Rovers annihilated by Derry City in dismal display
DERRY CITY SLIGO ROVERS
DERRY City bounced back from their European disappointment to put Sligo Rovers to the sword at Maginn Park on Sunday afternoon.
Goals from Lukas Schubert, Ronan Curtis, Aaron McEneff and Rory Holden saw Derry claim an excellent win, albeit a win made easier by an extremely poor and disorganised Sligo Rovers.
Rhys McCabe made his debut for the club, albeit in difficult circumstances.
The visitors were gifted an opportunity to take the lead with just minutes played. Gerard Doherty passed straight to Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, but with an awkward angle from which to shoot, the former Peterborough man squared it for Jonah Ayunga who couldn’t get the ball out from under his feet in time.
Kenny Shiels’ side first troubled the Rovers rearguard on eight minutes, with Micheal Schlingermann was on hand to tip an Aaron McEneff shot away from danger.
That set the tone for the afternoon and the Bit O’Red really offered nothing else to trouble Gerard Doherty for the day.
Schlingermann pulled off a string of excellent saves within minutes to deny debutant Darren Cole from giving his side the lead.
The Kiltimagh man did well to deny McEneff again, but the clearance fell right into the path of Schubert who nodded past the Sligo stopped to make it 1-0 to the hosts.
The Candystripes were well in control after the re-start and really should have extended their lead but for an excellent Schlingermann save from a Curtis effort, before Rory Patterson’s 30 yard effort was tipped around the post.
Rovers did well to force an attack from a Derry City corner, and with three men on three, substitute Gary Armstrong sent an inviting ball in front of Ayunga, but the Brighton and Hove Albion loanee was dispossessed by Darren Cole.
It was soon 2-0 to the hosts. Ronan Curtis controlled a pass well with his chest before rounding Schlingermann to double their advantage, and it was without doubt game over for Gerard Lyttle’s side at this point.
One sensed that Derry were not going to give up, and were insistent on piling as much misery as possible on their sorry visitors.
As they continued to attack, Ben Doherty was bundled over in the box by Kyle Callan McFadden, with referee Paul Tuite forced to award a penalty.
Although Schlingermann was close, he couldn’t put a stop to Aaron McEneff’s powerful spotkick which made it 3-0.
Schlingermann was most definitely the busier of the two keepers on the day, and he was forced to be alert again shortly afterwards when he did well to force a Curtis shot wide.
Rory Holden wanted his own name on the scoresheet, and having picked up a Patterson pass, he made light work of the Rovers defence to make it 4-0 to the hosts on a dreadful day for Sligo Rovers.
Up next is fellow relegation candidates Drogheda United at The Showgrounds on Saturday.
Derry City: Gerard Doherty; Harry Monaghan (Nathan Boyle h-t), Darren Cole, Dean Jarvis, Ben Doherty; Lukas Schubert, Nicky Low, Aaron McEneff, Ronan Curtis (Josh Daniels 80); Barry McNamee (Rory Holden 77); Rory Patterson;
Sligo Rovers: Micheal Schlingermann; Seamus Sharkey (Gary Armstrong h-t), Mick Leahy, Kyle Callan McFadden, Regan Donelon; Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Gary Boylan, Rhys McCabe (Chris Kenny 77), Daniel Kearns; Raffaele Cretaro; Jonah Ayunga (Mikey Place 64).
Referee - Paul Tuite (Dublin)