By Conall Collier
Sligo Rovers will travel to the Belfield Bowl on Saturday for a Women’s FAI Cup quarter-final showdown against hosts DLR Waves as the bottom two in the Women’s Premier Division (WPD) bid for a semi-final ticket.
This will be another day of watching from a distance for manager Tommy Hewitt as he continues to serve a suspension that was imposed following the WPD game against Athlone Town a fortnight ago.
The manager had to watch last Sunday’s WPD action at the Showgrounds from the stand as his side lost out by the odd goal in three to Treaty Utd.
There was the consolation of watching Keeva Flynn score the goal of the game in the second-half, but the Bit O’Red just couldn’t muster an equaliser despite creating a number of excellent chances.
However, the manager pointed to the fact that his side wasn’t awarded a penalty early in the game and that frustration was compounded by the fact that Mairead McIntyre was injured in the challenge by Treaty goalkeeper Katie Irwin and had to be replaced by Rebecca Doddy.
“I don’t enjoy complaining about decisions, but if we had got that penalty and scored it would have changed the complexion of the game,” stated the Bit O’Red boss.
“We went two goals down, but the girls responded well and I felt we were worth at least a draw, but we missed some easy chances near the end and you can’t afford that either.
“This is my first season with Sligo Rovers and so far in 2024 I can honestly say that any big decisions have consistently gone against us.
“Along with not getting the penalty, I’m now down another player after that tackle, I just couldn’t understand how it wasn’t a penalty.
“Looking ahead to the Cup game, DLR have really improved as demonstrated with that 3-2 win against Peamount Utd.
“It’s a one-off game on Saturday, we have to adopt a positive approach and if we can do that there is no reason that we can’t win the game and make it to the last four again,” he concluded.
In the DLR Waves game against Peamount, goals from Isobel Finnegan, Keelin Dodd and Jess Gleeson sealed the victory. DLR didn’t play last weekend, but in the first round of the Cup they defeated Whitehall Rangers by 4-0.
Sligo Rovers got the better of Terenure Rangers by 5-0 and using that as a gauge suggests that there won’t be much between the teams on Saturday.
Sligo Rovers primary aim has to be avoiding the concession of soft goals and if they can achieve that then they have every reason to tackle this assignment with confidence.
The sides met already this season at the Bowl where DLR recorded a 2-0 victory. Jess Gleeson’s 36th minute free from the edge of the penalty area deflected off the underside off the crossbar for the lead goal.
DLR substitute Rebecca McMahon added a second goal with about 20 minutes remaining when she capitalised on some slack defending as her side recorded a first win of the season, win number two was against Peamount two weeks ago.
Kick-off on Saturday is a 3pm and the game will be live on LOITV.