Sligo Rovers 1
Shamrock Rovers 2
SLIGO ROVERS CONTINUE to lick their wounds as they fell to their second loss of the season, this time at the hands of Pat Fenlon’s Shamrock Rovers.
The Hoops picked up their third win of the season with a 2-1 win at the Showgrounds, thanks to goals from Sean O’Connor’s opener, before Ledwith’s equaliser was made redundant with Mikey Drennan’s second-half goal.
Sligo Rovers came into this fixture looking for their first league win of the season, while Shamrock Rovers were opening to continue their unbeaten run.
It was a quick and immensely entertaining first-half, and it was clear from the off-set that this would be a slightly feisty affair. Visitors Shamrock Rovers received their first booking after just three minutes when Mikey Drennan fouled Danny Ledwith. Yellow cards would follow for Patrick Cregg and Simon Madden, while Owen Heary’s side saw two bookings in the first-half, for Raff Cretaro and Alan Keane.
Pat Fenlon’s men took the lead after just five minutes. Keith Fahey was sent down the left hand side, where he could only hit his shot straight at Ryan Coulter, but the rebound came back into the path of Sean O’Connor who tapped his shot into the net to make it 1-0.
The Bit o’Red very nearly made it one apiece just two minutes later. The unmarked Sander Puri’s attempt was blocked by Craig Hyland, and Cretaro could not get a decent effort at goal from the rebound.
Cretaro then had a strong shout for a penalty after he looked to have been tripped in the Hoops box by Patrick Cregg, but referee Tomas Connolly waved play on. Shamrock Rovers, too were denied a possible penalty when Mikey Drennan clashed with Gavin Peers in the Sligo area, but again the referee denied their claims.
On 17 minutes, the score-line was level. The hosts were awarded a free-kick when Eoin Wearen was fouled outside the box. And Danny Ledwith sent the resulting free past Hyland with a lovely, curling shot.
The visitors found themselves ahead once again in the 50th minute. Sean O’Connor’s ball across a packed Sligo area, missed everyone and was just tapped in at the far post by Drennan, who was causing Owen Heary’s men a lot of problems all night.
The Dublin side’s shot-stopper, Craig Hyland, was in inspired form all night, and kept Sligo at bay with a number of excellent saves from Wearen and Cretaro efforts, both of which looked to be heading towards the back of the net.
Sligo Rovers: Ryan Coulter, Alan Keane, Gavin Peers (c), Stephen Folan, Danny Ledwith, Steven Beattie, David Cawley, Eoin Wearen, Sander Puri (Dinny Corcoran,), Raffaele Cretaro, Morten Nielsen (Kevin Devaney, 74).
Subs: Ciaran Kelly, Gary Boylan, Jake Dykes, Keith Ward, Ryan McManus.
Shamrock Rovers: Craig Hyland, Simon Madden, Conor Kenna (c), David Webster, David O’Connor, Patrick Cregg (Ryan Brennan, 62), Keith Fahey, Stephen McPhail, Gavin Brennan (Kieran Marty Waters, 80), Sean O’Connor, Mikey Drennan (Gareth McCaffrey, 87).
Subs: Barry Murphy, Maxime Blanchard, Gary McCabe, Brandon Miele.
Referee: Tomas Connolly