Sligo Rovers Academy teams were in action at the weekend with all teams bar our Under 19 Women in action.

First up on Saturday at The Sean Fallon Centre, our Under 17 Men’s side came from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Finn Harps.

Corey McKay Lavery scored on his home debut after signing recently and Keelin Mullin netted his fifth of the season to ensure the points were shared.

Our Under 17 Womens team had a good win at home to Finn Harps at Ballisodare All-Weather pitch.

Goals from Amy Murphy, McKenzie Reynolds and Casey Ruane gave Darren Kelly’s side all three points in terrible conditions.

Our Under 14 side took part in the League of Ireland’s Festival of Football on Saturday which saw every Under 14 side in the country attend this day-long event at Abbotstown in Dublin.

The lads had three games against Shelbourne, Cork City and Waterford, losing all three but overall had a good experience in some extremely testing weather conditions. Ryan Cunningham scored against Shelbourne for Rovers in a 3-1 defeat with the other games ending 2-0 and 1-0 respectively.

Sunday saw two games taking place away from home.

Our Under 19 Men’s unbeaten record came to an end thanks to a 2-0 defeat away to Derry City at The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.

Our Under 15 side lost 5-2 to UCD at Marlay Park in Dublin on Sunday afternoon, with goals from Liam McLaughlin and Shay McMorrow proving only to be consolation.

It was a proud moment on Saturday night for the Academy as another one of our players made his first-team debut.

Manager John Russell gave Conor Reynolds the nod with five minutes left to play in our win over Cork City. Well done Conor.

Next up for our Men’s First Team is a trip to Drogheda United this Friday night at Weaver’s Park in the Sports Direct FAI Cup First Round.

The game takes place at 7.45pm and with a large crowd expected, Rovers supporters making the journey East must buy tickets in advance online via the link below:

https://eventlist.store/droghedaunitedfc/dufcawaytickets?ftredirect=1

The game will finish on the night, with extra time and penalties a possibility, should the game finish in a draw after 90 minutes.

Sligo Rovers Women’s Premier Division manager Steve Feeney assessed the impact of senior football in the League of Ireland 18 months after the historic first senior game for the club in an interview with Conall Collier for the Sligo Rovers v Cork City match programme.

SUCCESS ACHIEVED ON A NUMBER OF FRONTS

All the focus next week will be on the opening game of the FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup with the Republic of Ireland set to tackle hosts Australia on Thursday, 20th July.

The fact that Ireland will be represented at the tournament for the first time reflects positively on the progress over the last few years at international level – following a well-publicised stand-off between the players and the FAI in 2017.

The development of what is now the Women’s Premier Division (WPD) has also gained momentum with the affiliation of Sligo Rovers last season taking the number of teams to 10 and another increase this season with the return of Shamrock Rovers.

That brought the number to 11 and also facilitated a two-round (one home and one away) series of games to determine the destination of the title.

An extra bonus this year, arising out of a planned World Cup mid-season break, was the introduction of the Avenir Sports All-Island Cup with five teams from Northern Ireland joining the 11 League of Ireland teams to play four qualifying groups over the last few weeks.

Two weeks ago, Sligo Rovers travelled to Belfast and earned a 1-1 draw against Cliftonville who this weekend will play Galway Utd in the decider.

Hopefully, the competition will continue again next season.

Former Bit O’Red player Steve Feeney was the man tasked with guiding the fledgling Sligo Rovers women on a journey into the unknown that began in March 2022 on a cold and wet afternoon in West Dublin against Peamount Utd.

Sligo Rovers lost (6-0) and after that game I spoke to Steve Feeney to get his reaction and also his views about what the future might hold for the newest Sligo Rovers team.

“It’s my first senior job as a manager so that alone is exciting, but the fact it is Sligo Rovers and the first senior women’s team, it was and is a privilege,” he commented in March 2022.

“I can’t speak highly enough about the players, the attitude is great, they have the desire to play for Rovers.

“Playing in the Women’s National League is the highest club standard they can achieve in this country and I have no doubt that they will make the grade,” he added.

Some 18 months later, Steve Feeney still has loads of enthusiasm for the role as manager and despite the results so far this season, he remains positive about the long-term objective of the club in providing a pathway to senior football for young players locally.

“We were under no illusions about the challenge we would face this season, we had a good campaign in 2022 and managed some notable victories,” he said.

“Obviously, our target was to get more points this season than last season, but it just hasn’t worked out for us up to now.

“There are a number of factors, the obvious one is that this year there are seven games less as the League is on a two-round basis whereas last year it was a three-round schedule.

“The more important point is that this season we have a younger team, a less experienced team and also, the overall standard has improved and continues to improve.

“That’s a positive development, improvement in standards, but it also makes it more difficult for the less experienced teams.

“Nevertheless, I can say that we have been competitive in most of our games so far and one difference is that last season we got the ‘bounce of the ball’ on a few occasions where we won games, but not so much this season.

“I’d highlight our opening game here at the Showgrounds against Shams where we certainly were competitive and worth a draw, but we conceded the winner in the 92nd minute.

“That was tough and if you just look at the way the season has gone since for each team, it shows the tight margins between winning and not winning

“We had Wexford and Peamount after that and it was difficult to try to build some momentum,” he added.

Sligo Rovers recruited a number of new faces for the 2023 season including sisters Jodie Loughrey and Keri Loughrey along with goalkeeper Bonnie McKiernan and Casey Howe, but the loss of players like Gemma McGuinness and Paula McCrory was a setback.

That had an impact on results and also meant that a period of adjustment was required to enable players to settle into the new season.

“The loss of Gemma (McGuinness) and Paula (McCrory) meant there was a lot of experience gone from the team,” remarked Steve.

“As a team, we are competitive in our games, we’re not playing badly, a lot of the goals we have conceded have been down to our own deficiencies as distinct from great play by the opposition.

“While that’s regrettable, to concede the goals, it is something that we can resolve and it’s something that will happen less frequently as the players gain more experience and composure.

“Putting it simply, if we can reduce the number of basic errors that we are making, then we will have a chance in every game for the remainder of the season.

“The girls are well aware of what we need to do and they are quite prepared to put in the effort that’s required, once you have that level of commitment, you can address the problems.

“There are lots of positives that we can take out of the first part of the season and we can now focus on those and hopefully push on when the action resumes in mid-August with a game against Athlone Town and then the FAI Cup the following weekend against Bonagee Utd.

“It’s not all that different this season to last season, the bottom three – ourselves, Cork and Treaty, then there is a mid-table group and a top four group. Our immediate target now has to be to finish above Cork and Treaty,” he suggested.

Fielding a senior team in the League of Ireland is a big commitment for the club and that’s something that Steve is well aware of.

“One of the main objectives of the club fielding a senior team is to have a pathway for the girls coming through from the 17s and 19s, that’s something that wasn’t there previously,” commented Steve.

“Over the past 18 months, last season and this season so far, we can certainly see that young players have got opportunities and that’s important for the overall development of the concept of a senior team, but it’s not going to be instantly successful.

“The u-19 players can see what is going on and there are girls who are just waiting for an opportunity to play for the senior team, we will try to facilitate as many as we can in the eight league games that are remaining.

“Playing against the top teams in our league, and even the Avenir Sports Cup games against Sion Swifts and Cliftonville, that’s going to improve our players regardless of the results.

“The players won’t learn much playing friendlies or against weaker opposition, but when they are playing quality teams each week, that has a knock-on long-term benefit that you won’t get no matter how many training sessions you do.

“The All-Island Cup competition was a great experience and it demonstrated that there isn’t a big gap in standards between our teams and the top five in Northern Ireland, but there is a similar divide in standards in each League.

“I suppose, ideally, it would be beneficial if the two Leagues could combine with a top tier and a second tier, that would benefit the stronger and the weaker teams, maybe it’s something that the legislators are looking at already?

“The bottom line is that there are no easy games, but I have great belief in what we are trying to do to develop local talent.

“Last year, we probably over-achieved a little, but to counter what might be described as poor results this year, we have seen a good number of young players stepping up to the mark and in the long-term that can only be good for everyone.

“There is also a women’s league starting locally in October and it’s likely to have 12 teams, that’s a very positive development.

“There will also be huge interest in the Irish women at the World Cup this month and that will get more girls interested in joining local clubs, that’s all very encouraging for women’s football at all levels.

“Sligo Rovers will continue to strengthen the foundations of the game locally and nationally and with many of our players recognised at under-age international level, we can see the success that has already been achieved, the results on the pitch will follow,” he concluded.

Sligo Rovers got an important win over Cork City on Saturday night at The Showgrounds in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division.

The game was an important one for both sides and the inclement weather didn’t effect the quality on the pitch as both sides looked to create chances early on.

Rovers started the better of the sides in the opening twenty minutes, with Kailin Barlow’s effort on two minutes testing Jimmy Corcoran after good build up play by Will Fitzgerald and Niall Morahan to set him up on his return to the side following suspension.

There was a half-chance for Max Mata after Barlow’s cross but the New Zealander’s header didn’t get the power it needed and it was gathered by Corcoran.

It was Cork’s turn next and striker Tunde Owalabi went close after picking up possession on the left and working an effort on goal but it went just wide.

Soon after though, Rovers took the lead. Johan Brannefalk’s throw-in found Barlow on the right who did well to work a cross into the box and Mata was there to power a header home.

The Bit O’ Red went close again before the half as efforts from John Mahon and Stefan Radosavljevic went close to doubling the lead but the sides went in at the break with Rovers leading.

The second half was all Rovers.

Radosavljevic, who was tormenting the visiting defence all night went close on 52 minutes but his effort was saved by Corcoran and behind for a corner.

The resulting set-piece gave Rovers a second goal as Brannefalk’s delivery was too good to handle and it flew into the top corner, much to the delight of The Showgrounds crowd.

John Russell brought on Lukas Browning and Frank Liivak for Barlow and Greg Bolger for the last twenty minutes and it didn’t take long for Rovers to grab a third goal to seal the points.

Goalkeeper Corcoran looked to gather the ball with comfort in the area but somehow it fell to Radosavljevic who had the simple task of dragging the ball back to set himself up for a tap-in to get his third goal of the season and his second home goal in succession.

Pedro Martelo was brought on for the final ten minutes in place of the tireless Mata up front and he showed glimpses of why Rovers Manager John Russell signed the Portuguese striker this week, almost capping a good debut with a goal late on.

A debut was given to youngster Conor Reynolds for the closing stages, who replaced Brannefalk. The Westport teenage impressed in Tuesday’s Friendly win over Celtic B at The Showgrounds and John Russell awarded him with minutes this evening.

Next up for Rovers is a trip to take on Drogheda United on Friday night in the FAI Cup First Round.

We wish to thank all supporters who came out this evening to support the team in such testing weather conditions.

Sligo Rovers Academy is back in action this weekend with four competitive fixtures taking place on Saturday and Sunday as well as our Under 14 squad travelling to FAI HQ to take part in the Festival of Football competition on Saturday.

The lads will face four fixtures throughout the day which starts at 11.50am against Cork City. At 1.30pm, Waterford FC is the opposition before quickly facing Shelbourne straight after, at 2.20pm.

The day will end with a game against North-West neighbours Finn Harps at 4pm.

Our Men’s Under 17 side are looking to continue their good form recently with a home game against Finn Harps at The Sean Fallon Centre at 1pm, the same time as our Under 17 Women host the same opposition at Ballisodare United’s All-Weather pitch.

On Sunday, our Men’s Under 19’s travel North to Derry City at The Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium at 2pm. The side remain unbeaten since April and drew 1-1 with the Candystripes at the same venue back in March.

Our Under 15 side travel to Marlay Park in Dublin at 3pm in a game against UCD.

The sides last met at The Showgrounds in June with Rovers winning 3-0 on the day.

Saturday’s Match Programme will be available to supporters inside the turnstiles from 6.30pm for our clash with Cork City at The Showgrounds.

You can also buy your programme online now and we’ll email you your copy before the game.

There is a huge 64-pages available with all the following content👇

Match Sponsor: Fureys Coaches, Sligo

Ball Sponsors: Brendan Gormley Windows

• Notes From Our Chairman Tommy Higgins

• Notes From Our Manager John Russell

• Academy Review

• Cool Hands Luke By Conall Collier

• 20 Questions with Conor Walsh

• Quiz

• Sligo Rovers Pen Pics

• Interview With Luke McNicholas by Conall Collier

• Celebrate Your Birthday With Sligo Rovers

• Johan Brannefalk Poster

• Cork City Player Profiles

• Interview With Steve Feeney by Conall Collier

• Sligo Rovers v Cork City by Stephen McLaughlin

• Match Programme Memory Check

• World Cup Soccer by Richard Fitzpatrick

• A Cinderella thing by Gerry Desmond

• Sligo Rovers V Celtic B

• SING for Sligo Cancer Support Centre

• Benny The Bull storms to victory

• You Reds Photo Gallery

• Results and Fixtures

• Teams

BUY PROGRAMME:

https://srfcdirect.com/cork-city-match-programme-july-15th-2023/

The Bit O’ Red host Cork City on Saturday night at The Showgrounds in the next SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division fixture for both sides.

Last time at The Showgrounds, a 2-2 draw was played out following Eanna Clancy and Max Mata’s second half goals back in March.

Rovers come into the game on the back of a narrow defeat in Derry last week after a 95^th minute penalty from gave the hosts all three points but confident in the knowledge that performances are improving after victory over Bohemians at The Showgrounds last time out and a strong showing at The Brandywell.

Cork City come here having drew with St. Patrick’s Athletic last Friday away from home with a stoppage time goal of their own from former Rovers Academy graduate Ruairi Keating.

Manager John Russell knows of the importance of the game:

‘’All our games are big games and tomorrow night against Cork City is no different. We have yet to beat them this season, so we know it’ll be a tough game.

‘’It’s important we continue to build on the last two performances. We know the quality we have in our group. The players have trained really well again this week and they know the levels we need to reach on Saturday’’.

Pedro Martelo joined the club on Thursday is the club are awaiting International Clearance for the Portuguese striker ahead of the game.

The Showgrounds has had some big nights in recent weeks, most recently having defeated Bohemians 3-1 in the League a fortnight ago in front of over 2,000 supporters who created a brilliant atmosphere.

Russell wants to make The Showgrounds a fortress for the remainder of the season:

‘’Our support has been brilliant this season. The atmosphere for our last home game against Bohemians was electric. We will need that again on Saturday night.

‘’We want to make the showgrounds a fortress for the remainder of the season’’.

In team news, Garry Buckley is getting ever closer to a return to the matchday squad following his ACL injury, which happened 11 months ago now.

Karl O’ Sullivan and James Finnerty are also closer to returns of their own from ankle and achilles injuries respectively.

Reece Hutchinson will remain out for around 3-4 weeks but his recovery is progressing.

Conor Walsh is fit again having played against Celtic B on Tuesday night.

Mark Byrne continues his rehabilitation from his ACL injury and could return in August while Gary Boylan remains out long-term.Tickets for the game are available at the turnstiles on the night or online at www.srfcdirect.com

Sligo Rovers can confirm the signing of Portuguese striker Pedro Martelo on a deal until the end of the 2023 season with the club having option of extending for the 2024 season.

The 23-year-old striker scored in the friendly victory over Celtic B on Tuesday night as a trialist and has joined up with his Rovers team-mates at training this morning for the first time officially.

Pending International Clearance, Martelo could be part of John Russell’s squad for Saturday night’s game against Cork City at The Showgrounds.

Russell spoke about his latest recruit today:

‘’I’m delighted to secure the signing of Pedro Martelo.

‘’Pedro came through the youth system at Benfica.

‘’He has represented Portugal at underage level where he scored numerous goals, while also winning the 2018 UEFA European U19 Championship.

‘’He most recently played in Portugal with Belenenses’’.

Martelo has had spells at Benfica, Deportivo La Coruna in Spain and back in Portugal with Pacos Ferreira and most recently Belenenses.

He will wear the number 9 shirt for the Bit O’ Red this season.

Russell feels Martelo could become a player that supporters will like:

‘’He is a strong and powerful centre forward who is excellent at linking the play and has great movement inside the box.

We’re all looking forward to working with him and I’m sure our supporters will enjoy watching him play’’.

We’ll hear from our new signing later on sligorovers.com

Sligo Rovers welcomed Celtic B to The Showgrounds on Tuesday night in front of around 1,700 supporters.

Manager John Russell used the game to blood some youth with ten changes made from the side that took on Derry City in the League four days previously, with only Frank Liivak keeping his place from that night.

David Cawley captained Rovers alongside Lukas Browning in midfield. Rovers had seven Academy players starting with Conor Reynolds from our Under 17 side and Under 19 players Niall Holohan, Gareth McElroy, Daniel Kelly, Daire McCarthy and Conor Campbell joining young goalkeeper Conor Walsh in the starting eleven.

Russell also gave a start to a Trialist player.

The game started brightly for Rovers with chances for Trialist and Frank Liivak who shot straight at the goalkeeper.

It wasn’t long until the Estonian gave Rovers the lead however as Reynolds lofted through ball found him inside the box and he fired high into the net for the opening goal.

Celtic tried to break forward to get back into the game, however chances were few and far between and it was the Bit O’ Red who doubled their lead on 24 minutes as Trialist finished to the net after Daniel Kelly’s shot was deflected into his path.

It was 2-0 at half-time and the visitors got back into the game five minutes into the second half through attacker Jude Bonner.

Russell brought on a host of subs for the second period with Richard Brush replacing Conor Walsh, Bridel Bosakani and Shane Rooney replacing Conor Campbell and Liivak and later on, David Cawley, Daniel Kelly, Conor Reynolds and Trialist replaced by youngsters Daire Patton, Patrick Montgomery, Kyle McDonagh and Ultan O’ Grady.

Rovers had plenty of chances in the second half, most notably through Montgomery who was first played down the side by Patton but his shot went wide before finding time and space in the box, only to be denied by a fine stop from the Celtic goalkeeper.

Richard Brush was also kept busy in the Rovers’ goal as the Celts looked for an equaliser but the veteran ‘keeper was taken off for the last few minutes to allow Under 17 player Kyle Gabbidon on for his first senior appearance.

With that, the game ended soon after and Rovers secured the friendly win.

Next up is a home game against Cork City at The Showgrounds this Saturday night at 7.45pm in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division.

We host Celtic tonight at 7pm at The Showgrounds in a mid-season friendly.

With many new faces expected at The Showgrounds for the game, we outline all our Match Night information below:

Turnstiles:

Turnstiles open from 6pm.

All Children Under 12 must be accompanied by a paying adult. This is non-negotiable and it is the responsibility of parents and guardians to ensure their children are accompanied arriving to The Showgrounds and throughout the night.

All Children over the age of 12 must enter via the last turnstile on the left hand side which will be sign posted. This new turnstile is for Juveniles only and here they must pay €10 as per Category Two fixtures.

Please have your tickets ready for scanning to ensure a smooth and quick entry process. Any duplicate tickets will be refused and may lead to stadium bans for those in possession of one. Tickets will only scan once.

Seating:

Seating is first come, first served in all areas of the ground. Seats with names on them must be respected as these are Gold Season Ticket members who have paid for their seat to be reserved all season. Anyone found sitting in a seat that is not theirs will be asked to move. While this game is not valid for season tickets, we ask that you do not sit in a seat with someone’s name on it.

Security:

Members of our security team will carry out on the spot checks on bags and persons entering the ground. Alcohol and Pyrotechnics are not allowed and will be confiscated on entry. We ask supporters to please help the club in this regard and refrain from attempting to get in with any prohibited items.

CCTV:

CCTV is again in operation throughout the evening using our CCTV system. The system was instrumental in the club being able to utilise footage from previous anti-social behaviour and, in turn issue this to Gardai and serve stadium bans to some supporters. Security personnel and An Garda Siochaina will be monitoring the system and anyone found to be behaving in a way which contravenes our ground rules will be removed and banned from attending future games.

Car Parking:

There are limited spaces available at The Showgrounds astro turf car park. This will be closed once full, which is expected to be early in the evening. Supporters should note the club have come to an agreement with Nazareth House for official Match Night use of their grounds which has over 200 parking spaces. There is a charge of €2, with proceeds towards the upkeep of their grounds.

Flares:

Leave your flares at home. These are not wanted and anyone found with flares will be banned from attending future matches. These cause needless fines for the club, money which is raised by our volunteers and fellow supporters.

Pitch:

It is an offence to enter the field of play at any stage. This includes children. It is parent/guardian’s responsibility to ensure children do not encroach on the pitch at any time.

Fan Appreciation Night:

The Bit O’ Red Supporters Trust will have a Fan Appreciation Night from 6pm in the BORST Clubhouse.

There is live music, entertainment and food available to supporters as well as a Q&A session just after 6pm with former Rovers Player-Manager and now Celtic scout Willie McStay.

All are welcome.

Tickets are still available here: https://srfcdirect.com/match-tickets/

We thank you for your co-operation