Buckley has Bit O’Hope
● Rovers manager remains upbeat despite blip for Bit O’Red
SLIGO Rovers may have only picked one one point from their last three games – but manager Liam Buckley is still taking great optimism from their place in the table. Despite this poor run of form since returning from the mid-season break – defeats against Drogheda United and St Patrick’s Athletic and an away draw with Derry City – the Bit O’Red remain within just two points of top spot. In fact, Rovers are a point better off now than they were heading into Monday’s night’s game at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium – a game that finished 1-1 after a deflected Ronan Boyce equaliser for the hosts in the 85th minute cancelled out Jordan Gibson’s sixth goal of the season.
Buckley said: “After the Derry result we are a point closer [to a top four finish] than we were before kick-off and I am delighted to be where we are as we approach the halfway point in the season.”
“If we can match the second-half of the season with how we played in the first-half we will be right up there come the end of the year.”
This coming Saturday Rovers host fourth-placed Bohemians at The Showgrounds (7.45pm start). There is a limited attendance and the game will be streamed live on LOITV.
SSE Airtricity League Premier Division St Patrick’s Athletic 2 Sligo Rovers 0
SLIGO Rovers were better – in parts – than they had been against Drogheda United but they still didn’t do enough to justify even a draw from their trip to Inchicore’s Richmond Park last Friday night.
St Patrick’s Athletic, full of enterprise as typified by the excellent Alfie Lewis, won 2-0 to condemn Rovers to a second successive defeat and their third loss overall in 16 Premier Division games.
This result saw St Pat’s swap places with Rovers, who dropped from second to third.
While Rovers weren’t made suffer by world-class finishes here – as had been the case in the 2-1 home loss to Drogheda United when Chris Lyons twice netted brilliantly – the concession of an early, possibly preventable goal (striker Matty Smith on target after seven minutes) put them on the back foot. An improvement hinted at an equaliser but a second goal for St Pat’s – former Rovers striker Ronan Coughlan converted a 73rd minute penalty – proved Rovers’ undoing. But, having failed to get even one shot on target, Rovers were very much the authors of their own misfortune.
Manager Liam Buckley made two changes to his starting XI. Colm Horgan and Romeo Parkes came in at right-back and striker respectively, with Shane Blaney and Ryan De Vries making way.
While Romeo Parkes was back after serving a one-match ban, sterling centre-back Garry Buckley missed this fixture through injury and his absence saw Lewis Banks chosen as John Mahon’s defensive partner. It would be easy to suggest that Buckley’s powerful presence would have made a difference when St Pat’s took the lead. Robbie Benson’s dinked pass found its way to Matty Smith, who seized on the breaking ball to sweep it past Ed McGinty. Rovers, hemmed in by St Pat’s pressing, finally put pressure on the home side and Romeo Parkes saw his shot deflected out for a 13th minute corner.
St Pat’s, successful in shutting down Rovers’ attempts to get a passing pattern going, were less successful in adding to their lead – Lewis Banks blocking a Matty Smith shot. Billy King had a better opportunity later on in the first-half but Ed McGinty made a superb save to keep the scoreline at 1-0.
Rovers had to reshuffle their defence when an injury forced Robbie McCourt off – an injury later confirmed to be a broken wrist – and Regan Donelon was brought in. St Pat’s wrapped up the opening period with a fine chance for goalscorer Smith, who was just off target in the fifth minute of stoppage time.
Rovers, with Greg Bolger growing increasingly influential, forced a series of corners in the 20 minutes or so before falling further behind – but none of these set-pieces led to anything significant.
St Pat’s were generally nullified during this period, too, although John Mahon was required to cut out a dangerous cross after 63 minutes. Substitute David Cawley had a shot at goal – the ball blocked for a corner – and then Cawley tried to put Romeo Parkes through on goal but St Pat’s netminder Vitezslav Jaros, a 19-year-old on loan from Liverpool FC, advanced to smother the potential threat.
A sign that Rovers were finding their feet was that St Pat’s had withdrawn Chris Forrester, normally their talisman.
But St Pat’s more or less secured the spoils when Ronan Coughlan netted decisively from a spot-kick awarded after a foul on Matty Smith. Rovers made a triple change for the last 10 minutes – Danny Kane, Johnny Kenny and Shane Blaney entered the fray – but there was to be no great escape for the Bit O’Red. Only anothering sobering lesson.
Best for Rovers: John Mahon
St Patrick’s Athletic: Vitezslav Jaros; John Mountney, Paddy Barrett, Lee Desmond, Ian Bermingham; Alfie Lewis, Chris Forrester (Jamie Lennon 69), Robbie Benson; Billy King (Darragh Burns 62), Matty Smith (Jay McClelland 88), Ronan Coughlan
Sligo Rovers: Ed McGinty; Colm Horgan, John Mahon, Lewis Banks (Danny Kane 83), Robbie McCourt (Regan Donelon
43); Greg Bolger, Niall Morahan (Johnny Kenny 83); Mark Byrne (Shane Blaney 83), Jordan Gibson, Walter Figueira (David Cawley 66); Romeo Parkes.
Referee: Paul McLaughlin (Donegal)