League Report: Sligo Rovers 1 - 1 Dundalk

By Aaron Cawley at the Showgrounds

Niclas Vemmelund and Benny Igiehon found the net as Sligo Rovers and Dundalk played out an action-packed 1-1 at the Showgrounds on Saturday night.

In a fast-paced first half it was Dundalk who took the lead after defender Vemmelund scored a header from a free kick after Sligo midfielder Craig Roddan gave away a needless foul 20 yards out from goal.

The goal came at a good time for Dundalk and it settled them after they had been lucky not to concede to a Chris Kenny shot after 30 seconds. Striker Igiehon ran down the wing and picked out Roddan, who in turn found Kenny in the box.

Rovers had the better of the possession in the first half and thought they had equalised after left back Regan Donelon stole the ball from Brian Gartland only to see his shot blocked by goalkeeper Gary Rogers.

Two minutes later, Igiehon scored his first goal for the club from Roddan's floated free kick. The Englishman's shot rattled around the Dundalk box before going in off the left hand side of the goal.

A minute later, Rhys Mc Cabe shot just wide after a charging run from midfield.

On the half-hour, Sligo had two big penalty shouts turned down by referee Graham Kelly: the first for an alleged handball in the box and the second for a foul on midfielder Chris Kenny.

As the first half came to a close it was Sligo who'd had the better chances and were unlucky not to be ahead.

The second half was a bit of a let-down as neither team asserted dominance. Dundalk came closest to finding the winning goal on 70 minutes as ex-Sligo Rovers player David McMillan headed that just went wide.

Sligo had a number of chances to win the game, but shots from Kenny and Igiehon failed to test Dundalk goalkeeper Rogers.

As the game drew to a close a ball in to the box was headed just wide of his own goal by Sligo defender Kenny.

Sligo will be the happier of the two teams with this result. Stephen Kenny will look at this as two points dropped where as Gerard Lyttle will be happy with how his team performed especially after coming back from a goal down early in the game.

Sligo Rovers: Michael Schlingermann; Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Regan Donelon, Michael Leahy, Kyle Callan-McFadden; Gary Boylan, Chris Kenny, Craig Rodden, Rhys McCabe, John Keaney 88), Daniel Kearns; Benny Igiehon (Gary Armstrong 91).

Subs not used: Shaun Patton, Mark Shannon, John Mahon, Martin Walsh, Paul Doyle.

Dundalk: Gary Rogers; Sean Gannon, Brian Gartland, Niclas Vemmelund, Dane Massey; Chris Shields, John Mountney (Dylan Connolly 63) Michael Duffy (Steven Kinsella 74), Thomas Stewart (Jamie McGrath 76), Robbie Benson; David McMillan.

Subs not used: Stephen O’Donnell, Paddy Barrett, Sean Hoare, Gabriel Sava.

Referee: Graham Kelly.

Attendance: 1,720 (official).

Extratime.ie Player of the Match: Benny Igiehon (Sligo Rovers).