Sligo Rovers (1) 2  - Peers 39' Doyle 90+1      
Rovers (0) 0 -                 
 

Airtricity League - Showgrounds - Friday 24th June 2011 

Hoops Line out
1 Alan Mannus
2 Pat Sullivan
3 Enda Stevens
4 Craig Sives
17 Ken Oman
7 Gary McCabe
18 Chris Turner
6 Stephen Rice
22 Conor McCormack
20 Billy Dennehy  
19 Gary O'Neill

Substitutes

21 Ronan Finn
for Turner 19'
9 Gary Twigg
for Stevens 60'
11 Ciaran Kilduff
for O'Neill 68'
5 Dan Murray
8 Stephen O'Donnell
14 Dean Kelly
16 Ryan Thompson

Gary O'Neill...lone striker for first sixty minutes

The Hoops had a miserable night at a windy and wet Sligo Showgrounds as a Peers header in the 1st half and a late Eoin Doyle goal wrapped up the points for the home side.

The Hoops started with Dan Murray, Ronan Finn and Gary Twigg on the bench and opted to use Gary Twigg as a lone striker as they lined up to play against the driving wind and rain at the Showgrounds.

In the 4th minute a McCormack free-kick into the box saw Sives head the ball down but Dennehy couldn’t get control of the the ball. Two minutes later a Joseph Ndo free-kick saw Peers just fail to get a connection in front of goal.

Ken Oman made a fine interception to cut out Greene’s dangerous low cross while at the other end Billy Dennehy robbed the ball off a defender but dragged his shot wide.

Chris Turner was forced off due to injury after only 19 minutes and was replaced by Ronan Finn. A corner from Ndo on 26 minutes was too hot to handle for Alan Mannus but he managed to clear the danger.

Despite having more possession of the ball the home side only managed a weak shot on goal by defender Keane after 35 minutes, that was easily saved by Mannus, to show for their efforts.

However that was to change on 39 minutes when another Ndo corner was met by the head of the unchallenged Peers and he duly dispatched the ball into the Rovers net.

The start of the second half saw Rovers try to force the home side onto the back foot but they gave possession of the ball away too easily. Just before the hour a speculative cross from Greene clipped the Hoops crossbar and a couple of minutes later the same player headed away a dangerous McCabe free-kick.

Gary Twigg and Ciaran Kilduff were introduced and on 70 minutes the industrious Gary McCabe slipped the ball through to Kilduff in the Sligo area and he appeared to be bundled over by two defenders but the Ref waved play on.

On 75 minutes a Dennehy corner was met at the near post by Oman but he glanced his header over the bar. Two minutes later at the other end a Keane low cross saw Blinkhorn get a touch on the ball but fortunately Sullivan got across for the vital block.

On 80 minutes a Blinkhorn cross saw Oman knock the ball off Mannus but Dillon’s follow-up shot was deflected for a corner. A minute later Gary McCabe was fouled 25 yards out and he dusted himself off to take the free-kick and Clarke in the home goal had to beat his shot away.

On 84 minutes Ndo found Doyle in the box but he shot over the bar. Rovers last chance to equalise came on 87 minutes when Gary McCabe again was on hand to create an opening but his low cross into the area saw Kilduff turn and shoot only to see his effort blocked.

It was all over for Rovers in the first minute of added on-time when Doyle ran on to a through ball to take the ball past Mannus and shoot into the net despite the best efforts of Pat Sullivan.