League Preview: Shamrock Rovers -v- Sligo Rovers

SHAMROCK ROVERS

The Hoops come into Saturday’s clash with Sligo Rovers (kick-off 4pm) on the back of what was remarkably their first home win of the league campaign last weekend.

The Hoops tonked Bohs 5-1 in the Dublin derby in Tallaght with confidence boosting first Rovers goals of the season for Stephanie Zambra, Fiona Owens and Emily Corbet.

A win for the Hoops on Saturday afternoon would propel them above champions Peamount United at least temporarily in the table. The Peas sit fifth, one position and two points ahead of Collie O’Neill’s side and they kick off an hour after Rovers’ game when they host Bohs in PRL Park. 

With Owens and Corbet also scoring what was their first goals since moving to the Hoops, O’Neill felt that was a real positive from last week’s win over Bohs. “You could see by the smiles on their faces, they were delighted to finally get a goal,” said O’Neill speaking to shamrockrovers.ie.

“I’m very pleased for Fiona who’s been out for about a year and a half with a long-term injury. Since she’s come back, she’s got better and better with the more game time she gets and she was very impressive last weekend.

"It’s no surprise she got Player of the Match, she was really good and I think she still has more levels to go which is really a good positive for the club. 

“Also for Emily who had a little dip in form when at Wexford, so it’s nice when you come in and you begin to settle in and you always have that target on your back when you’re a centre-forward about trying to score goals, so it’s more a relief for her to finally get one of many that I’m sure she’ll get.

“I think we’ve had several games this year where we’ve played at that same kind of level that we did against Bohs but we didn’t get the result at the end of it. It nearly always comes down to trying to convert those chances that we do create, but we’re hoping that we can actually try and add to how we played last weekend.”

O’Neill won’t be able to call upon the serives of Jessica Hennessy as she made the move on Friday to Nottingham Forest.

SLIGO ROVERS

The Bit O’ Red sit in basement position in the Women’s Premier Division without a win this season but two of the three points that have earned so far in 2024 have come away from home.

Their last point came back in May and since then they have lost ten league matches in a row.

However FAI Cup wins over Terenure Rangers and DLR Waves away have provided better moments during that time and they have an FAI Cup quarter-final to look forward to next weekend when they will host the holders Athlone Town at the Showgrounds.

This will be the third game in 11 days for Tommy Hewitt’s side. He will be thankful for the return of Emma Hansberry as a sub last week following a lengthy spell on the sideline due to injury.

Throwing his eye over the opposition, Collie O’Neill had this to say about Sligo Rovers.

 “They’ve been very unlucky. I watched their game against Galway which they lost 2-1 and they caused an awful lot of trouble for Galway," said O'Neill.

"They were very impressive in their cup quarter final against DLR Waves and got the win in the (UCD) Bowl, which most people didn’t expect them to do, so I think they’re very difficult to try and break down and I think that’s probably the big change that they’ve made from when we played them earlier in the year. 

“They’ve become a little bit more organised, a little bit more defensive, a little bit more hard to beat and will try to hit you on a counter attack. So again, it will probably come down to us trying to play at a good tempo, a good urgency and making sure we’re ready for the battle.”

Referee: Kate O’Brien

MATCH STATS

The Hoops come into the game with back-to-back league wins (against Bohs and Peamount) for the first time since June when they beat Bohs and Sligo Rovers. The home side haven’t won three consecutive league games since last October.

The teams have met three times in the last two league seasons. Back in June the Hoops won 4-1 in Sligo while last year the home team won 4-0 in Tallaght with the Bit O’ Red losing 2-1 in March with Áine O’Gorman scoring a 93rd minute winner for her team in the Showgrounds.

PREDICTION

3 - 1 home win

League Report: Shamrock Rovers 4 - 0 Sligo Rovers https://t.co/wik8y1MdOLpic.twitter.com/ybZHINI5gI

— extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) September 13, 2024