League Report: Sligo Rovers 0 - 0 Cork City

The Showgrounds saw a 0-0 stalemate on Saturday night when Cork City came to town to take on Sligo Rovers. On a cold and wet evening in Sligo it was the visitors who had the better of the chances in the first half but Rovers started brightly with both Kieran Sadlier and Jaanai Gordon having early chances for the home team. 

This was as good as it got for the Bit O'Red in the opening period. They were lucky to go in at half time still in the game and they had goalkeeper Michael Schlingermann to thank for this.

He made stood firm against all the Cork City threw at him, making saves from Sean Maguire, Karl Sheppard, Stephen Dooley and Kevin O'Connor.

It was Maguire who created City's first effort of the night as his header found Sheppard only for Schlingermann to claim the ball at the edge of the box. Next it was Maguire who had a shot on target but again he was denied by the Rovers 'keeper.

MId-way through the half, Stephen Dooley beat Tobi Adebayo-Rowling easily on the right hand side of the pitch but his effort was saved by Schlingermann.

The goalkeeper was inspired form and when called again into action twice just after the half an hour mark, neither O'Connor nor Sheppard could beat him as he saved from both.

Sheppard's effort was the closest City came to break the deadlock with a shot that came back off the post.  As the first half came to an end Jaanai Gordon had a speculative effort on goal but his shot was headed away easily.

Sligo Rovers came out the second half a different team. Sadlier again had a great chance to put Rovers 1-0 up early in the second period but his shot was expertly saved by Mark McNulty.

After 55 minutes Schlingermann, who was so calm under pressure up to that point, had a rush of blood to the head as he took down Sean Maguire in the box to concede a penalty.

However, the 'keeper redeemed himself with a brilliant save from Maguire's subsequent spot kick. This spurred on the Bit O'Red and minutes later Regan Donelon broke down the left and his cross came off O'Connor for a corner but th the home team couldn't exploit the set peice.

On 64 minutes Kieran Sadlier, Jimmy Keohane and Craig Rodden teamed up to create a shooting opportunity for John Russell but his effort was high and wide. Four minutes later Regan Donelon came to Rovers' rescue as he made a fantastic tackle to deny Sheppard who had found himself some space in the box.

Liam Martin met a Sadlier cross and his first time effort went just wide of McNultys goal. The Leesiders' goalkeeper error soon after allowed the home team the next chance. He gave away a silly foul after coming out of the box to foul Martin. Lucky for him the resulting free kick came to nothing. 

As the game drew to a close both O'Sullivan and Garry Buckley had late efforts to claim all three points for Cork but it wasn't to be.

Rovers boss Dave Robertson will definitely be the happier of both managers after this game as his side put the poor performance against Bray last week behind them whilst John Caulfield will see this result as more dropped points on the road for City.

Sligo Rovers: Micheal Schlingermann; Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Regan Donelon, Michael Leahy, Gary Boylan; Jimmy Keohane, Craig Rodden  (C), Jordan Richards (John Russell 46), Liam Martin, Kieran Sadlier; Jaanai Gordon (Chris Lyons 60)

Subs Not Used: Ciaran Nugent, Gary Armstrong, Raffaele Cretaro, Mikey Place.

Booked: Chris Lyons (63), Craig Rodden (64), Mick Leahy (90).

Cork City: Mark Mc Nulty; John Dunleavy, Kenny Browne, Eoghan O Connell, Kevin O Connor, Gearoid Morrissey, Colin Healy (Garry Byckley 55), Stephen Dooley, Steven Beattie (Ian Turner 78), Karl Sheppard; Sean Maguire (Mark O Sullivan 83).

Subs Not Used: Alan Smith, Michael McSweeney,  Gavan Holohan, Danny Morrissey.

Booked: Garry Buckley (59), Mark McNutly (80).

Referee: Robert Harvey.

Attendance: 1,609.

Extratime.ie Man Of The Match: Micheal Schlingermann.