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, 14^th 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.

Sligo Rovers recovered from that seven goal defeat at Drogheda United in perfect fashion as they saw off Waterford at the Showgrounds. A goal in either half from Wilson Waweru and Simon Power saw the Bit O’Red pick up their first win in three and propelled Rovers into third, behind title chasers Derry City and Shelbourne. 

With just goal difference separating them and three points meaning the victor would elevate themselves to that European spot, both camps were aware of the value of a win. 

The hosts made one change from a chastening trashing in Louth eight nights previous, with 19-year-old Buncrana native Gareth McElroy handed his senior debut in the heart of the Sligo defence, in place of Charlie Wiggett. 

With four defeats in their previous five league outings and without manager Keith Long courtesy of suspension, the visitors made one switch from defeat to Derry last week. Connor Parsons replaced Grant Horton as the RSC side chased a much needed result on the road.

The travelling Blues should have been ahead after just 90 seconds. 

Rovers allowed former striker Padraig Amon through on goal. The Carlow man’s initial effort was repelled by Ed McGinty into the path of Christie Pattison who failed to make contact with the ball from four yards out. 

Sligo certianly didn’t look like a side coming off the back of a seven goal trouncing as they came up with some of their best football of the year. 

Key to this was winger Power who twice went close with efforts from out wide, while Ellis Chapman was able to lift the ball over Waterford goalkeeper Louis Jones on 12 minutes. Chapman was left despondent however as his effort dropped wide of Jones’ goal. 

Both sides had chances in quick succession close to the quarter hour. Power again went close from a wide angle, while Amond’s header from a Ryan Burke cross hung in the air before falling wide of McGinty’s posts seconds later.

Sligo opened the scoring on 18 minutes and went on to dominate the remainder of the half. Jones got a hand to a Connor Malley header from a Will Fitzgerald corner but could only bat the ball onto the foot of Waweru who rifled the ball to the roof of the net from close range. 

Power had a looping header taken off the Waterford line in added time at the end of the half. While McElroy had to get in front of Amond’s effort at the front post eight minutes into the second period. 

Waweru went close to Rovers’ second on 55. Jones produced a decent two-handed stop to deny the former Galway man’s header from a wonderful Power cross. 

Power himself threatened that second goal twice in the space of a few minutes. He first tested Jones from 25 yards, before firing over from the angle four minutes later. 

Debutant McElroy then nodded narrowly wide from a Power corner on 68 as Sligo again pressed although Pattison wasn’t too far away at the far end on the following attack, slipping a shot beyond McGinty’s post.

Power was finally rewarded for his impressive showing on 73 minutes when he nodded Fitzgerald’s ball into the bottom corner of Jones’ goal. 

The former Shamrock Rovers winger was then denied his brace. Malley forced the ball towards the Wicklow native who was stopped by Jones’ outstretched leg. 

The home support were sure Chapman had their third seven minutes from time when he picked up Fitzgerald’s through ball. Chapman had the hard work done when he rounded Jones but Waterford defender Kacper Radkowski somehow recovered in time to pull off a magnificent last ditch block to deny the former Cheltenham attacker. 

Sligo Rovers: Ed McGinty; JR Wilson, Gareth McElroy, Ollie Denham, Reece Hutchinson; Niall Morahan (Jack Henry-Francis 88), Connor Malley; Will Fitzgerald, Ellis Chapman, Simon Power (Stephen Mallon 77); Wilson Waweru (Luke Pearce 64).

Waterford: Louis Jones; Darragh Power (Dean McMenamy HT), Kacper Radkowski, Darragh Leahy, Ryan Burke; Barry Bagley, Sam Glenfield (Grant Horton HT), Rowan McDonald (Ben McCormack 81); Conor Parsons (Joseph Forde 71), Christie Pattisson (Gbemi Arubi 71); Padraig Amond. 

Referee: Paul Norton. 

Attendance: 2,432

David Goulden

By Conall Collier

Former Sligo Rovers striker Emma Doherty scored a 53^rd minute Women’s Premier Division winner for Galway Utd against the Bit O’Red in a tight encounter at Eamonn Deacy Park on Saturday evening.

Two and a half seasons at the Showgrounds ended surprisingly with a move to Galway during the transfer window.

The Buncrana woman’s second-half strike was all that separated the sides after 90 minutes as Amanda Smith’s lead goal for Galway was cancelled by Paula McGrory’s penalty close to the interval

Sligo Rovers made two changes from the team that defeated DLR Waves a week earlier with Rachael McGoldrick and Sarah Kiernan coming in for Kelsey Munroe and Jodie Loughrey.

Galway also made two changes from the team that negotiated Peamount Utd last time out with Amanda Smith and Therese Kinnevey replacing Aoibheann Costello and Kate Thompson

Galway dictated most of the first-half exchanges, but found the going tough against a resilient and uncompromising Sligo Rovers side that had a Rachael McGoldrick shot on target in the 11^th minute and then there was an audacious lob from Paula McGrory a minute later that was narrowly wide.

At the other end it was all about the contribution of Julie Ann Russell who was a constant threat and she forced the error from the Bit O’Red rearguard in the 17^th minute that created the opportunity for Amanda Smith to rifle to the net.

Despite conceding the goal, Sligo Rovers continued to push forward and were rewarded for pressure in the 34^th minute when Keri Loughrey was impeded in the Galway penalty area and McGrory confidently converted the resultant spot kick to leave it 1-1 at the interval.

The Galway girls were quick out of the traps for the second-half and had two early chances before Doherty’s goal gave them the lead again.

It was generally a Galway dominated second-half and Amber Hardy produced her usual number of top class saves that denied both Doherty on 66 minutes and Russell soon after.

The Bit O’Red carved out an opening near the end, but Galway ‘keeper Jessica Berlin tipped the effort away for a corner.

Manager Tommy Hewitt had to watch again from the stand, but has now served a three-game suspension and will be back on sideline duty for next Saturday’s home game against DLR Waves, kick-off 2pm.

Galway Utd – Jessica Berlin; Lucy Jane Grant, Isabella Beletic, Jamie Erickson, Jenna Slattery, Lynsey McKey, Julie Ann Russell, Therese Kinnevey, Amy Madden, Amanda Smith, Emma Doherty. Subs – Aisling Meaney for McKey half-time, Rolake Olasula for Doherty 90 mins.

Sligo Rovers – Amber Hardy; Leah Kelly, Alice Lillie, Sarah Kiernan, Keeva Flynn, Muireann Devaney, Paula McGrory, Keri Loughrey, Eimear Lafferty, Rachael McGoldrick, Anna McDaniel. Subs – Jessica Casey for McGoldrick 76 mins, Cara King for McDaniel and Rebecca Doddy for McGrory both 83m.

Sligo Rovers will look to rediscover their winning form this Saturday as they take on Waterford at the Showgrounds, kick-off 7.45pm. 

This Premier Division game is Rovers’ biggest of the season to date, as John Russell’s side look to potentially break into the top three. The Blues and the Bit O’Red sit third and fourth respectively with the same number of games played, level on points with Waterford ahead only on goal difference. 

Sligo will look to pick up their first win in three in all competitions following recent defeats to both UCD and Drogheda United.

This will be the fourth and final time this season that the teams will lock horns. 

The visitors have the upper hand in the head-to-head stakes with two wins over Rovers this year, while ten man Sligo beat Keith Long’s side at the RSC back in March. 

In team news, Nando Pijnaker is again expected to miss out having missed the defeat to Drogs following a head injury received in the recent FAI Cup loss to UCD. 

Winger Stephen Mallon will face a late fitness test. While Stefan Radosavljevic joins John Mahon and Conor Reynolds on the treatment table. 

This game sees the teams at the opposite ends of the form table take each other on. With four victories from their last five league outings, Rovers are currently the in-form club in the top flight, while 

Waterford sit bottom of that list having been beaten in four of their last five. 

Russell, who returns to the dugout following a three game ban, is paying little heed to stats and knows how big Saturday’s clash is. The Rovers boss also says that last week’s drubbing at Weaver’s Park is now out of the system.

“The Drogheda game is history now and there is absolutely nothing we can do now to affect that result”, he says. “We have moved on and I am happy with how the players have reacted this week in training.”

“What we can do now is affect the outcome of Saturday’s game and the games between now and the end of the season. Right now, our full focus is on Waterford and it’s a massive game. Both teams are inseparable on points and it promises to be a cracker of a game between two teams who play attacking football so we’re hoping for a big crowd to encourage the players as they can affect things too.  

“The players have reacted well to recent setbacks and we’re looking forward to Saturday. Waterford can really open you up if you’re not on your game and we’ve seen that from them this season. They have plenty of goals in their team and we need to be ready to go from minute one.” 

David Goulden

By Conall Collier

Sligo Rovers will travel to tackle hosts Galway Utd in a crucial Women’s Premier Division (WPD) game on Saturday, 5pm.

The two-time Avenir Sports All-Island Cup champions will go into this game on a high following last Saturday’s impressive victory against defending WPD champions Peamount Utd where a brace of Julie Ann Russell goals and one from former Sligo Rovers striker Emma Doherty sealed the win.

“No one gave us a chance last week in the FAI Cup away to DLR Waves, but we had nothing to lose and we are certainly not a bad team. We just haven’t got results in some games where we were worth a draw or even a win,” stated Sligo Rovers manager Tommy Hewitt.

“It will be the same against Galway, no one will give us a chance and they won’t be holding anything in reserve, but I’m in a good position now with players coming back into contention for selection and we have that FAI Cup semi-final on the horizon as well.

“However, I’m not under any illusions, that’s a good Galway team and it will be vital that we produce a performance and then see where that will take us over the 90 minutes.

“I’m still suspended, I will have to watch from the stand in Galway, but the team will be well prepared, both Conor (O’Grady) and Jay (McCartney) are doing a good job and I will be on the sideline for the next home game, the following week against DLR Waves,” he added.

Galway defeated Sligo Rovers twice this season, last March, first in the Avenir Sports Cup by 2-0 and then a week later in the WPD at the Showgrounds where an 88^th minute penalty gave them a hard-earned 3-2 victory.

Twice Galway were in front in that game, a 19^th minute Jenna Slattrey goal was cancelled by Emma Doherty early in the second-half. Jamie Erickson restored Galway’s lead with 20 minutes remaining and Jodie Loughrey levelled in the 82^nd minute.

A draw looked likely until referee Glen Geraghty pointed to the spot on the stroke of full-time and Slattery converted.

Unusually, both teams featured seven players from that encounter in last weekend’s starting line-ups and both go into Saturday’s showdown buoyed by 3-1 victories, Galway defeated Peamount at home while Sligo Rovers travelled to Dublin and negotiated DLR Waves.

The formbook suggests a home victory, but an improving Sligo Rovers side will be eager to sustain some momentum in an effort to pick up points and get off the bottom of the table with only seven games remaining.

The action will be on LOITV and kick-off is at 5pm

BY JIM GRAY

Gerry O’Connor has been going to the Showgrounds, man and boy, for more than 40 years, following a near century old tradition of local soccer people worshipping at the ancestral home of Sligo Rovers. It’s a ritual which has been fervently practiced by generations of Sligo men, women and children. Simply put, they are what it says on the tin: supporters.

But in recent years, Gerry has occupied a slightly strange space. He’s still attending the Cathedral of local football, but his mode of worship has slightly changed. He rarely sees a home game these days. He’s too busy being a supporters’ supporter.

Gerry is one of the driving forces of the Bit O Red Supporters Trust (BORST), a unique collection of Rovers’ die-hards whose innovative – and often inspirational – leadership has provided a skin-tight connection between the club and its support base, an umbilical cord which ensures the club is never separated from its lifeblood.

As a community fan-owned club, Rovers could never afford to be aloof from those who provide its heartbeat – the people who go to the games, fork out hard-earned cash for various fund-raisers, promote off-field activities, in many cases live and breathe the bit’o’red. BORST is the manifestation of that abiding connection.

It’s always easy to support successful teams but not so much when the trophy cabinet  perpetually harbours more dust than silverware. But, of course, it’s in those lean seasons when tangible backing is most needed. Typically, BORST was established in such meagre times.

It was during one of the club’s fallow periods, around 2005, with the team drifting somewhat aimlessly from one uneventful season to the next, that Alan Kearins and Gary Kelly established BORST. Maybe they lacked a precise vision of where this supporters’ group could go or how it could help, but they were determined to pull a collective blanket around supporters to see if it could extend its protection to the club. A sort of build it and they will come approach.

Some years later, the group was reinvigorated with the addition of new members, fresh ideas, and a club that was open to building meaningful connections with its fan base. The original founders were joined by people like Gerry O’Connor, Gary Kilcullen, Ian Rooney, Donal Kelly, Brenda Kearins, Sue Brennan, Shaun Dunne and Caitriona and Grainne Oates. They harnessed their collective love of the club to become one of the most powerful supporters’ groups in the country.

Although they don’t have a register of members or a formal policy Constitution, BORST is very clear about its mission.

“Our three pillars are fan engagement, providing a voice for fellow supporters, and maintaining an open line of communication with the club. Providing fan services at game has become a huge priority, and it’s developing all the time”, Gerry O’Connor explains.

An early initiative was the provision of a club house at the Showgrounds. The original idea was “just to give people a place to stand in out of the rain to have a cuppa on a bad night”, according to Gerry, but it has become a hive of activity on match nights as supporters mix and mingle, swap opinions or even orations, the essence of a supporters’ get-together.

The origin of the club house illustrates the innovative thinking of the group.

“It was an old prefab classroom in an Athlone school,” Gerry reveals. Through quizzes and various other fund-raisers, the group rustled up an impressive 20,000 euro to purchase and refurbish the pre-fab building, with almost all of the manual labour carried out by the Trust members themselves.

Not content to rest on its laurels, the Trust has since established a thriving merchandise shop, where Gerry’s background in retail ensures a full stock of a vast array of Rovers’ clothing and other paraphernalia. They also run a sweet/coffee shop in the main concourse and three other shops dotted around the ground. In recent months, packed fan-zones have become another regular feature. In all, about 25 BORST volunteers are on duty for each home game, many of them not witnessing a single minute of action on the pitch.

“These shops help to generate badly needed income, 100% of which goes directly to the club. It means practically all of the money spent in the ground on match night stays in the ground,” Gerry points out. “But it’s not just about the money. It’s really about improving the match day experience for supporters.”

A hugely popular spin-off has been the BORST Podcast, launched during COVID, whose weekly broadcasts keep supporters both informed and entertained.  Dyed-in-the-wool Rovers fans Conor Lynch, Ronan Flanagan, Shane McGoldrick, James Coleman, Gerry O’Connor, and Fionn Teyssou keep the show afloat, never afraid to tackle difficult issues and offering fans the opportunity to have their say, whatever it might be.

“We get terrific feed-back,” Gerry confirms. “About 500 supporters tune in each week, and we have a feature, Shouts from the Shed End, where people can leave a short voice-note. We get a diverse range of opinions. Some can be pretty harsh if the team has played poorly, and while we don’t edit anything, we are very conscious that people involved in the club, players and officials, are always doing their very best and we do not want to expose them to abuse or personal insult. It’s something we’re always sensitive about.

“At the same time, it’s an important forum to connect fans, to allow them express opinions, and to reach out to fans all over the world. It has become a very important part of what we offer fans.”

Other social media platforms also provide massive exposure for the activities of BORST. Recently, they put up a short clip of an opponent stepping on the toes of Kalin Barlow during a game. It garnered an astonishing 35 million views.

“It just shows you the potential that’s out there. We want to tap into all of that, to spread the Rovers gospel far and wide,” Gerry says.

Indeed, the increasing interest from far-flung fans has become a surprisingly strong feature of the Rovers’ family in recent years, so much so that BORST is currently in the process of establishing a North American Supporters Network. People like Joe Lima in California, Mark Brisky in Utah and Sean Rourke in Alabama, along with Chris McManus and eight other US-based fans, are working on a number of different projects aimed at uniting the Rovers banner Stateside.

Closer to home, the BORST interaction with Rovers has been enhanced by the election of two of its members, Shaun Dunne and Donal Kelly, onto the club’s Management Committee.

“It was important from the beginning that we had a solid relationship with the club,” Gerry explains. “As a fan-owned club, the people who run it realise they have an obligation to stay in touch with the ordinary supporters. An early goal of ours was to have representation on the management committee, and it’s such a positive development that we now have two members on the board. It means we are constantly in touch with the club, there is a clear path of communication, and supporters are now an integral part of the day-to-day running of the club. That’s massively important.”

With the club’s centenary on the horizon, the common thread in nearly 100 years of dogged resilience, often in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, has been the unbreakable loyalty of its supporters. BORST is the modern manifestation of that admirable tradition, and its members are steadfastly writing their own history.

The 500 Club members draw for July and August was made recently by the 500 Club Committee.

These monthly draws see ten members drawn each month for cash prizes, with the top prize being €500.

The 500 Club continues to be one of the club’s most important Fundraisers and we wish to thank all members, and the 500 Club committee for their continued hard work.

July 2024

• €500 Donal Egan – Carney, Co. Sligo 
• €100 Ian McLoughlin – Calry, Co. Sligo
• €100 Enda Molloy – Ballinteer, Co. Dublin
• €100 Brendan Crowne – Oakfield, Co. Sligo
• €100 David McGoldrick – Slane, Co. Meath
• €100 Justin Greene – Ely, England
• €100 Eddie Sheahan – Rathcormac, Co. Sligo
• €100 Brian Bourke – Belfast, UK
• €100 Ronald Dunne – Heather View, Co. Sligo
• €100 Jim Gallagher – Kintogher, Co. Sligo

August 2024

• €500 Pat Togher – Shannon Eighter, Sligo
• €100 Clive Hynes – Oakfield Park, Sligo
• €100 Kevin/Rosaleen O’Grady – Kevinsfort, Sligo
• €100 Fergal Burke – Ballincar, Sligo
• €100 Phillip Lynott – Cleveragh Rd, Sligo
• €100 Kieran McDermott – Knocknahur, Sligo
• €100 Edel Hackett – Calry, Co. Sligo
• €100 Elizabeth Feeney – Rathbraughan Park, Sligo
• €100 J.P. McDonagh – Chapel St, Sligo
• €100 Shane Martin – Rosehill, Sligo

By Conall Collier

Sligo Rovers manager Tommy Hewitt had to settle for a spectating role at the Belfield Bowl on Saturday as his players delivered a Women’s FAI Cup quarter-final knock-out blow to hosts DLR Waves.

Sligo Rovers went into the game as the underdog with only a victory over non-league side Terenure Rangers in the last round while DLR Waves could point to a 3-2 win over defending Women’s Premier Division champions Peamount Utd in their last game.

From a Sligo Rovers perspective, this had all the ingredients for shock result and that’s exactly what transpired with the Bit O’Red recoding a 3-1 victory.

“We were quietly confident that we could get a result, that was our view all week as we prepared for the game,” commented Tommy Hewitt on Sunday.

“Last week the training was good, the vibe was good, we felt that we could do better than when we had played DLR Waves earlier in the season, on that occasion they deserved to win.

“That aspect of the last game was part of our focus in the build up to Saturday’s tie, we felt that if we could put in a better performance that we could win the game and apart from the opening 10 minutes or so, we were the better team,” he added.

When questioned about having to watch the action from the stand, something he will have to do against this weekend away to Galway, the Bit O’Red boss highlighted the difference in perspective compared to standing on the sideline.

“I could see quite clearly from the body language of the DLR players, especially in the second-half, that they just weren’t dealing so well with how the game was unfolding,” he commented.

“When we got the third goal it really set them back, in fairness DLR tried to push forward after that, but we were comfortable and solid and I think it was one of the quietest outings of the season so far for Amber (Hardy).

“We also didn’t commit too many players forward, we just had to make sure we saw the game out.

“For us to score three goals against a team that is ahead of us in the Women’s Premier Division, that was a new experience, especially against a team that had beaten Peamount Utd by 3-2.

“What was really pleasing for me was the performance, we have been performing consistently this season, but not getting results, that all changed on Saturday and it will be a great confidence booster for the remainder of the season.

“We had nothing to lose against DLR, all the pressure was on them, but our players have belief in their own ability and no matter who we get in the semi-final it’s another knock-out game and you never know what way it will go.

“The other three teams will all want to draw Sligo Rovers for obvious reason and that won’t bother us, we know we can play and we know we can push the best of them,” he concluded.