Sligo Rovers 2 - 1 Crusaders (AET)

Joy turned to heartbreak for Sligo Rovers as a Craig Coates penalty in extra time cancelled out earlier goals from Romauld Boco and Mark Quigley to see Crusaders through to the final of the Setanta Sports Cup.

Sligo Rovers needed an early goal and their pressure yielded a corner in the opening minutes. Joseph Ndo took it but  it was fisted away by Sean O’Neill in the Crusaders goal. The pressure from Rovers continued and on the seventh minute, Quigley drifted through the Crusaders defence and found an unmarked Romauld Boco on the edge of the Crues box. The ball caught under Boco’s feet and when the shot did come, it was lame and easily parried by O’Neill.

As the game progressed Crusaders disrupted the attacking moves of the Rovers midfield, with Declan Caddell and Chris Morrow constantly harassing both Lee Lynch and Joseph Ndo. This gave Crusaders a foothold in the game and a 19th minute free from Colin Coates led to a claim for handball, but referee Arnold Hunter adjudged the ball to have unintentionally come off the elbow of Gavin Peers.

On the 23rd minute, a move from Iarfhlaith Davoren and Ross Gaynor troubled the Crues ‘keeper. Davoren beat his man and got the ball into Gaynor, whose cross looked inviting but was dealt with by O’Neill. A minute later, the mercurial Mark Quigley was fouled on the edge of the box by Coates, quickly taking the free himself before the wall was set, but it was defended by a well aware Crues defender.

It was nearly game over for the Bit O’Red on the 31st minute, when TImmy Adamson rushed onto a long ball and broke away from the challenges of Danny Ventre and Davoren who came across to defend. As Gary Rogers came out to close down the angle, Adamson didn’t get enough bend on his effort and it went wide.

Boco then redeemed himself for his poor performance in the opening half hour by breaking the deadlock in the 35th minute. An Ndo header came down to Gaynor who found a lonesome Danny North on the left hand side of the box. North looked to have been fouled by the an onrushing Gareth McKeown, but somehow got the ball wide to Gaynor who’s cross looked to have found no-one. But then Boco came on to it from the right and bundled it past several Crues defenders on the line to bring Sligo right back into the tie.

A quick flurry of chances were exchanged before the end of the half, the better of these falling to Sligo Rovers, when Ndo cut through the defence and squared the ball to Quigley on the right wing. His shot cum cross caught everyone out and was inches away from hitting the top left hand corner of the Crues net.

The second half began brightly for the home side as Lynch threatened the Crusaders goal early on. His shot from 25 yards stung the hands of O’Neill, but he wasn’t so lucky moments later, when he was beaten by Mark Quigley to level the tie. A Gaynor ball from the right found a marauding Lynch who, with a perfectly weighted ball, found Quigley in

the box who had beaten the offside line. Quigley, cool as you like, took it on his left foot and slotted the ball to the ‘keepers right.

Crusaders than revived, and pushed for a goal of their own. David McMaster crossed to a stretching David Rainey, but he couldn’t reach the cross and then in the 61st minute, a Stuart Dallas cross found TImmy Adamson, but his header never threatened Rogers.

Crusaders then had their first yellow in the 67th minute when David McMaster bundled over Gaynor 25 yards out. Subsequent yellows then followed, for both Lee Lynch and Craig Coates for a fracas in the box. A shot from Morrow troubled Rogers soon afterwards, before Adamson got a yellow for a rash challenge on Boco.

The game continued to spiral out of control when David Rainey was booked for pulling down Keane in the 72nd minute. From the subsequent free Ndo crossed the ball into Peers, whose header drifted to the right of the Crues goal. The bookings continued with Caddell booked for a two footed challenge on Boco.

Crusaders’ best chance of the game came eight minutes from time when a McMaster cross from the right found Rainey at the back post in acres of space. But Rainey dragged his volley well wide.

Sligo then had the opportunity to win it in normal time when a superb Quigley ball found Raffaele Cretaro in the on the right of the box, but his shot was saved by O’Neill.

The drama continued as Dallas had a 20 yard rasper of a shot in the 88th minute that went to the left of the Sligo goal. Moments later, right back Alan Keane came to the rescue of the Bit O’ Red, as his face got in the way of a powerful Craig Morrow shot in what was the final action of normal time.

Extratime began brightly for Rovers, and Peers headed over from a header within the opening seconds and late in the first half of injury time Gareth McKeown produced a game saving tackle when he took the ball off the toe of Raffaele Cretaro just two yards out and bearing down on goal. That wasn’t the end of the action, though as Gavin Peers was adjudged to have fouled Caddell on the edge of the area. Captain Craig Coates stepped up and powered home the penalty with an unstoppable shot.

Sligo didn’t surrender and a chance fell to the home side on the 110th minute when a beautifully chipped through ball form Ndo found Keane but his shot failed to find the net. A further chance fell to Quigley five minutes later, when his deflected free from 20 yards fell onto the roof of the net.

There was a final flurry before the whistle, with Davoren getting the 12th card of the evening for a late challenge and a desperate John Dillon shot saw out the game.

Sligo Rovers: Gary Rogers; Alan Keane, Danny Ventre, Gavin Peers, Iarfhlaith Davoren; Romauld Boco (Pascal Millien 113), Lee Lynch (John Dillon 108), Joseph Ndo, Ross Gaynor (Raffaele Cretaro 81); Mark Quigley, Danny North.

Subs Not Used: Richard Brush, Jake Dykes, Marty Owens, David Cawley.

Bookings: Ndo (41), Lynch (69), Boco (95), Keane (101), Peers (105), Davoren (120+1).

Crusaders: Sean O’Neill; Gareth McKeown, David Magowan, Colin Coates, Stephen McBride; David McMaster (Matthew Snoddy 90 + 2), Chris Morrow, Declan Caddell, Stuart Dallas; Timmy Adamson (Jordan Owens 81), David Rainey (Paul Leeman 113).

Subs Not Used: Ciaran Gargan, Michael Halliday, David Gibson.

Bookings: McMaster (67), Coates (69), Adamson (71), Caddell (74), Rainey (74), Morrow (103).

Referee: Arnold Hunter.

Attendance: 1,780

Man of the Match: Danny Ventre (Sligo Rovers).