Johnny Kenny has published a note for Sligo Rovers following confirmation of his transfer to Celtic this evening.

It reads: “After six years at the club I have grown up loving, it has come to an end. This has been such a tough decision and message to write because I love playing for my hometown club and I love being at home.

!But I think now is the time to test myself at another level. I want to say thanks to every academy manager at the club who has helped me. You’ve have been amazing, there is just too many to name.

“To all the people who keep this club running on a daily basis, I want to say thank you for everything since I walked in at that gate at the age of 13. 

“To the gaffer Liam Buckley and John Russell –  without their trust in me I would be nowhere near where I am today. I can’t speak highly enough of them and what they’ve done for me.

“Finally, to play for the club I love in front of you special fan. It was incredible. I got goosebumps every time my name went around the Showgrounds.

“It was a special feeling to play and score in front of all of you .

“So I want to say a massive thanks for taking to me and the support you’ve given me and I’m sorry I didn’t give you the send-off you deserved. I am now and forever a supporter of Rovers and I can’t wait to watch and support from across the water.

“This club has a special place in my heart. Thank you.”
JK24
BITORED

Sligo Rovers can confirm an agreement has been reached with Celtic for the transfer of striker Johnny Kenny.

The 18-year-old, a product of the club’s renowned academy which has developed over a third of the current first-team squad, was the top scorer for the Bit O’ Red in his debut professional season.

He netted 11 times in the SSE Airtricity League, as well as once in the Europa Conference game against FH of Iceland, and helped the club finish in third place in the league to secure consecutive European qualifications.

The agreement with Celtic includes an undisclosed transfer fee, plus additional future-based terms.

A statement on behalf of the club’s management committee: “Following the conclusion of a period of negotiation with Celtic, the terms for the transfer of Johnny Kenny have been agreed to the satisfaction of Sligo Rovers.

“Johnny has made a noteworthy contribution to Sligo Rovers in just one season as a senior professional, helping the club secure European football again and establishing what is now a tradition of the Kenny family thrilling our supporters.

“We would like to acknowledge the work of his former club Arrow Harps FC for their role in Johnny’s development and the coaches within our academy who nurtured his game for four years until promotion to the first-team exactly 12 months ago.

“We will continue to evolve and invest in the Sligo Rovers Academy with our philosophy of creating a regional hub for footballers in the north-west, Connacht and beyond.

“As we build towards the new first-team season, our intention is to ensure our progress on the pitch is maintained.”

Sligo Rovers manager Liam Buckley said: “Johnny has been magnificent for Sligo Rovers. At a very young age he showed all the attributes to make a successful career in the game and he can take great pride in what he has already achieved in these very early days.

“It was clear a move would occur at some point and as it comes now, all of our staff, players and coaches wish him the very best. He retains our support whenever needed.

“The focus on first-team squad investment has not been altered. We have over 20 players under contract as pre-season begins and finishing off the squad is the priority of all. We will speak more on this in time. For now we congratulate Johnny and look forward to preparing for the 2022 season.”

View a selection of images from the first day of pre-season for the Bit O’ Red on Wednesday morning.

Season tickets for the 2022 SSE Airtricity League season are on sale here.

Supporters have the chance to reserve their own seat for every league game in 2022 and priority tickets for European and FAI Cup matches.

Gold – Secure Your Seat – Season Tickets:

A Sligo Rovers Gold Season Ticket allows the supporter to select their favourite seat in the ground and have it reserved for every game of the season. Whether you work late and can only make kick off, enjoy a pre-match tea or coffee in the clubhouse, or you simply want to wait until the last minute to avoid the cold, your seat is secured.

Gold season tickets will work out at an extra €3 per match.

Gold tickets will be offered in all categories.

Adult Season Tickets:

Adult season ticket prices cost €240.

An adult Gold ticket costs €300, where you can reserve your seat for every game, as explained above.

Gold Season tickets are continuing to prove extremely popular with an increase in demand each season. Due to Covid-19, this has not been applicable for the last two seasons so next year you can guarantee your seat once more.

Student and Concession categories:

We are again offering discounted rates for second and third level students. Secondary school tickets are €100, around half the amount you would pay by paying on the gate each week, and Third Level Student tickets are €160, saving you around €20 for the season. Upgrade to a Gold Save Your Seat ticket for just €220.

Bit O Red supporters who are unemployed can purchase a concession season ticket, with an up to date letter required from your local Intreo office to show your you are not working.

OAP/Senior Citizen Tickets:

These tickets are €160 for 2022, with the gold option just €220. Again proof of concession will be required.

Pricing for our concession tickets are among the most competitive in the League of Ireland as we stress affordable football for all.

Super Reds:

Our fantastic Super Red offer will again remain for 2022.

Season Ticket prices will be €60 for kids aged 12 and under, but this season they will get even more.

As well as entry to every league game, they will receive an official Sligo Rovers Training top as well as access to our Super Red open day and other perks such as priority booking on European Tickets and Kids Camps.

At the Super Red Open day they meet the first team players and be put through their paces by Rovers management staff in an hour long coaching session. Kids will also receive a birthday card in the post in time for their big day in 2022, signed by their favourite player. This is all part of the fee of just €60.

To purchase your ticket online, visit www.srfcdirect.com

To purchase your ticket, you may also visit one of the following outlets:

• Barton Smith, Hyde Bridge, Sligo
• Johnston Court Shopping Centre stall (from December)
• Collery Menswear, Grattan Street
• Greenan Electrical, Boyle
• Collerys Shop, Beltra
• John Gillespies, Tubbercurry
• Centra Gurteen
• Lavins Menswear Ballymote
• Tony Quinn, Cliffoney
• Michael Toolan, Achonry
• Jim Gartlan Carrick on Shannon

You can buy online at any time on SRFCDirect by clicking here.

For queries, please contact 071-9171212 or e-mail administrator@sligorovers.com.

Supporters who purchase Gold tickets will be contacted directly by the club in time to save your seat.

Richard Brush has signed a contract extension with Sligo Rovers. 

The 37-year-old is in his fourth spell with the club having re-joined for the 2021 season. 

Brush competed with Edward McGinty for the number of jersey last season and featured in the matchday squad on 33 occasions.        

Buckley has again secured the two-time league winner to compete in a department Rovers have a wealth of talent. McGinty, Luke McNicholas (currently on loan at Cliftonville) and Conor Walsh are also under contract. 

An injury in pre-season scuppered him in the race for the starting position at the beginning of last year. He featured against Derry City late in the campaign and will once again be part of Liam Buckley’s squad for next season.        

The Rovers boss said: “Richard has been fantastic. He’s had a great career so far and there is more to come certainly.

“He has had to be patient and I don’t think luck shone on him at important points last season.

“Brushy is a very important part of the squad and a great person to have within the group. I think his influence has been felt in the last 12 months and it will continue to do so which is great news for everyone.”

Brush will enter a tenth season at the club in 2022.

A popular figure also with supporters after helping the club win honours early in his career and through more difficult seasons, he will once form a valued part of a enviable line-up of goalkeepers.

Brush said: “I knew when I signed last season the quality of goalkeeper was going to be very high and it was certainly the case. 

“What has been shown is you have to be ready to play because three goalkeepers were needed to play at various points of the season and four to be in the squad. Anything can happen and that’s how all of us will approach it next year. 

“It was bad timing to pick up an injury during pre-season which obviously made it more difficult for the start of the season and particularly given the standing Ed had having been first choice for a couple of years. In over 20 years in a career, you pick up the odd injury of course, it can happen and it’s part and parcel of the game. 

“It was nice to be able to come back into a full-time environment and know I can be ready and compete in that setting. That’s no disrespect to the Irish League but it’s just a different experience because with the intensity day-in and day-out compared to part-time. 

“I’ve enjoyed working with all of the goalkeepers here and it’s brilliant that all of us will compete again next season. I’m really pleased to sign again and we all know we can be needed at any point so in pre-season that’ll be on the minds of everyone to be ready for day one.” 

Brush, the most experienced of all the players in the club’s dressing room, said of the Rovers season last year and of 2022. 

“I had a really good feeling during pre-season last year. I could tell the squad was very capable and it was proven in the results over the first half of the season. It’s well-known we had a real bumpy patch. You have to factor in the players we were missing in that time and that’s not a slight on anyone, it’s just looking back Greg Bolger, John Mahon, Johnny Kenny, Robbie McCourt and Ed were all missing at a vital point in the season and it took a long time for all of them to return. They were top performers in the team and it hit us. 

“I do think the experience of going through that – and learning from it – will be a good thing for us. Last season some clubs in the league will feel they under-performed and they are all taking steps to change that so it’s going to get harder. We know that. We showed our quality was there to get us over the line to finish in third place and we’ll need to be better over the course of the season to match or improve on what we achieved last season.

“We also had the FAI Cup and the European aspect which, it goes without saying, we all want to do differently and make that a very different experience. The disappointments there again will drive us for next season and it’s great to have these targets again.” 

Rovers will return to pre-season training on Tuesday. 

Sligo Rovers Heritage Group have published a special 12 page Christmas supplement in The Sligo Champion, out now.

Included are features on soccer in Sligo during Christmas of 1894, an Irish Independent preview of 1939 FAI Cup Final, a piece on the recent award winning Rovers documentary, and an extract from Paul Little’s forthcoming book on Dixie Dean, focusing on his time in Sligo.

For more buy the Sligo Champion hard copy or subscribe to the e-paper at www.sligochampion.ie

Sligo Rovers are delighted to announce the signing of winger Karl O’Sullivan from Finn Harps on a two-year contract.

The 22-year-old has made over 100 club appearances between Harps and his former club Limerick.

O’Sullivan has scored several goals against Rovers, including a double for Limerick in an FAI Cup tie, and now joins the Bit O’ Red.

He said: “I’m thrilled to be here. I’ve been speaking with Liam for the last couple of months and he told me what he felt I could bring to the team. As an opposition player you would dread coming to Sligo and especially when they are going well. There is a great atmosphere in The Showgrounds and the club has a very big following. I’m hoping to chip in with goals and assists from as early as possible.

“I’ve played everywhere with Harps and Limerick but I feel winger is my strongest position. It’s a fresh start for me. I really enjoyed my time with Finn Harps, everyone at the club is brilliant.  I’ve been putting the work in this month in order to ready for pre-season and I can hit the ground running here. I’m very excited to play for the club and in the last two seasons Liam has led the team to the top four which is what you want. There’s European football as well so I can’t wait to get started.”

Manager Liam Buckley said: “It’s another really good addition. We’ve looked at areas we wanted to improve on and they include getting more balls into the box and having better deliveries.

“Karl will bring those qualities and I feel he comes to us at a good age. Despite just turning 22 a couple of months ago, he has had several seasons in the league and we’ve tracked him since his Limerick days. I think he will make an impact and he will fit in well with within the group. It’s great competition in the squad to bring in Karl and Will Fitzgerald. Our overall goal has been to build a stronger group and I feel we will do that. This is another good step in that direction and we look forward to working with Karl.”

Sligo Rovers are delighted to announce the signing of defender Paddy Kirk.

The left-back, formerly of Longford Town and Bohemians, had an excellent season at Longford.

Kirk is 23 and spent three years at Bohs before moving to the midlanders in search of being a first-team regular.

He becomes the second new signing for the club.

Kirk said: “It’s a great move for me. The opportunity to come to a club like Sligo Rovers was one I had to take really. I’m really looking forward to it. I spoke to people about the town and they said it’s brilliant. It’s exciting and while it will be different, it’ll be part of the challenge and something I’m looking forward to.

“I met with Liam Buckley a couple of times and he told me how much he rated me and the attributes I had. He said he felt I could improve the team and that the most important thing was to have the most rounded team possible. He feels bringing me in will help it. It was a nice after a tough year to get that.

“When I was at Bohs I was in competition with Darragh Leahy and Anto Breslin so competition is something I’m used to. It helps to improve your game, such as your application in training, when you have so many good players around you.

“The opportunity to be full-time in Sligo was particularly appealing. It’s not just that at Sligo Rovers, it’s the fact the club has been in the top four for a couple of seasons now. There’s a hunger to improve and the manager has told me he wants to be right up there again. There’s no reason it can’t be better again next season and that is something I wanted to be part of.”

Liam Buckley said: “I think Paddy is a real talent. He broke in at Bohs as a teenager and did well there before joining at Longford. He joins us at a really good time and while last season was a difficult one for his club, Paddy showed the character and qualities he has.

“It’s a signing that strengthens us significantly. We want firstly a bigger squad and secondly greater balance this coming season. Paddy will bring that competition and equally we know other players, like Robbie McCourt or our other full-backs, can slot in elsewhere. That’s another positive of this signing because the four full-backs give us a degree of flexibility.

“When I look through all of our defenders, they’re physically strong, they can play, obviously most importantly they’re top class defenders and they’re good on the ball. Paddy fits very much into that mould.

“We’re really looking forward to working with Paddy next season.”

Sligo Rovers can confirm John Mahon has signed a new two-year contract with the club.

The recently-turned 22-year-old has made over 100 appearances for the club and was voted Player of the Season in 2021.

Mahon’s contract had 12 months remaining but has now penned a longer deal to the end of the 2023 season.

He made his senior debut in April 2017 after playing for the Under-17 and Under-19 side having signed from Ballisodare United.

He was Young Player of the Year for the club in 2018, first-choice defender in 2019, helped Rovers reach Europe in the 2020 season and did so again this campaign when voted the Player of the Year.

Mahon said: “I had one year remaining but I spoke with my family and my agent and I felt it was going to benefit me and the club to extend my contract.

“When I broke my leg, I had the security of the longer contract and that meant a lot at that time. From that experience I know it’s important and most of all I don’t want the distraction when we have such important matters on the pitch. I can focus on my football and not have it an issue for anyone.

“I have a desire to go on to play outside of the League of Ireland and I hope to complete that one day. For now my ambition is to help Rovers win things. We’ve made progress, we can all see that by being in the top four for two seasons, but silverware is the overall target now.”

Mahon was the outstanding player in 2021 and is looking to repeat his own high standards.

“It could have gone to a number of players. As the season was coming to an end I had completed what I wanted to do and that was to play almost every game and do well so it was great. The likes of Ed, Niall and myself are still young but we are getting older too and we see the likes of Johnny Kenny stepping into our shoes now.

“We want to take on that extra responsibility that comes with it and all of the lads have contributed massively.”

Manager Liam Buckley said: “John has had a great season once again. He is a leader in the team and a really strong character.

“His partnership with Garry Buckley was superb. John has been first choice from my first day at the club and he fully deserves this contract. We know John is proven at this level and has the potential to play at a higher one so securing him on this deal is the best way both for the club and John.

“There are a lot of top class centre halves in the league and John is right up there, as is Garry. Given he has just turned 22, that’s a great place for John to be and I know he has a desire to get better and better. 

“We want him winning trophies for Sligo Rovers and I believe he can do that.”

Sligo Rovers will begin the new SSE Airtricity Premier Division season at home to Bohemians on Saturday 19 February.

The Bit O’ Red host the Gypsies for the fixture as Rovers begin the new campaign at home.

Two away matches will follow – Derry City and St Patrick’s Athletic.

The matches with Derry City and Finn Harps are the midweek rounds in the new league year. In order to facilitate this, the season will not run

International breaks replace the mid-season break.

The league will finish on 4 November also against Bohemians.

Sligo Rovers season tickets are on sale now here.

Click here to download the fixture list.