” Jamie points out.

Football For All, a project which involves adult players, men and women, from Rehab Care Centres, the National Learning Network and other facilities, is also proving a great success. Players come together in two groups on a weekly basis, engaging in beneficial physical activity and social engagement.

Recently, Rovers fielded a team in the Downs Syndrome National Futsal Blitz in Gormanstown. The children were thrilled to represent Sligo Rovers on the national stage. They put up a tremendous performance, finishing third in a highly competitive tournament won by an experienced Finn Harps squad.

“The joy on the faces of the players was something to behold,” says Jamie. “They were delighted to have
the honour of representing Sligo Rovers in a national competition and they put on a great performance.
Everybody at the club was so proud of them.”

The heroic team were presented to the crowd at half-time during the recent Shamrock Rovers game where they received a well-deserved tribute.

It’s been a hectic few months for the newly installed Football and Social Responsibility Officer but there’s even more to come.

The energetic Jamie has several exciting plans in the pipeline, including a sporting memories project which will be run in association with the Sligo Alzheimer’s Society, and a Sligo Pride event in conjunction with the LGBTQ+ community. This follows on from the successful launch of a walking football programme for over 55s which commenced in July,

“It’s a busy schedule,” he agrees. “The feedback from everybody we’ve engaged with so far has been fantastic. We’re getting contacts from parents and organisations suggesting various ideas and we’ll take everything on board. We want to be as inclusive as possible. We’ve made a positive start and we’re working on delivering more programmes going forward.”

As part of the FAI Licensing conditions, the appointment of a Football and Social Responsibility Officer will be mandatory for all clubs by the 2025/’26 season. Rovers, along with a few other clubs, are ahead of the curve. No surprise there. The Community Club doing just what it says on the tin.

Sligo Rovers face into their final ten league games of the season, beginning this Saturday evening with the visit of table-toppers Shelbourne to the Showgrounds, kick-off 7.45pm.

Rovers will look to return to winning ways following a late defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic in Dublin last Sunday. The Bit O’Red had won all five of their previous games before the trip to Pat’s.

Rovers will be led from the dugout by assistant manager Ryan Casey as John Russell serves the first of a three match ban, following a red card shown to him by referee Rob Hennessy in injury time during that defeat to the Saints. Russell will also miss subsequent games with UCD and Drogheda.   

Conor Reynolds and John Mahon miss out with long-term injuries. While both Simon Power and Connor Malley will be monitored in the lead up to Saturday. 

Power sustained a knock the day before the Pat’s game and it is hoped that should he not make this weekend’s game, he will be recovered in time for Saturday week’s visit of UCD in the FAI Cup. 

While Malley will also be assessed closer to game time after the midfielder was injured in that game at Richmond Park.

Stefan Radosavljevic returned to light training this week and will also face a fitness test. 

Speaking ahead of what will be a huge match at the Showgrounds, boss Russell says that although his side were left reeling after last weekend’s late drama, Rovers are looking to bounce back immediately. 

“What happened in Inchicore was disappointing but I was really enthused by our performance. We brought the game to Pat’s and were extremely unfortunate not to take at least a point, which would have been wholly deserved”, he said.

“We want to bring the positives from that game straight into this one. We are still in great form at the moment and we see the Pat’s defeat as a blip. I was really proud of the players last week and even more proud of the reaction we got in training this week. You can see the players are really keen to get out there on Saturday in front of what should be a big crowd and put last weekend behind them.

Both sides have beaten the other this season, with Damien Duff’s outfit narrowly beating Rovers at the Showgrounds on the opening weekend of March. While Rovers picked up a great win over the title-chasers on the final day of May at Tolka Park. Russell is expecting another closely fought contest on Saturday.

“Like with most games in this league, our recent games with Shels have been tight. We’re expecting it to be tough on Saturday as Shels will be chasing the win but we know we’re a match for anyone in this league now. We’ve shown in recent weeks that when we click, we are a force at any stage in any match. 

“Shels have been the best team this season going by their place on the table. But we’re not a million miles off them and we are very much still in the mix for a decent finish. We are looking to end the season as strong as we can.” 

David Goulden

Pictured at the recent special draw of Sligo Rovers 500 club were (L-R): Sean Crossan Draw committee, Cathaoirleach Cllr Declan Bree, Tony Quinn, Draw committee, Tommy Higgins, Rovers Chairman, Vincent Nally, Chair Draw Committee, Peter Henry, Draw Committee, Robbie Fitzpatrick, event MC.

SPECIAL PRESENTATION TO MARK MILESTONE ACHIEVEMENT

Sligo Rovers has long been showcased as a model community club, and one aspect of the club’s administration illustrates this beyond any doubt. Since it was established in 2003, the Friends of Sligo Rovers 500 Club has raised €2m for Sligo Rovers, and this hugely impressive milestone was marked by a special draw at the recent friendly match against Everton.

At half time at that fixture, 500 Club Draw Chairman Vincent Nally presented a cheque of €50,000 to Sligo Rovers, which brought the total raised for the club for Sligo Rovers by 500 Club members to €2 million.

A special draw was held pitch-side at half-time. With the Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council Councillor Declan Bree in attendance, two lucky members won €1,000 each, Stephen Gilroy from Tonaphubble and William Gaffney from Ardaghowen. Vincent also made a presentation to the founding members of the 500 Club, Peter Henry and Tony Quinn.

Draw Chairman Vincent Nally said ‘It was the vision and spirit of the late Brendan Byrne along with Tony Quinn and Peter Henry that laid the foundations for the draw, and their work continues to the present day by our current team of volunteers’.

Rovers Chairman Tommy Higgins said the importance of the 500 Club to Sligo Rovers was immeasurable. “As a community owned club, we are totally reliant on the loyalty and generosity of our supporters, and we simply would not survive without the core fundraisers; The 500 Club, Weekly lotto and annual draw. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Vincent Nally and his team for their invaluable contribution over many years.’

An important feature of the Draw is its generosity, over the years 2,370 draw winners have shared almost €300,000 in prize money. Without any major benefactor, Sligo Rovers is reliant on its supporters, local community and teams of volunteers, and their loyalty lies at the heart of the enduring success of the draw.

The 500 club welcome new members, to join, simply fill out the contact form using the link below.

https://www.sligorovers.com/500-club/

In the first of an occasional series highlighting some of our local legends, Jim Gray chats with David Pugh to reflect on an iconic career.

By Jim Gray

David Pugh is one of Sligo soccer’s most iconic heroes. A local centre-half who joined Rovers from the junior soccer ranks, he is generally regarded as one of the best players ever to wear the bit’o’red and, indeed, one of the greatest of all time League of Ireland performers. He also managed Rovers on two separate occasions.

 His remarkable career included an FAI Cup winner’ medal with Shamrock Rovers in 1969 and a successful spell in the fledgling American soccer leagues. But his best years were spent as an inspirational skipper with his home-town club, during which he was honoured with the captaincy of the Irish under-23 team. A master of many trades, David also played senior Gaelic football for Sligo; was an international basketball player; an accomplished rally driver, and a top amateur golfer. He was offered the chance to play professional football, but turned down opportunities to join both Celtic and Chelsea.

In a strange twist of fate, the man associated with great soccer moments also made GAA history. When the GAA finally kicked to touch its infamous ban on ‘foreign’ sports, he was among the first soccer players in the country to play in a provincial football final, alongside another Rovers favourite, Gerry Mitchell.  For good measure, he captained an Irish under-23 international team where most of the players were cross-channel professionals. He drove a lightning- fast car at break-neck speeds at motor rallies all over the country. He played in three West of Ireland golf championships off an eye-watering three handicap. He won a Sigerson Cup and played basketball for Ireland. 

His love of sport manifested early and he was always a dual player: “We weren’t allowed play soccer in school, so it was Gaelic football in St. John’s School in Temple Street and soccer in the nun’s field, where the Cranmore housing estate was later established,” he recalls.

Later in life, those fields of dreams would become the Showgrounds and Croke Park and countless other sports arenas, but the odd thing about a lad with such awesome ability was that his natural gifts were never matched by extravagant ambition. On the pitch, he was an unbeatable goliath, but outside the sidelines there reigned a shy and introverted youngster.

He vividly recalls ‘shaking like a leaf’ in his early days in the Rovers dressing rooms. On one occasion the club’s wily trainer, James Tiernan, offered him a plastic bag into which he could spill his nerves and told him he’d be ok once the game started.  He was right. The young center-half had a blinder.

Perhaps it was that inherent shyness which influenced his decision not to join Celtic as a teenager and, some years later, to reject Chelsea’s advances. But there are no regrets.

The Celtic offer came after a month-long trial arranged by Sean Fallon when Pugh was a fourth-year student at Summerhill College. Chelsea’s approach came following a successful season with Boston Beacons in 1968.

“At Celtic, I was just a kid. I looked around at the great players they had, people like Billy McNeill and Paddy Crerand, and I decided I didn’t belong there. I asked myself what am I doing here. They asked me to sign and without hesitation I said no. Looking back, it was probably a lack of self-belief.

“With Chelsea, it was a more mature decision. I was a grown man with plenty of experience behind me. It was at the end of the season with Boston Beacons, and the manager, Jack Mansell, told me he could lift the phone and have me at Chelsea in the morning. I told him ‘I don’t think so’. He was flabbergasted, but it just wasn’t for me. I didn’t want that lifestyle.”

Instead, his Boston room-mate, Paddy Mulligan signed for Chelsea and enjoyed a prolonged career in the English First Division and with Ireland.

All Pugh ever wanted was play for Sligo Rovers. His uncle, Ray Foley, had brought him to the Showgrounds every Sunday and soon he was caught up in the frenzy which envelopes almost every Sligo town child who ever kicked a ball. As a teenager, he played for Collegians in the junior league and was good enough to win an Irish junior cap. It was only a matter of time before the senior club came calling, but it was an inauspicious start.

Rovers had just returned to senior football in 1963 after a year’s absence and their ‘new’ team was a mixture of Dublin based veterans and untried locals, but the Sligo lads were very often at the back of the queue when it came to selection. 

Pugh recalls: “I was all set for my debut, togged out in the dressing room, nervous but excited. My dad, uncles, brothers all there to see me play for Rovers, a big day for the family. Then, shortly before kick-off, the manager arrives in with a few Dublin lads off the train. ‘You won’t be needed today’, he tells me. I was absolutely devastated, heartbroken, but that’s the way it was in those days. Locals would get one game and never be heard of again once there were enough Dubs to fill the shirts. I was determined from very early on that it wouldn’t happen to me, and once I got my chance I made sure they couldn’t shift me.”

Regularly picked for inter-league teams in the following years, his stock rose significantly when he was selected to captain a star-studded under-23 international team against France at Dalymount Park in 1966.

At the start of the 68/69 season, he joined a Shamrock Rovers team laden with talent, and he slotted in comfortably alongside some of the greatest players ever to grace the league under the expert management of the legendary Liam Tuohy. A memorable season with the Hoops was capped by the club’s record-breaking sixth successive FAI Cup victory, with Pugh becoming only the second Sligoman ever to win a cup medal.

The following season he was back with his hometown club and back in an FAI Cup final, as Rovers reached the decider for the first time in 30 years. A three-game marathon was eventually won by Bohemians. In the second replay, following a collision with fellow defender, Kevin Fallon, Pugh finished the game concussed and confused. It would be two hours after the game before he realized the result had gone against Rovers.

One of the better days, however, was when he got the chance to share a field with the fabulous Pele, winner of three World Cup medals and acknowledged as the best player in the world. Pugh was midway through a one-year contract with Boston Beacons, who faced Pele’s club, Santos, in an exhibition game. 

It still feels slightly surreal: “I was casually told ‘you pick up Pele’, and I thought ‘yeah, no problem’. Just to be on the same pitch was such a thrill. All of the Santos players were Brazilian internationals, fabulous players. I would have paid in to see them and here I was on the same pitch, trying to keep Pele quiet. I actually won a few headers from him, but even to get close to him was hard enough. 

“The one regret is that I didn’t get his shirt. Our manager ran on after the match and grabbed it. I’ve never forgiven him for that.”

When the GAA voted to abolish the ban on foreign games – ironically Sligo was one of only two counties who objected – another intriguing chapter opened up for Pugh. A talented if under-utilised Gaelic footballer, he had won a Sigerson Cup with St. Joseph’s College, Belfast, where he was doing his PE teacher training, scoring a spectacular goal in the final at Croke Park. Sligo manager, Brendan McCauley, invited Pugh and his Rovers pal, Gerry Mitchell, to join the county panel in 1971. They reached the Connacht final, losing out to Galway after a replay, in which Pugh scored a goal with a bullet-like shot from a 14-yards free.

Later in his career, he would serve as Rovers manager for two separate spells, while more tangible success as a coach came during his 28 years as a PE teacher at Summerhill College, where his teams won 18 Connacht titles and five All-Irelands. More than a dozen of his proteges went on to play in the League of Ireland and further afield.

As he reflects on an amazing sporting life well lived, Pugh has only one lingering regret

“I’ve been very lucky. As a young child, I could never have imagined I’d get to do so much in so many different sports, and I’m thankful for all of that. But, if I could change one thing, it would be to have won something with Sligo Rovers.  That would have been the pinnacle.”

*This article contains extracts from the book: LOCAL HEROES: A CELEBRATION OF SLIGO SPORT by Jim Gray and Leo Gray.