Sligo Rovers will play a pre-season friendly at home on Tuesday night as Finn Harps visit The Showgrounds.

The match kicks-off at 7.30pm and will have reduced admission prices of €10 and €5.

All supporters welcome.

With the kick-off to our 2022 season now just over three weeks away, we wish to update fans on our Season Tickets which are available to them.

Season Tickets have been available online, at The Showgrounds and at our various outlets around the region since the end of the 2021 season in November, with sales figures showing why our supporters are again renowned at one of the best in the country.

Season Tickets that were purchased up to and including Monday January 10th are now ready and available for collection from The Showgrounds office. Tickets purchased online up to and including Monday January 10th have been posted in the last 24 hours.

We now have a cut-off date for ordering tickets in time for the opening game of the season against Bohemian FC. In order to receive your Season Ticket in time for the new campaign, you must order on or before Friday February 4th at Midday. These orders will go to print and be ready for collection or delivery from February 14th.

We will hold a ticket collection day and evening at The Showgrounds that week, with details to follow. Office hours will be as normal from 9am to 4pm Monday to Friday. No tickets will be available for collection on Matchday, Saturday February 19th.

All online orders will be posted out while any physical sales will be held for collection.

The club announced recently that all 2022 season ticket holders will gain access to both Men’s senior and Women’s Senior matches at The Showgrounds this year meaning that supporters will now have over 30 live games on their season tickets.

Tickets can be bought online at https://srfcdirect.com/season-tickets-2022

Tickets are also available at The Showgrounds and through the following list of outlets. Please note, if purchased through an outlet, the cut off point will be Wednesday February 2nd.

• Collery Menswear, Sligo
• Barton Smiths, Sligo
• Collerys, Beltra
• Lavin’s Menswear, Ballymote
• Gerry Kenny Sports, Ballina
• John Gillespies Sports, Tubbercurry
• Greenan Electrical, Boyle
• Jim Gartlan, Carrick on Shannon
• Michael Toolan, Achonry
• Centra, Gurteen

Tickets purchased after February 4th will receive their season ticket before our next home fixture against Dundalk FC however will receive a match ticket for the Bohemian FC game to grant access to that.

The 2022 Sligo Rovers Annual General Meeting will take place on Tuesday 8 February.

In planning for the event, the club was gearing for a virtual event via Zoom like in the 2021 season.

While circumstance have changed in the last number of days, we will continue with the initial plan and hold the event online.

The club also noted the format of last year’s online event saw increased attendance from members and participation.

The AGM will see the election of the 2022 management committee, a presentation of 12 months of club finances and the chairman and secretary’s report.

Notices are being posted to members, including nomination forms to join the committee, and details of how to attend the online meeting.

The meeting and nominations for the committee are only open to members.

The Annual Voluntary Member Contribution will be deferred this season as part of fundraising for a new project. We ask members to delay this contribution as a result. Details on this will be provided at a later date.

For more, email administrator@sligorovers.com

Sligo Rovers have completed the signing of striker Aidan Keena from Falkirk.

The 22-year-old moves from the Scottish side on a free transfer and becomes the fourth new signing.

He has signed for the 2022 season.

Keena began at his career at St Patrick’s Athletic as a teenager where his form earned a move to Hearts in the Scottish Premiership.

The former Republic of Ireland under-21 international also had loan spells with Queen’s Park, Dunfermline Athletic and Hartlepool.

Keena bagged five goals in half a season at Falkirk, has scored over 25 senior goals in his career, and now joins Rovers.

He said: “I’m very happy to be here and that the deal is done. I’m really looking forward to being out on the pitch now.

“When the interest came I had worked with Liam Buckley before at St Patrick’s Athletic and I saw it as a good opportunity to come back to a good league and a good club. Most of the lads I played with at Under-19 level before I left are playing in the league now so that’s good to come back and see that.

“I’m here to score goals, that’s why the club brought me in so I’ll try to score as many as I can and play well and try to get as high up in the table as we can.

“The lads are in pre-season but I like to think I’m fit enough now. I’m halfway through the season. I will look to hit the ground running. I did have a couple of other options in Ireland but they didn’t have European football with them. That was a difference.

“The other factor was I know how Liam Buckley sets up and plays football from working under him before. I like to think I’m good with the ball myself and so I’m looking forward to getting involved with that and linking the play. I can come short, run behind the defence, I don’t really mind and it depends how the team sets up. As long as I’m getting service in the box I’m hopeful I’ll do well.”

Keena would like to see Rovers continue their top four finishes from the last two seasons and wants his goals to help that.

“It’s third and fourth in the league the last two seasons so you don’t look down. You want to stay up there and go higher and try to challenge for it. We’re not far off it. I think a lot of clubs will be looking to have a go at it this season.

“I want to score goals, the more I can score the better the team will do. If I can do that the team will be up there.”

Manager Liam Buckley, who worked with Keena at St Pat’s, said: “Aidan will bring a lot to the group. As well as an ability to score goals he is an extremely hard worker and a good presence.

“He’s a smashing guy and comes to us at a very good time for both parties. He has been on short-term loans which are never easy and shown he can score and do well for a team. Defenders will find it difficult against him and we’ll give him the platform to show what he’s about.

“Since he left St Pat’s I watched his progress and he feels it’s a good time to come to Ireland and play. I’m delighted to bring him here.

“Aidan has been playing matches in Scotland as they are mid-season, he scored in back-to-back games over Christmas so we’ll do our best to make sure he settles in well and he’ll be available to us in the upcoming friendly matches.”

Buckley added: “Squads evolve over time and we will bring in more quality players to the club. I look at our group and I could reel off the top-class players we have here. Aidan joins that list now and we’re not finished in who we are bringing in. When we complete that it will leave us competitive, I feel.”

Sligo Rovers can confirm the transfer of defender John Mahon to Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone.

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

Mahon made his debut at 17 for Rovers in the League Cup in 2017 before going on to make his league bow in 2018.

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 last campaign when voted the Player of the Year.

He went on to make over 100 appearances for the club, despite being just 22.

All at Sligo Rovers would like to wish John success at his new club.

Sligo Rovers manager Liam Buckley said: “The consistency John has shown over a number of seasons has been fantastic. At just 22 he evolved into someone who could lead and most importantly defend superbly well.

“We’ve watched him constantly improve over these last few seasons because his talent is there to see. Again, John was someone who was attracting interest of clubs for quite some time as he is able to play at a level up certainly. We knew that would be acted upon eventually. He’s been a magnificent player for this club and we all wish him well at St Johnstone.”

Buckley said on his current squad: “We’ve made good progress on new recruitment and we will have more on that quite soon. It’s the nature of the business that squads evolve and change over time. We still have a huge number of quality players here and we will finalise this year’s group and I’m confident it will leave us well-placed to have an exciting year ahead.”

John Mahon said: “It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly five years since making my first-team debut for Rovers. It has been the biggest honour to play over 100 times for this special club and I’ve loved it. I hope you all saw what it meant to me on the pitch.

“My ambition to play across the water has always been there and the chance has come along which I feel I have to take.

“I’d like to thank the managers I’ve worked under and all of the staff at the club who work so hard to make it a better place for everyone every single day.

“In leaving today one consolation is Rovers are in a strong place and I know the club is on an upward trajectory. In the last two years in particular you can see the progress we’ve made and it’s been a pleasure to be part of it.

“I’d also like to thank my former club Ballisodare United for their help in developing me as a player and all of the academy coaches at Rovers from before I joined the first-team.

“To all of the Sligo Rovers fans and people in the county and around, I’ve been given fantastic support by you all. It was greatly appreciated by both myself and my family. I’ll be watching to see the potential of this squad reached, including the next group of young players coming through, and I’ll be another supporter watching and cheering you on. Thank you to the gaffer Liam and John and up the Rovers.”

Sligo Rovers can today confirm Katie Melly has signed for our Women’s National League side.

Sligo town native Melly is currently a scholarship student at IT Sligo, where she is in her fourth year, studying Health Science and Physical Activity.

Melly is the third confirmed signing for Steve Feeney’s side, joining Emma Hansbery and Amy Hyndman in the squad.

The 23-year-old played her underage football with Strand Celtic, and represented the league at the Gaynor Cup.

Melly also represented Connacht at the FAI Schools interprovincial tournament in 2012.

At the age of 16, she signed for Castlebar Celtic who at the time were playing in the Women’s National League.

Melly, an attacking midfielder or winger, grew up supporting the Bit O’Red, and now the opportunity to play for the club is a massive source of pride for her and her family.

She said: “I’m delighted to sign for Sligo Rovers. It’s great. The thought of playing for Sligo Rovers fills me with excitement. There’s pictures at home of me with my Dad at the matches and I’m only 5 or 6.

“Signing for them, it’s great for my family as well because my Dad is a massive fan of Rovers. I just want to make them all proud.”

Melly has proved to be an important player for IT Sligo, and played a vital role in the college’s O’Regan Cup victory in 2019.

Having not played club football since Castlebar Celtic left the WNL, Melly is now raring to go at Sligo Rovers.

“I’ve wanted to go back playing in the WNL for a while. It was tough when I was in school traveling up and down to Castlebar for training and then for games at the weekends.

“The only other place I could go was Galway but it’s a two hour drive  which wasn’t really feasible cause I had college in Sligo.  

“Then I spoke to Conor O’Grady and I couldn’t wait to get involved with Rovers. Now I’m dying to play. I’m really excited.”

Training is well underway, and Melly can’t wait to get games under her belt.

Rovers take on Conn Rangers in a pre-season friendly at the Sean Fallon Centre on Saturday at 4pm.

“Training has been tough, for me I’m starting back properly again. The level of training drills and the playing drills is great. I can’t wait to start playing games. I can’t wait to get going. Getting the feel of it all being back training just makes me more excited about playing games.”

Melly is also enjoying working with manager Steve Feeney and the backroom team. 

“They’re all great coaches and they all know what they’re talking about. I’m really enjoying working with them and constantly learning as we go along.”

Familiar faces within the squad have certainly made the settling in period easier.

“I played with Emma Hansberry down in Castlebar. I always looked up to her, she played for Strand Celtic as well. There’s some other girls there too that I played with already so it’s great to play with them and have that familiarity.”

Amy Hyndman has signed for Sligo Rovers from fellow Women’s National League side Athlone Town.

The 21-year-old is currently a sports scholar at Letterkenny IT, where she captains the ladies football team.

Previously, the Grange native spent two years playing for Sion Swifts Under 19s after progressing through Benbulben FC’s underage academy.

Hyndman, a left winger, has represented LYIT at the 2018/19 intervarsities, and won the Regional Futsal Finals in 2019/20, qualifying for the national finals.

She is in her fourth year at Letterkenny IT, where she is studying Early Childhood Health Care and Education.

Hyndman is also an experienced coach locally, having spent the last five years coaching Sligo/Leitrim Gaynor Cup teams at various age levels.

She has previously coached a range of age groups at Ballisodare and at Cliffoney Celtic and has coached on the  FAI Summer Soccer Schools in Sligo.

Hyndman said: “I’m delighted to have signed and be part of the first WNL Sligo Rovers team. It’s great to have this opportunity in our own county.

“The girls and the management have been brilliant so far so I’m really looking forward to the season ahead.”