Limerick run riot against Rovers
LIMERICK SLIGO ROVERS 5 1 SLIGO Rovers will want to forget the start of their 2017 SSE Airtricity Premier Division campaign as they were annihilated 5- 1 by newly promoted Limerick at Market’s Field on Friday night.
The Bit o’Red went behind after just three minutes when Ian Turner pounced on a Schlingermann clearance before Brazilian Rodrigo Tosi got a hat- trick to give Martin Russell’s side a comfortable four goal lead.
Substitute Matty Stevens pulled one back for Rovers, but it meant little as former player Lee J Lynch restored the Blues’ four goal lead with his stunning effort.
It could well have been six, but Micheal Schlingermann saved a poor penalty from Turner to save Rovers further blushes.
There were few surprises in Dave Robertson’s first starting eleven of the season, although the exlusion of Kyle Callan- McFadden raised a few eyebrows.
The visitors got off to the worst start possible.
Lynch capitalised on a defensive error, before his shot was saved by Schlingermann in goal. The clearance fell into the path of Turner who had little work to do to give his side the lead.
Chris Kenny, who netted a number of wonderful goals in pre- season, almost replicated that form when he forced Freddy Hall into action with a driving shot, but the Bermudan forced his effort wide.
That was as close as Rovers would come in the early stages, as Limerick soon doubled their lead.
A Shaun Kelly corner from the right was missed by the Rovers defence, and new signing Tosi was on hand to hit the ball past Schlingermann on 30 minutes to make it 2- 0.
The evening got even grimmer for Dave Robertson’s side as they fell further behind on 38 minutes.
A cross again came to Tosi, whose header drilled past Schlingermann in goal, to give Rovers a deficit that looked impossible to rectify.
Robertson reverted to his preferred diamond formation in the second- half, bringing on both Mathew Stevens and Kyle Callan- McFadden in place of Chris Kenny and Mick Leahy.
Sub Stevens got on the scoresheet in the 60th minute during Rovers’ only good spell of the game.
The Peterborough loanee got on the end of a Freddy Hall save, slotting into the back of the net.
But the pressure was not going to be eased on Rovers anytime soon, and Tosi soon made it 4- 1.
His initial effort was saved by Schlingermann but his follow up was on target to pile the misery on the Bit o’Red.
Limerick were awarded a penalty in the 76th minute.
But, Turner sent his spot- kick straight into the arms of Schlingermann, although a fifth goal was on the way.
A glorious chip over the head of Schlingermann from former Rovers player Lee J Lynch was the final nail in the coffin on an utterly miserable evening for Rovers, in front of a crowd of 2,357 at Market’s Field.
Rovers will play host to champions Dundalk this Saturday evening in their first home game of the season at The Showgrounds.
Robertson will take heart from the fact that his side beat Stephen Kenny’s men 3- 0 in their last outing last season.
Limerick: Freddy Hall, Shaun Kelly, Robbie Williams, Tony Whitehead, Tommy Robson, Ian Turner, Shane Duggan, Lee Lynch, Dean Clarke ( Cheidozie Ogbene, 71), Bastien Hery ( Paul O’Conor, 84), Rodrigo Tosi ( Chris Mulhall, 78).
Subs not used: Brendan Clarke, Barry Cotter, Stephen Kenny, Garbhan Coughlan. AS John Russell approached the away fans on Friday night to apologise for that excuse of a performance from Sligo Rovers, it finally sunk in that Rovers had been embarrassed 5- 1 by newly promoted Limerick.
Rovers fans travelled around seven hours there and back, spent good money to be there and some probably took time off work to be there, only to be left mortified.
It’s always a risk you take with sport, obviously, but no- one saw that annihilation coming.
The outrage, the complaints and the abuse has probably been completely justified.
Sligo Rovers are aiming for a European place this year. Limerick, I’m told, are hoping to finish in the top six and are under pressure to do so given their budget and their squad.
The bookies were in Limerick’s favour beforehand. They have a fairly average squad but their recruitment of players from abroad makes them an unknown entity to some extent.
Rovers’ lack of recruitment, if you like, means that few would have actually expected them to pull out a result against Martin Russell’s side.
A defeat is acceptable once there is a fight and effort from players.
It just wasn’t there. It was unacceptable for a side who themselves are expecting to get so much more from this season.
There was no leadership that evident to anyone sitting there watching this painful encounter.
I find it tough to even point the finger at anyone in particular. There wasn’t a decent performance from a single Rovers player
Sligo Rovers: Micheál Schlingermann, Tobi Adebayo- Rowling, Mick Leahy ( Kyle Callan- McFadden, 46), Gary Boylan, Regan Donelon, Daniel Kearns, Craig Roddan, Chris Kenny ( Mathew Stevens, yet for some reason I almost feel sorry for them – they were almost bullied off the pitch Friday night.
The starting eleven was similar to what I would have hoped for, I had no complaints about that. No- one looked unfit, despite some comments by people afterwards.
Our pre- season preparation appeared to be adequate and again there were no complaints on that front.
But just as soon as Ian Turner scored on Friday night it was game over.
That goal was totally preventable and came from an error of our own. Rovers collapsed and after 38 minutes were 3- 0 down. Halftime had barely been announced when it was apparent that this tie was well and truly over.
There was a better 10 minute spell at the start of the second half but it was better in that we didn’t 46), John Russell, Kieran Sadlier, Raffaele Cretaro ( Jonah Ayunga, 84).
Subs not used: Shaun Patton, John Mahon, Mikey Place, Jack Keaney.
Referee: Graham Kelly. concede and held on to the ball a bit longer. Stevens scored, yes, but it had no bearing on the game whatsoever.
It’s pointless trying to give anyone credit.
There’s a lot of talk now surrounding Dave Robertson’s position as manager, and it is justified given the fact that expectations are so much higher this year.
For me personally, it’s too early to go into that talk. Deep down in my heart I want to believe that this was first day of the season jitters.
Perhaps I’m fooling myself but I want to make myself believe that it was an off day and come this weekend the players will have received the proverbial kick up the backside that they require.
We have got to see more this weekend than we did on Friday night. We’re one game in and people are already discussing relegation and the First Division.
There needs to be something to put an end to that.
It all comes back to the poor recruitment over the winter. No disrespect to the five players signed by Rovers,
It’s far too early to be making judgements on them and I won’t be until we are further into the season.
But we needed a defender and at least one other player before the transfer window closed.
Come deadline day I was getting worried that there was no- one coming. Jordan Richards almost joined, but because of the FAI rules it was too late.
I don’t blame the FAI, the rule might be stupid but it’s the rule and they are not going to bend that to help any club or manager. Everyone knew the rule beforehand. There was enough time to sign players.
We have to remember it’s tough to attract players here. We’ve been fortunate enough in recent years with players coming from the UK, and League of Ireland players have signed largely on the basis that we are full time professionals.
But with more clubs now turning to full time football seemingly, it’s becoming harder to attract lads to the North West of Ireland, particularly when we’re going through a barren spell trophy wise.
Whether we get any free agents or not in the next while remains to be seen.
But we have got to see something Saturday night to give us some glimmer of hope for the season ahead.
I’m not pressing the panic button just yet, but there are enough people doing so to put players and management under pressure.