COUGHLAN SHINES AS SLIGO STUN DERRY
THE League of Ireland returned to action after its extended break due to the coronavirus pandemic with a surprise result, Sligo Rovers ambushing Derry City on their home patch with a well-earned 2-0 victory. There may have been no fans in The Brandywell but optimism had been swirling around the ground over the past few weeks in the build-up to this fixture with a general belief that the Candystripes would return stronger after the hiatus, bolstered by new signings and a renewed sense of purpose. Instead, it was the visitors who took all the positives as they secured their first win of the season against a strangely muted Derry outfit. Liam Buckley’s side played by far the more positive football, looking to stretch the home side out wide and through direct play down the middle, while Declan Devine’s men struggled to cope — despite attempts to lift the atmosphere with canned crowd noise over the PA system — and did not provide any meaningful threat over the 90 minutes. Sligo took the lead after 19 minutes when Kyle McFadden headed in a well-struck corner from Regan Donelon and would have had two shortly after, only for Eoin Toal to deny Ronan Coughlan from close range. Coughlan looked lively throughout for the visitors and, after having a penalty claim denied just before halftime, he got the goal his efforts merited 10 minutes after the resumption, when he was brought down by Toal inside the box and fired home the penalty. Derry upped the ante but could not force a way back into the game and Sligo departed with an excellent victory and genuine optimism that they can turn their season around.
DERRY CITY: P Cherrie; E Toal, C McCormack, A Gilchrist (M McChrystal 46), C Coll, J Thomson, G Bruna, C Clifford (J Malone 57), S Mallon, C Harkin (P Ferry 51), W Figueira. SLIGO ROVERS: E McGinty; D Noone, K McFadden, R Donelon, G Buckley (J Russell 73), W Seymore, N Morahan, D Cawley, J Devers, R De Vries, R Coughlan. Scorers: McFadden 19, Coughlan (pen) 51. Referee: P McLoughlin (Donegal).