Reasons to be hopeful as the LOI rollercoaster starts spinning again
“I like the make up and energy of the team and, hopefully, with more luck we’ll avoid the injuries we had last year which will allow the lads to grow as a team and as the season goes on I think we can be a match for anybody.”
SIGNED FOR 2024
SLIGO ROVERS SENIOR MEN’S SQUAD: Conor Walsh (gk), Ed McGinty (gk) (loan), John Mahon, Reece Hutchison, Nando Pijnaker, John Ross Wilson, Niall Morahan, Will Fitzgerald, Fabrice Hartmann, Kailin Barlow, Stefan Radosavljevic, Wilson Waweru, Simon Power, Connor Malley, Owen Elding, Ellis Chapman (loan), Charlie Wiggett, Ollie Denham (loan).
letting in last year.”
It would be easy to feel Rovers will be setting up not to lose in what will once again be a very competitive Men’s Premier Division, especially with Galway United and Waterford FC coming up from last year’s Men’s First Division.
Russell expects his team to go into every single game believing they can come away with three points if they don’t want to get caught at the wrong end of an unforgiving table.
“We are all in this game to win, that is the ultimate thing for all of us, it is why we train every day and we want to
IT IS finally back. The source of so much happiness, frustration and anger – often in equal measure – for so many people. Friday and Saturday nights – and some Mondays, too – will be filled with League of Ireland football once again as the 2024 season kicks off this weekend.
Whether they be educated predictions or predictions lacking any viable logic, everyone has had their say on how it goes and it is now up to teams to prove them right or wrong.
Sligo Rovers are firmly in the camp of needing to prove a lot of people wrong who have already condemned them to a season of relegation woes.
With a younger, smaller pool of players at his disposal, Rovers manager John Russell needs his team to be a tight-knit bunch capable of performing beyond their expectations.
As has been pointed out numerous times since the 2023 season ended – there will be no UCD this year to provide a buffer and the newly-promoted teams, Galway United and Waterford FC, may even prove to be better than Cork City who occupied last year’s promotion-relegation play-off place. While for the first time in years the top four feels as though it should be extremely predictable – a make-up of Shamrock Rovers, St Patrick’s Athletic, Derry City and Shelbourne – there is an entirely unpredictable battle from fifth right down to the foot of the table if every team wants it enough.
Rovers, Galway and Waterford are all tipped to be likely candidates for them bottom two places while there is also a degree of uncertainty over what kind of shape Drogheda United, Bohemians and Dundalk will be in.
While Drogheda, still a largely part-time outfit, won’t be disappointed to simply avoid relegation, a major panic will ensue at Dalymount Park and Oriel Park if these sides endure difficult starts to the season.
Nobody really knows how the season might pan out, but it is up to Rovers to make their own luck to float with ease while other teams around them potentially flounder. As already pointed out, it is a youthful team at The Showgrounds, one that has to make up for a lack of experience with an abundance of ability and character.
This is a group of players with everything to prove and have to show the desire to make a name for themselves at The Showgrounds.
Defence will be a worry with the void left by John Mahon being filled by the inexperienced dup of Charlie Wiggett and Ollie Denham, while academy prospect Conor Reynolds also appears to be an option at centre-back this season.
The loss of Mahon cannot be underestimated and Wiggett and Denham will both need time to settle in, but this is where players like Nando Pijnaker, JR Wilson, Reece
Hutchinson and Ed McGinty all need to make their respective League of Ireland experience count. Midfielder Niall Morahan, now team captain, is also so vital to the cause.
Expectations this year will be different from this time 12 months ago. Supporters may need to be patient with this side, they may need to expect more defeats than wins but what fans deserve to see is a team making them proud win, lose or draw.
Supporters will take a defeat on the chin as long as everything is being left out on the pitch by every single player. If bad performances feed bad results as was the case by the end of the season, then surely good performances will eventually feed good performances if we do have to perservere with a difficult start to the season?
Whatever happens, it’ll be a rollercoaster of emotions we are well used to at this stage. We know it is probably bad for our health, but we can’t resist another go on it every year!
The goalscorers for Rovers at Ferney Park were trialist Rein Smit, who scored twice, Fabrice Hartmann and Owen Elding.
Rovers lost 2-1 against Waterford at Dublin’s AUL Complex on Saturday, February 3 – Ellis Chapman was on target for Rovers.
The club’s second meeting with Galway, this time played at Castlebar’s Solar 21 Park on Tuesday, February 6, ended scoreless.
Rovers completed their pre-season schedule with an away fixture against north-west rivals Finn Harps at Finn Park, Ballybofey, last Saturday. The Donegal club won 2-1. Wilson Waweru netted for the visitors.