Sligo Rovers 3 - 0 Bray Wanderers
Credit:
Sligo Rovers’ title challenge received a further boost after they defeated a lacklustre Bray Wanderers team in a very one-sided game at The Showgrounds.
Despite the threat of hurricane Katia possible affecting the game, Sligo Rovers showed much of the same desire that lead them to defeat Shamrock Rovers on Friday. A 39th minute goal from Danny Ventre gave Sligo the lead before John Russell doubled their tally on 43 minutes. The victory was wrapped up in the 67th minute through an Alan Keane header.
John Dillon was Sligo’s biggest threat in the first-half and was causing all sorts of bother down the right wing. Rovers’ first opportunity came after eight minutes when Richie Ryan took a quick free-kick and gave it to Dillon. The English man fed the ball to Alan Keane who placed it right in front of the Bray goal but Eoin Doyle just couldn’t get on to it.
Shane O’Neill took centre-stage in the first threat from Pat Devlin’s men. Daire Doyle gave the ball forward to O’Neill but he hit a tame effort at Brendan Clarke. Darren Quigley pulled off a number of vital saves to prevent Alan Keane and John Dillon getting on the team sheet.
His efforts did prevent those two getting on the score-sheet in the first half, but he was unable to stop Danny Ventre and John Russell from getting there. It was indeed, John Dillon who provided the assist for Danny Ventre’s goal. Just four minutes later Sligo took a 2-0 lead with a super right-foot finish from John Russell.
A lovely bit of Sligo team work opened up the second half brightly. A few dummies by both Richie Ryan and Joseph Ndo left the ball to Eoin Doyle but he just couldn’t get around Derek Prendergast. Sligo continued to press and were not satisfied with 2-0. On the 67th minute came their third goal. A cross from left-back Iarfhlaith Davoren met the head of Alan Keane who smacked it powerfully into Darren Quigley’s net.
Eoin Doyle found himself up front with no Bray defenders near him and tried to chip the ball over Darren Quigley. The Bray keeper got a touch to it and Doyle tried to head the ball in to the net but David Webster hit it just over the bar. Bray created virtually nothing in the second-half and can have no complaints with the score-line.
Sligo Rovers: Brendan Clarke; Alan Keane, Iarfhlaith Davoren, Jason McGuinness, Gavin Peers; Richie Ryan, Danny Ventre (Alan Kirby, 65), Joseph Ndo (Conor Powell, 75), John Russell, John Dillon (Raffaele Cretaro, 63); Eoin Doyle.
Subs not used : Ciaran Kelly, Derek Foran, Matthew Blinkhorn, Liam Martyn.
Bookings: Richie Ryan (85).
Derry City: Darren Quigley; David Webster, Shane O'Connor, Derek Prendergast, Sean Houston; Dean Zambra, Daire Doyle (Conor Butler, 77), Chris Shields, Kevin Knight (Gary Shaw, 61); Jake Kelly, Shane O’Neill (Conor Murphy, 70).
Subs not used:Brian Kane, Dane Massey, John Mulroy, Dan McGuinness, Conor Butler.
Bookings: None.
Referee: Graham Kelly.
Attendance: 1,495.
extratime.ie Man of the Match : John Dillon.
