Dundalk 1 - 1 Sligo Rovers
Credit:
Dundalk and Sligo Rovers played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at Oriel Park on Friday night after a Gavin Peers header cancelled out Jason Byrne’s early strike.
Dundalk were on top from the off-set and duly took advantage of some poor Sligo Rovers defending. A defensive error from both Richie Ryan and Jason McGuinness allowed Jason Byrne to fire the ball in to the back of Brendan Clarke’s net with a fine strike after just nine minutes.
Both sides were playing their passing game but with Simon Madden and Michael Hector comfortably dealing with everything that came near them, they ensured The Lilywhites dominated the first half.
The away side drew level in the 32nd minute. John Dillon whipped in the corner, finding the head of Gavin Peers in the process, and the centre-half powered his header past Peter Cherrie into the back of the net. Sligo then began to push forward and started playing their usual attacking game. An unfortunate injury to Dean Bennett meant Keith Ward was brought on to replace the defender.
Sligo had to defend much better with the presence of livewire Daniel Kearns always a danger. Cretaro beat Madden to a high ball but his header was just wide of Cherrie’s goal. Just before the half-way mark, Michael Hector went very close but his attempt was just wide of Sligo’s goals.
Unsurprisingly, Dundalk began the second half just as brightly as they did the first. Jason Byrne looked to be at the centre of every attack and was left unmarked but his goalward run was halted by a foul from John Russell. It looked as if Dundalk had pushed themselves ahead once again when Kearns crossed into the Bit O’Red box but both Byrne and Hector couldn’t make contact.
Dundalk looked dangerous and a 56th minute attack looked promising but ended up in the arms of Brendan Clarke. Peter Cherrie was forced to save from a Cretaro shot in the 60th minute, after the forward used some lovely footwork to create the chance. Immediately after, Quigley drove the ball into the Sligo box but was blocked by his own man, Byrne.
In the last 20 minutes, Dundalk mounted on the pressure but little got past the Sligo defence. Alan Keane intercepted Keith Ward’s attempted pass to Ross Gaynor before Mark Quigley fired another shot which was saved by Clarke.
A counter attack by Sligo Rovers ended in another fine Peter Cherrie save when he stopped Eoin Doyle’s effort. Dundalk were unlucky not to claim the victory but both defence’s put out a convincing performance to ensure the draw.
Dundalk: Peter Cherrie; Simon Madden, Colin Hawkins, Michael Hector, Nathan Murphy; Daniel Kearns, Dean Bennett (Keith Ward, 38), Stephen McDonnell, Ross Gaynor; Mark Quigley, Jason Byrne (Johnny Breen, 80).
Subs not used: Paul Murphy (gk), Mark Griffin, Philip Duffy.
Bookings: Hector (29), Quigley (45), Hawkins (62), Breen (82).
Sligo Rovers: Brendan Clarke; Alan Keane, Gavin Peers, Jason McGuinness, Iarfhlaith Davoren; Eoin Doyle, John Russell (Alan Kirby, 91), John Dillon, Richie Ryan, Daryl Horgan (Aaron Greene, 73); Raffaele Cretaro (Derek Foran, 79).
Subs not used: Ciaran Kelly (gk), Mark McGoldrick.
Bookings: Ryan (30), Russell (51), Peers (69).
Referee: Tom Connolly.
Attendance: 1,600
Extratime Man of the Match: Colin Hawkins – very little got past him all through the game.
