Sligo Rovers 3
Limerick 0
GERARD LYTTLE PICKED up his first win as Sligo Rovers boss with a 3-0 win over an out of sorts Limerick side at the Showgrounds tonight.
Raffaele Cretaro, Jonah Ayunga and Kieran Sadlier were amongst the scorers for the Bit O’Red as they moved out of the relegation zone for the first time this year.
Cretaro fired Sligo into the lead as early as the second minute.
John Russell picked out Kyle Callan-McFadden from his set piece and the Donegal man directed the ball back across the face of goal where the lurking Cretaro profited on some hesitance in the Limerick defence to fire home from 15 yards.
Sligo’s bright start almost saw them double their lead on six minutes. Captain Russell found the run of the in-form Sadlier who saw his vicious strike from the angle bounce back off Brendan Clarke’s crossbar.
Rodrigo Tosi came close to levelling the game when he nodded Dean Clarke’s cross narrowly wide of the Rovers post on seven minutes.
But Sligo were making the most of their early chances and made the Blues pay again on the quarter hour.
Clarke was caught in no man’s land as he hesitated in coming to challenge Cretaro following a punt forward from the Rovers defence. The veteran striker controlled the ball before picking out Ayunga who was left with a simple finish into an empty net with Clarke stranded.
Rovers goalkeeper Micheál Schlingermann was on hand to keep out another Tosi effort on 25 while Sadlier tested Clarke again twice in quick succession before the break.
The second half was little under two minutes old when Willie Boland’s team collapsed again. Liam Martin’s ball to the back post should have been cleared but possession somehow trickled through to Sadlier who pounced for his seventh of the season.
Limerick toiled throughout the second period in their attempts to salvage something from the north west. Shane Duggan skied his free kick from a dangerous area on 68 while Schlingermann was comfortable with anything thrown at him for the remainder of the tie.
SLIGO ROVERS: Micheál Schlingermann; Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Mick Leahy, Kyle Callan-McFadden, Regan Donelon; Liam Martin, Gary Boylan, John Russell, Kieran Sadlier (Mikey Place 88); Raffaele Cretaro (Craig Roddan 78), Jonah Ayunga (Mathew Stevens 86).
LIMERICK: Brendan Clarke; Shaun Kelly, Robbie Williams, Tony Whitehead, Tommy Robson; Dean Clarke (John O’Flynn 46), Shane Duggan, Paul O’Conor (Bastien Hery 63), Chiedozie Ogbene; Lee Lynch (Chris Mulhall 80); Rodrigo Tosi.
Referee: Damien McGrath
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