League Report: Sligo Rovers 0 - 2 Shamrock Rovers

Goals from Danny North and Brendon Miele handed new Sligo Rovers boss Dave Robertson his first defeat in the league.

In an action packed first half at the Showgrounds it was Shamrock Rovers who made their possession count as Brandon Miele scored a fantastic free kick on fourty two minutes after Dean Clarke was fouled.

Rovers manager Dave Robertson gave nine debuts against Shamrock Rovers with Tim Clancy and Regan Donelon the only players to start from the team from last season. It was Sligo who started the brighter of the two teams with both Jimmy Keohane and Kieran Sadlier having shots on goal in the first eight minutes.

This was a wakeup call for Shamrock Rovers and they started to assert their dominance. Dean Clarke sent a header straight at Michael Schlingermann, before a dangerous ball in to the box forced Jordan Richards to clear it off the line. Next it was the turn of Jimmy Keohane as he denied a guaranteed goal by Brandon Miele. As the first half drew to a close Sligo went down to ten men after Kieran Sadlier was shown a straight red card after a stamp on Killian Brennan.

Pat Fenlon’s side kicked off the second half but it was the Bit o’Red who were the better side even though they were down to ten men. Phil Roberts caused panic in the Shamrock Rovers box when the cross was nearly met by Regan Donelon. On seventy minutes Rovers had a massive shout for hand ball when another Roberts ball in to the box hit off the hand of a Shamrock Rovers defender.

The game effectively ended as a competition on 74 minutes when Craig Rodden was sent off after a second yellow card after he was adjudged to have fouled the Hoops captain Gary Mc Cabe. From then on it was all Shamrock Rovers, Miele had a couple opportunities to kill the game off for the travelling side but his shots were saved by Schlingermann on both occasions. On the 89^th minute ex-Sligo striker Danny North made it two nil to the visitors after Brandon Miele broke in to the Rovers half and slotted the ball to North who easily beat a hapless Schlingermann in one of the final attacks of the game.

Sligo Rovers: Micheal Schlingermann, Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Regan Donelon, Michael Leahy, Tim Clancy (C), Jimmy Keohane, Craig Rodden, Jordan Richards, Kieran Sadlier, Phil Roberts (Chris Lyons 86), Jaanai Gordon (Liam Martin 77)

Subs Not Used: Ciaran Nugent, Gavin Peers, Gary Boylan, Mickey Place, Raffaele Cretaro.

Shamrock Rovers: Barry Murphy, Simon Madden, Gavin Brennan, David O'Connor, Maxime Blanchard, Gary Mc Cabe (C) (Gary Shaw 78), Killian Brennan, Dean Clarke (Patrick Cregg 73), Brandon Miele, Michael Drennan, Danny North.

Subs Not Used: Craig Hulland,  David Webster, Richard Purdy, Robert Cornwall, Gary Shaw, Trevor Clarke.

Referee: Paul Mc Laughlin

Attendance: 3,068

Extratime.ie Man of The Match: David O'Connor (Shamrock Rovers)

You can see a full selection of images from the game as taken by John Doyle and Ciara Maher here