Shelbourne 1 – 2 Sligo Rovers
Goals from Kailin Barlow and Fabrice Hartmann, along with a string of stunning saves from goalkeeper Ed McGinty were enough to see Sligo Rovers become the first team to beat Shelbourne in nine games as the Bit O’Red picked up a hard fought three points at the home of the league leaders.
Barlow struck in the 22nd minute with a well worked move on the attack as Shels had pushed for the opener.
The Tolka side levelled the game on the hour mark through Sean Boyd. But some courageous defending along with another catalogue of McGinty stops and a superb Hartmann strike on the counter 21 minutes from time secured a massive three points for Rovers.
In front of a crowd which included former Rovers defender and Republic of Ireland skipper Seamus Coleman, John Russell’s side went toe-to-toe with their hosts who were denied by a great save from McGinty early on when the home crowd thought Boyd would slot past the league’s top-stopper. McGinty instead moving in time to keep out the former Finn Harps target man.
Rovers stunned the home support when he latched on to an Ellis Chapman knock on, flashing his strike in front of Conor Kearns and into the bottom far corner of the net.
Sligo dealt well with everything Shels could come up with, Already hit hard by several injuries, Russell then had to deal with a knock to Conor Reynolds mid-way through the half.
The in-form McGinty denied Will Jarvis and Paddy Barrett in either half before Shels levelled the game. Boyd making the most of a defensive slip-up in the Rovers defence before slipping a low drive past McGinty.
Rovers battled on and scored a deserved winner on 69 minutes when Stefan Radosavljevic threaded the perfect ball into the path of the lively Hartmann who made no mistake in sending all three points back to the Showgrounds.
Shelbourne: Conor Kearns; Sean Gannon, Paddy Barrett, Gavin Molloy, Kameron Ledwidge (John Martin, 67’); JJ Lunney (Liam Burt, 45’), Mark Coyle (Shane Farrell, 78’); Evan Caffrey, Matty Smith (Dean Williams, 78’), Will Jarvis (Jad Hakiki, 84’); Sean Boyd.
Sligo Rovers: Ed McGinty; Ollie Denham, Conor Reynolds (Owen Elding, 28’), Reece Hutchinson, JR Wilson; Kailin Barlow (Sean McAteer, 90’), Connor Malley, Ellis Chapman, Niall Morahan; Stephan Radosavljevic (Kyle McDonagh, 90’), Fabric Hartmann (Wilson Waweru, 79’)