Sligo Rovers suffered a four goal defeat to Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght Stadium on Friday evening. A brace each from former Rovers striker Johnny Kenny and defender Sean Hoare added gloss to a scoreline that reflected rather harshly on the Bit O’Red’s performance. Rovers played out the majority of the second period without the full quota of players after Jack Henry-Francis was dismissed for two yellow cards. 

Kenny’s first goal had Shams in the lead on 18 minutes, while the Riverstown native had his second two minutes before the break. 

The half-time scoreline didn’t tell the full story for Rovers who forced the hosts into plenty of mistakes at the back.

Hoops goalkeeper Leon Pohls was fortunate not to see red when he smashed into Simon Power outside his own area after making a total mess of an attempted clearance. Not for the first time against Sligo this term, Pohls was spared red for an error and a subsequent foul on winger Power when referee Kevin O’Sullivan deemed the German to have had cover from returning defenders. The lenient Cork official instead opted to show yellow. 

Rovers were again on the short end of a questionable refereeing decision when Wilson Waweru went down inside the area. The striker was then shoved to the floor by Hoare right in front of referee O’Sullivan who saw nothing of the incident. 

John Russell’s men began the second half the better team, but O’Sullivan made an already tough assignment even more difficult when having booked Henry-Francis for his first tackle of the game, then showed the Arsenal loanee the same colour again for his second challenge of the night. 

Rovers goalkeeper Ed McGinty pulled off a string of fantastic saves, but Shams overloaded the visitors when they had their third and fourth goals on 54 and 83. 

Shamrock Rovers FC: Leon Pohls; Sean Hoare, Roberto Lopes, Dan Cleary; Darragh Burns (Neil Farrugia, 45’), Dylan Watts (Markus Poom, 69’), Gary O’Neill, Jack Byrne, Trevor Clarke (Joshua Honohan, 45’); Danny Mandroiu (Conan Noonan, 69’), Johnny Kenny (Marc McNulty, 61’)

Sligo Rovers: Ed McGinty; JR Wilson, Oliver Denham, Gareth McElroy 5, Reece Hutchinson; Connor Malley (Kailin Barlow, 75’), Jack Henry-Francis; Simon Power (Stephen Mallon, 75’), Ellis Chapman, William Fitzgerald (Kyle McDonagh, 89’); Wilson Waweru (Luke Pearce, 69’)

Referee: Kevin O’Sullivan (Cork)