Category: News

Tallaght Twice in 20 Hours for Bit O’Red

BY Conall Collier

Sligo Rovers will feature twice in the space of 20 hours at Tallaght Stadium with a Women’s Premier Division (WPD) clash against Shamrock Rovers on Saturday following on from the men’s encounter on Friday evening.

The hosts will go into the game on the back of two WPD victories in contrast to the Bit O’Red who have lost the last two outings. Both teams also lost against Shelbourne.

The Dublin side exited the FAI Cup against Shelbourne on the same weekend that Sligo Rovers advanced to the last four with an excellent away win against DLR Waves,

However, this will be a third game in seven days for the Bit O’Red and that’s likely to produce a much-changed starting 11 for manager Tommy Hewitt following Wednesday night’s outing against Shelbourne.

With an FAI Cup semi-final on the horizon the following weekend, the Bit O’Red boss will likely use this game to make a final assessment for his best 11 for that Showgrounds tie on Sunday 22nd September.

Despite the reversal against Shelbourne two days ago, there was a positive for the manager in the return to action of Emma Hansberry as an interval substitute following a lengthy spell on the sideline due to injury.

There was also a start for Katie Melly who made a valuable contribution for an hour with a more physical presence while Muireann Devaney and Paula McGrory were introduced in the second-half.

While the points are irrelevant in terms of silverware, both teams will be looking for victory and for Sligo Rovers a positive result would be a major boost as they seek a first WPD win of the season.

Twelve months ago Sligo Rovers lost at the Dublin venue a week before they caused a major shock in the FAI Cup. The players will be determined to produce a better result at Tallaght Stadium this time and then follow up in the FAI Cup the following weekend.

The game will be live on LOITV, kick-off at Tallaght Stadium is at 4pm.

Team News: Away v Shamrock Rovers

Sligo Rovers are back in action in front of the RTE television cameras this Friday night as the Bit O’Red travel to Dublin for the penultimate time this season, Shamrock Rovers this weekend’s opponents. 

Tallaght Stadium is the venue with kick-off at 7.45pm as Rovers look to pick up their first league victory at the home of the Premier Division champions since 2021. 

The sides come into this tie level on head-to-head form, with both clubs having recorded a victory over each other in 2024. The Hoops beat Rovers in Tallaght back in April, while Sligo put in one of their best performances of the season to beat Stephen Bradley’s charges at the Showgrounds in June, courtesy of a Simon Power brace. The other game between the teams back in March, failed to produce a goal. 

Rovers will be without captain Niall Morahan for this one. The Leitrim man misses out through suspension courtesy of an accumulation of yellow cards. While Stefan Radosavljevic, John Mahon and Conor Reynolds also won’t make the game due to injury. Winger Stephen Mallon will be assessed before kick-off.

On the back of the win over Waterford two weeks ago, Rovers manager John Russell says the competitive nature of this year’s league means every point is crucial. 

“The players and staff have been fully focused the past two weeks and we’re really looking forward to facing Shamrock Rovers”, he says.

“We’ve continued to improve as the season has gone on and now we find ourselves at the business end of the year where everyone has something to play for. That makes for an interesting and intense finish to the season where each team is doing all they can to pick up as many points as possible, which everyone wants to see. 

“Nobody has to remind us how big of a challenge it is to go to Tallaght. But the surface down there is always in top shape and that suits our style of play. 

“It’s vital we play to our strengths for this one and impose ourselves on the game from early on.”

David Goulden  

Article: Ryan Casey brings wealth of experience to Rovers’ job

BY JIM GRAY

Ryan Casey has been in and around professional football since he was 15 years old. Even before then, growing up in a football-mad household where his late father had been a professional player with Blackburn Rovers, he was nurturing the love of a game which was to become his life.

His impressive, if seldom heard back-story, means he brings a wealth of experience to the table as John Russell’s right-hand man at Sligo Rovers. One of the famous ‘Kerr’s Kids’ who won Ireland’s only under-18 European Youth Championship in 1998 and played at a youth World Cup a year later, he honed his skills as a professional player during a five-year stretch with Swansea City; he’s played with five League of Ireland clubs; been a Director of Coaching at a top academy in America, and before joining the Rovers’ coaching staff worked as the FAI Regional Development Officer in Sligo.

Born in Coventry, of Irish parents, he grew up in Galway City, where soccer, despite the county’s obsession with Gaelic games and rugby, was always a thriving sport. His parents, Peter and Kathleen, grew up just streets apart in Bohermore but had never met before moving to England. Their four daughters returned with English accents, but their six- month- old baby boy has no memory of ever having lived anywhere other than Ireland.

Ryan has memories, though, of playing underage football in Galway with a raw passion and bundles of ability, after the family had returned to its native roots. He played for youth club, Newcastle and his father’s club, Galway Hibs, and later travelled by train to Dublin every week-end to line out for Belvedere, where he was spotted by an eagle-eyed Swansea scout.

He signed for the Welsh club as soon as he’d finished his Junior Cert. His mother, though proud of his progress, wanted him to remain at home at least until he’d completed his Leaving Cert, but his father, enthused by his own background in the game, encouraged his young son to take the plunge.

“It wasn’t easy,” Ryan concedes. “Leaving home and family at 15 for a strange new place obviously presented a challenge. There were no mobile phones, no such thing as face-time. You had to find a pay-phone to ring home, and you couldn’t always afford it.

“But all I ever wanted was to be a footballer. Wild horses wouldn’t have held me back. I was living the dream.”

He made his first team debut as a 17 years old left-winger, under player/manager, Jan Molby, the former Liverpool legend. He would go on to play 150 senior games for the club across the lower leagues of the English pyramid, where team-mates included the current Portugal manager, Roberto Martinez and English striker, Lee Chapman.

“I loved Swansea,” he recalls. “It was one of those places, a lot like Sligo, where the club is the heartbeat of the community, and if the club is going well it seems the entire town is doing well. We’d be getting an average home attendance of about 10,000 and the place would be a sell-out for a big FA Cup game.”

One such cup tie produced a famous win over high-flying West Ham, who were backboned by the likes of Rio Ferdinand and Paulo Di Caneo. Swansea’s shock victory put Casey in the shop window, and a move to West Ham looked to be on the cards.

The Londoners’ first bid was rejected and as they were preparing to try again, Casey snapped his ankle in an inauspicious Coca Cola Cup game against Reading. The injury not only scuppered his move to the Premier League but caused an 18-month absence from the game.

There were happier times, though, in the Irish under-age set up under Brian Kerr and the late Noel O’Reilly. A scoring debut in a friendly against Northern Ireland helped secure his place in the squad for the 1998 European qualifiers and then on to the tournament itself in Cyprus, where the eight best teams on the Continent competed for the coveted crown.

In the group stages, Ireland beat Croatia and Cyprus and lost narrowly to hot favourites, England, who had future stars such as Alan Smith and Jonathan Woodgate in their ranks. But England then surprisingly slipped up against Croatia and Ireland were though to the final as rank outsiders against Germany.

Earlier that summer, Kerr’s under-16 team had won their European Championship, and the entire country it seemed tuned in to RTE’s coverage to see if the under-18’s could complete a remarkable double. Ireland took a 70th minute lead through Alan Quinn only for Germany to force the game to penalties with a 90th minute equaliser.

When Kerr sought volunteers for the dramatic penalty shoot-out, a plethora of hands shot skywards. Seeking the first-taker, however, he saw only Casey’s outstretched hand.

“Nobody was too eager to take the first one,” Ryan recalls. “We knew it was a big deal, a bit of history. We’d watched the under-16s winning only a few months earlier, so we were aware of all the excitement and we knew we’d be getting a fair bit of attention. Maybe that put a few people off taking the first one, but I had no problem with it. Dad had always taught me not to be afraid of penos, so I just stepped up and blasted it home.”

By the end of the nerve-wracking lottery, Luton’s Liam George had slotted home Ireland’s winner. Kerr’s kids had completed an historic double.

The following year, Ryan was part of the Irish youth squad who reached the last 16 of the youth World Cup in Nigeria.

“Noel O’Reilly was ahead of his time as a coach, and Kerr was a terrific motivator, instilling in us how proud we should be of our country and the jersey. We’d have gone through brick walls for them. We also had a lot of quality in the squad. Robbie Keane and Richard Dunne were already playing regularly in the Premier League, and six of the lads would go on to become senior internationals,” Ryan points out.

On the club front, Swansea went into administration in 2002 as the lower leagues plunged into a chaotic free-fall following the collapse of a television rights deal. It was time for Ryan to think about returning home, where better wages were now on offer in the League of Ireland. He would play for St. Pat’s, Cork City, Galway, Athlone and Longford as well as doing all his coaching badges.

This led to his first experience of living in Sligo in 2007, as he took up a full-time role with the FAI as Regional Development Officer for the area.

“As a player, I never really liked the Showgrounds. I don’t think I ever won a game there,” he recalls. “But I fell in love with Sligo once I came to live here. It’s home to me now. I love that sense of community, the passion for football, the family-friendly atmosphere at the club. I probably wouldn’t ever have envisaged it happening, but it has and I’m delighted.”

After a year as Director of Coaching with Everton’s New York academy, where he had a staff of 22 coaches looking after more than 600 young players, Ryan returned to Sligo, eventually linking up with Liam Buckley and John Russell. He became Russell’s assistant when his fellow Galwegian replaced Buckley at the helm.

He’s naturally delighted at how the season has gone so far, but quickly points out there is no magic wand. At a community-owned club, hard work and honesty are the basic requirements, and the next challenge is never far away.

He elaborates: “Myself and John go back a long way. We played together at Galway, and we’ve been pals for quite a while. We’d have basically the same football philosophy and we work well together. He’s a top-class manager, and people are beginning to see what he’s capable of.

“It’s a roller-coaster, of course. We work off a relatively small budget and it’s always a challenge. Thankfully, it’s going well at the moment. We have a very honest, hard-working bunch of players. Once you get players with the right attitude, you can put a shape together, try to improve them, and work hard every day. Then you’ve got a chance. The backroom staff are also a very tightly-knit bunch, all hard and honest workers, so it all helps in good times and bad.

“And then there’s the backing of the supporters. I got a sense of that when I was in the FAI job, a feeling that this really is a football-mad place. You can see how much the club means to everybody, and you buy into that. There’s a togetherness that you don’t always find in football.”

Now happily settled in Collooney with his wife, Claire, sons, Noah (9) and Charlie (8), and daughter, Isla (2), Ryan is happy that the family’s football DNA is being well nurtured.

“The boys play soccer for Ballisodare and Gaelic football with Owenmore Gaels, and they love it. They’re huge Rovers’ supporters, too. It’s something that will stay with them for life.  We couldn’t be happier,” he says.

WPD Match Report: Sligo Rovers 0-4 Shelbourne Ladies

By Conall Collier

Shelbourne eased to three valuable Women’s Premier Division points at the Showgrounds on Wednesday evening with four goals to spare against Sligo Rovers.

First-half goals from Kate Mooney (two) and Leah Doyle gave the Dublin side a 3-0 interval advantage and while they created plenty of second-half chances and tested the woodwork they could only muster one more goal that arrived from substitute Jemma Quinn in the 85th minute.

Going into tonight’s game Sligo Rovers manager Tommy Hewitt made a number of changes as he welcomed back Bonnie McKiernan between the posts after she had been sidelined through injury and suspension.

Katie Melly also started and made a useful contribution in the opening 45 minutes with a number of efforts on target and there was also a return at the interval for Emma Hansberry who had also been sidelined through injury.

Kate Mooney had Shelbourne in front in the ninth minute and she added a second in the 33rd minute following a quick counter attack as Sligo Rovers unsuccessfully appealed for a free and then lost possession.

Leah Doyle made it 3-0 soon after before Rachel McGoldrick had a chance for the hosts close to the interval.

The introduction of Emma Hansberry and Muireann Devaney for the second-half saw a more composed Bit O’Red performance while another substitute, Paul McGrory, had the ball in the Shelbourne net soon after she was brought on, but she was penalised for impeding ‘keeper Amanda McQuillan.

McQuillan was later yellow-carded after she raced out of her penalty area, but failed to get to the ball ahead of McGrory

Sligo Rovers go to Tallaght Stadium on Saturday for another WPD encounter and will then have a week to prepare for the FAI Cup semi-final against Athlone at the Showgrounds on Sunday 22nd September.

Sligo Rovers – Bonnie McKiernan; Leah Kelly, Alice Lillie, Cara King, Kelsey Munroe, Jessica Casey, Katie Melly, Keri Loughrey, Eimear Lafferty, Kate Nugent, Rachel McGoldrick.

Subs – Emma Hansberry for McGoldrick and Lauren Devaney for Casey both half-time, Paula McGrory for Melly and Roise Burke for Kelly both 60 mins, Lauren Devaney for Lafferty and Lesley Ann Sweeney for Munroe both 75m

Shelbourne – Amanda McQuillan; Keeva Keenan, Pearl Slattery, Leah Doyle, Rachel Graham, Noelle Murray, Roma McLaoghlin, Jess Gargan, Magaret Pierce, Christie Gray, Kate Mooney.

Subs – Megan Smith-Lynch for Gary, Lucy O’Rourke for Graham and Nia Hannon for Slattery all 55 mins, Hannah Healy for Pierce and Jemma Quinn for Mooney both 67m, Aoife Sheridan for Keena 82m

Referee – David Dunne.

Assistant-referees – Aaron Pisarnik and Niall McLoughlin.

Fourth Official – Darren Corcoran.

Disappointment and Enthusiasm in Equal Measure

By Conall Collier

Sligo Rovers Tommy Hewitt admitted that his team produced a tired looking performance against DLR Waves at the Showgrounds as they slumped to a 12th Women’s Premier Division (WPD) defeat of the season on Saturday.

The game marked his return to the sideline, following suspension, and for five of the players who finished the game it was a second outing in as many days and a third in a week following the previous Saturday’s battling display against title-chasing Galway Utd at Eamonn Deacy Park.

However, the Bit O’Red boss also accepted that a young team that features many players who are coming through the academy, that performances can vary in terms of consistency from game-to-game.

There won’t be too much time to dwell on the result against DLR as the focus will now turn to the arrival Shelbourne at the Showgrounds on Wednesday evening and that will be followed by a trip to Tallaght next Saturday.

The schedule of fixtures means that a majority of players will have lined out in five games in the space of 14 days including two midweek.

Last Tuesday night the Sligo Rovers u-19 team made the long journey to the Oscar Traynor Centre in Dublin for an Academy Cup quarter-final against Bohemian FC – Alice Lillie, Cara King, Anna McDaniel, Jessica Casey and Roise Burke all featured then and on Saturday against DLR Waves.

“I was very disappointed with the result against DLR Waves and I have to assess my own contribution to this, it looked like a very tired performance and I can understand that to a certain extent,” explained the 2022 WPD manager-of-the-year.

“And it won’t get any easier as we have three more games in the space of the next 10 days and we just have to find something a little bit extra, both from my own perspective and from the players.

“We were expected to win against DLR Waves and that’s not something that we are used to this season and we just didn’t cope well enough, that expectation won’t be there on Wednesday night against Shelbourne.

“Over the last few weeks there has been steady improvement, but we probably need to add a little bit of experience to the starting 11.

“We have also lost some very experienced players during the mid-season break and when you put all that together it leaves it a bit more difficult to find a bit of consistency on the pitch.

“I have no doubt that there will be a marked improvement against Shelbourne on Wednesday evening, I know the players will react positively and I’ll also have to try to freshen things up a little for the next two games,” he concluded.

Sligo Rovers 0-4 DLR Waves

Match Report

By Conall Collier

Sligo Rovers are still looking for a first Women’s Premier Division (WPD) win of the season following Saturday’s reversal against Dublin side DLR Waves.

An early goal from a penalty gave DLR Waves the platform for victory and they added further goals each side of the interval an close to the end for a comfortable victory.

Five of the Sligo Rovers players, Alice Lillie, Cara King, Anna McDaniel, Jessica Casey and Rose Burke featured in last Tuesday night’s u-19 Academy Cup quarter-final away to Bohemian FC  

Rebecca Doddy came in for Rachel McGoldrick in the only change from the previous week’s outing against Galway Utd

DLR Waves took the lead from that eighth minute penalty converted by Amber Cosgrove.

The Dublin women added a second goal in the 20th minute when Keelin Dodd found some space on the edge of the Sligo Rovers penalty area with her shot going in off the bottom of the crossbar.

DLR could have added a couple of more goals before the break as Abigail Brophy hit the post, Amber Hardy saved from Aisling Meehan and Leah Kelly cleared off the line with the half-time whistle a relief for the Bit O’Red.

Sligo Rovers made a positive start to the second-half and created a couple of chances, but all that was undone in the 52nd minute when a quick DLR break gave Aisling Meehan an opening for her second goal.

Sligo Rovers pushed and probed for the remainder, but were unable to make any impact on the scoreboard as Shannon Hanlon Coady added a fourth goal and were denied a fifth when Amber Hardy saved an 89th minute DLR penalty.

Sligo Rovers – Amber Hardy; Leah Kelly, Keeva Flynn, Sarah Kiernan, Alice Lillie,  Muireann Devaney, Paula McGrory, Keri Loughrey, Eimear Lafferty, Rebecca Doddy, Anna McDaniel. Subs – Kelsey Munroe for Kelly, Jessica Casey for Kiernan and Cara King for Doddy all half-time, Katie Melly for McGrory 57 mins, Roise Burke for Devaney 70m.

DLR Waves – Rugile Auskainyte; Jessica Gleeson, Isobel Finnegan, Rachel Doyle, Rebecca McMahon, Nadine Seward, Abigail Brophy, Taylor White, Amber Cosgrove, Leah Donnelly, Keelin Dodd. Subs – Shannon Hanlon-Coady for Meehan and Robyn Bolger for Doyle both 57 mins, Eve Conheady for Cosgrove 72m, Nadine Raymond for White and Chloe McCarthy for McMahon both 77m.

Referee – Declan Toland.

Assistant referees – Conor Harkin, Endrit Malaveci.

Fourth Official – Richard Storey

Sligo Rovers Appoint President and Vice President

Ray Gallagher was appointed Sligo Rovers Club President, and Seamus Cummins as Vice President, at a ceremony in the Showgrounds on Saturday. Along with Ray and Seamus’ family and friends, the attendance included former players Tony Fagan, Chris Rutherford, Johnny Kenny, Martin McDonnell, and Nicky Broujos. Other guests included Frank Feighan TD, FAI match delegate Jim O’Connell, Ray’s former work colleague Carmel Feeney, members of the Management Committee, the Showgrounds Trustee Board, members of the Rovers Heritage Group, and Club volunteers.

Chair of the Showgrounds Trustee Board, Albert Higgins, recalled Ray’s first involvement with Rovers in the mid-60s when he invited him to the Showgrounds in his capacity as Agricultural Advisor to advise on the maintenance of the pitch. He outlined Ray’s pivotal role in securing the ground for Rovers in the late 60s and paid tribute to both Ray and Seamus for their outstanding contribution to the ground and the club over their lifetime of service.

Sligo Rovers Chairman Tommy Higgins said, “Today Sligo Rovers take the opportunity to honour two exemplary servants of the Club, Ray Gallagher and Seamus Cummins. In paying tribute to Ray and Seamus, I also want to acknowledge the special place held in this club for our former President, the late Paddy Gilmartin. Ray and Seamus are in the same tradition of dedicated volunteers. Ray served in a number of capacities since he first became involved in the 1960s, including Club Chairman and Chairman of our Development Committee. Arguably, his greatest legacy is in securing the Showgrounds for this club and this community.”

Celtic friendly announced

Sligo Rovers are delighted to announce that Glasgow Celtic will travel to the Showgrounds to take on the Bit O’Red for a mid-season friendly on Wednesday October 9th, kick-off 7.30pm.

The game will honour the memory of the late Tommie Gorman, lifelong Sligo Rovers supporter, who was instrumental in initiating this visit of the Scottish giants to Sligo before he sadly passed away in June. It will also celebrate the friendship and close links between the clubs along with marking Celtic’s historical links to County Sligo.

This match will take place just a few miles from the birthplace of Andrew Kerins, better known as Brother Walfrid, a Ballymote native who founded Celtic all the way back in 1888. Statues honouring Brother Walfrid are erected both at Celtic Park and in Ballymote town itself. 

Another intrinsic tie and a huge figure which connects Rovers and Celtic will also be celebrated on the day and that is Sean Fallon, the Sligo native who not only played for both clubs but was also Celtic’s assistant manager when the famous Lisbon Lions beat Inter Milan in the 1967 European Cup final. That incredible triumph marked Celtic as the first ever British side to win this competition, the precursor to the modern day Champions League. 

Fondly remembered in Glasgow as Celtic’s ‘Iron Man’, the astro-turf facilities at the Showgrounds are also named after Fallon.  

This meeting follows on from Rovers’ meeting with Everton in July of this year and once again, there is expected to be huge interest as another giant of European football visits Church Hill Road. 

Celtic first team manager Brendan Rodgers will travel with his squad. He is looking forward to visiting Sligo and bringing some of his first team to the Showgrounds. 

“When you’re working at a club like Celtic you are reminded every day of its history”, he says. “So it’s great to be able to visit and play in Sligo, a place where the club has so many amazing links.  The game takes place during the international window so it’ll be a good work out for the first team players who aren’t involved with their countries that week. We know there is a huge Celtic following in Ireland, nowhere more so than in the north west, so it will be a great chance for so many to see the players in action.”

“For myself personally, its always great to go home so this is a trip I am really looking forward to but for everyone else of course, both sets of fans and both clubs, I know this will be a great occasion.”

Rovers boss John Russell is also anticipating the visit of the Scottish Premiership champions. 

“It’ll be a great day for both clubs given the history Celtic have here in Sligo”, he notes. “I’d expect the game to sell out straight away and it’ll be great to see the Showgrounds packed to the rafters. It’ll be a nice test for our boys to see how they get on against one of the biggest clubs in the world. The excitement in the area when Everton visited in the summer was amazing and I’d expect a huge amount of attention will be focused on this game also.” 

Interest in this game is expected to be high and supporters are advised to secure their tickets as early as possible to avoid disappointment. 

A priority window for tickets for Rovers supporters will take place at the Showgrounds for season ticket holders, Super Reds, 500 Club members and full members of the club this Monday, September 9th and Tuesday, September 10th between 10am and 5pm. All those purchasing tickets must provide proof that they are eligible to purchase tickets under one of the aforementioned categories. 

Tickets will then go on general online sale this Wednesday, September 11th at 10am

Tickets are €25 general admission and there will be a limited number of concession tickets available, with OAPs/students/over 12s costing €18 and U12s costing €12. 

All online tickets are subject to a €2 booking fee. 

WPD Preview: Sligo Rovers V DLR Waves

BY CONALL COLLIER

Sligo Rovers will welcome DLR Waves to the Showgrounds on Saturday for a Women’s Premier Division basement battle between the bottom two teams, kick-off 2pm.

Two weeks ago the Bit O’Red travelled to the Belfield Bowl for a FAI Cup quarter-final tie and knocked the Dublin side out of the competition with a 3-1 victory.

Goals from Anna McDaniel, Kelsey Munroe and Paula McGrory sealed the victory as Sligo Rovers stood strong against a serious second-half test from DLR Waves.

That type of performance will be required again on Saturday and Pauls McGrory will be eager to add to her goal tally as manager Tommy Hewitt returns to the sideline after serving a three-match suspension.

“i had to watch the last three games from the stand and I could see things that I wouldn’t normally see from the sideline, as a team, as a unit, we have improved, but the bottom line is we have to win this game to back up that claim,” stated the manager.

“There isn’t too much between the teams, but we need to get a win on Saturday, I can’t put it in any more simple terms.

“It’s not that the points are of any significance to either team, but the result will be significant on a number of fronts.

“As I said, we need to get a win and our supporters will be expecting us to win on the evidence from the victory a fortnight ago.

“It’s going to be a tough game for us and DLR Waves will want to make amends, but we have made tremendous strides since the start of the season and hopefully we can demonstrate that on Saturday,” he added.

Saturday’s encounter will be the first of three games in seven days and that will test the strength and depth of the squad with title-chasing Shelbourne due to visit the Showgrounds on Wednesday followed by a visit to Tallaght on Saturday, 14th September.

“It will be a hectic week, we will have Shelbourne next Wednesday and then we have to go to Tallaght Stadium on the Saturday, all that before the Cup semi-final against Athlone Town the following weekend,” stated the manager.

“When you look at that schedule, they are all big games and we have to try to win them all, but my focus, and the focus of the players will be solely on DLR Waves this weekend.

“We have a relatively small squad and we will be without Jodie Loughrey for Saturday due to injury, she missed the Galway game last weekend and she will be a big loss,

“We were excellent against Galway in the first half last Saturday, but we dropped off a bit in the second half, that’s something we need to address and the next opportunity will be against DLR Waves.

“The players are learning and gaining experience in every game and we will be ready for a battle against DLR Waves, if we can produce a consistent performance over the 90 minutes that will be crucial.

“I’m looking forward to Saturday, not just because I’ll be back on the sideline, but we will be going into the game knowing that we have a realistic chance of getting that first win.

“All I can say is that it was very frustrating for the last three games, having to watch from a distance and no involvement with the team beforehand, hopefully we’ll get the win to make it a good weekend,” he concluded.

The game will be live on LOITV and kick-off at the Showgrounds is 2pm.

Pijnaker departs

Sligo Rovers can confirm that defender Nando Pijnaker has left the club with immediate effect and will continue his career closer to home, with a fee being agreed with his new club.

Pijnaker leaves the Showgrounds following over two and a half years at the Bit O’Red. The 25-year-old initially joined the club on a loan deal from Portuguese side Rio Ave in early 2022 before Rovers made the deal permanent later that year. 

The Kiwi international made his Rovers debut at Richmond Park on the opening night of the 2022 season in a win over St Patrick’s Athletic and went to appear 84 times for the club. 

Pijnaker established himself as one of the League of Ireland’s top defenders and in doing so, understandably attracted the interest of a host of clubs from across the world. 

Speaking about Pijanker’s departure, Rovers boss John Russell thanked the centre half for his contribution to the club and explained the circumstances around the move.

“Every transfer window, there’s been interest in Nando. We turned down bids in the past and even last January he was close to leaving but we persuaded him to stay on”, Rusell says.

“We had an agreement with Nando that if the right move came for him, we would not stand in his way. He has an opportunity now to play at a club closer to where he is from and I and the club have kept our word in regard to that.

“Nando has been a big player for us since joining the club. His game has developed over the seasons he’s been here and that’s a testament to him and the staff that have worked with him.

“I would like to thank Nando for all his efforts and wish him all the best in his future career.”