Sligo Rovers 3
Longford Town 2
SLIGO ROVERS RECORDED only their third win of the season, with a home victory over Longford Town, despite a second-half comeback of sorts from the visitors.
The home side took the lead after 21 minutes thanks to David Cawley, and doubled that lead just two minutes later through Keith Ward. Dinny Corcoran made it three after 35 minutes.
The visitors came closing to staging quite the comeback. Second half goals from Mark Salmon and Dean Kelly made Rovers nervous, but they could not find a third.
Rovers took a foothold in the game from the very start, but were squandering chances and saw a penalty shout waved away.
But, Joseph Ndo’s charges made that early dominance count when they stormed into the lead after 21 minutes. Dinny Corcoran spotted the run of Raffaele Cretaro down the right, and the Sligo native crossed in for Cawley, who just needed to get a touch on it. And that he did, sending his effort trickling past Paul Skinner to give the Bit o’Red the lead.
Just two minutes later, Rovers doubled their lead. The tricky Keith Ward moved in from the left and dinked his effort over the head of Skinner to extend the hosts’ lead.
Mark Salmon came close to pulling one back for the visitors just seconds later when he beat both Alan Keane and Gavin Peers in the edge of the box, but he ultimately sent his effort wide, failing to trouble Ryan Coulter in goal.
It was 3-0 to Rovers after the half hour mark, when Gary Armstrong cleverly played in striker Dinny Corcoran who didn’t need to be asked twice. His close range shot couldn’t be stopped by Skinner.
Further opportunities for Sligo followed, with both Armstrong and Corcoran coming close before the half hour mark.
Ward was causing problems for Longford after the re-start, and could have made it 4-0 with a spectacular free kick. The former Dundalk man spotted Skinner off his line, and attempted to score from 40 yards, but somehow the Longford netminder managed to get a palm to it.
Longford pulled one back just after the hour mark, when Salmon was fouled in the box by Ward. He stood up to take it himself, and sending Coulter the wrong way, he made it 3-1.
The Midlands side, who looked to be down and out at half-time, had the hosts sweating when they pulled the score-line back to 3-2 after Dean Kelly nodded in a Salmon free-kick.
Indeed, it could have been level just seconds later but for a decent save by Coulter from a close range Gary Shaw header.
Sligo Rovers: Ryan Coulter, Alan Keane, Gavin Peers, Gary Boylan, Regan Donelon, Raffaele Cretaro, David Cawley, Keith Ward (Kevin Devaney, 69), Gary Armstrong (Liam Flatley, 85), Sander Puri, Dinny Corcoran.
Subs: Ciaran Kelly, Jake Dykes, Ross Taheny, Ryan McManus.
Longford Town: Paul Skinner, Pat Sullivan, Rhys Gorman, Mark Rossiter (Jamie Mulhall, 88), Conor Powell, Mark Salmon, Kevin O’Connor, Stephen Rice, Gary Shaw, Jack Doherty (Ayman Ben Mohamed, 63) David O’Sullivan (Dean Kelly, 46).
Subs: Paul Hunt, Martin Deady, William Tyrell, Kaleem Simon.
Referee: Neil Doyle.
Originally published Saturday at 22.01