Sligo Rovers - EA Sports Cup Winners 2010

• Seán Flaherty
• Sat, Sep 25 2010


The Showgrounds in Sligo doesn't appear on the radar of many when cup finals are concerned, but the atmosphere created here today was certainly worthy of one.

Home advantage and a division above, the Bit O'Red were certainly favourites against first division side, Monaghan United. Despite this, Paul Cook was eager to point out that league position and form counts for nothing in one-off encounters such as these. The Showgrounds surface this afternoon was perfect, a real credit to the groundsmen looking after it.

The first attack of the note came from an Alan Keane cross into the box, but Monaghan were well able to deal with it. Soon after the first free kick of the game was awarded to Monaghan, after Matthew Blinkhorn was adjudged to have impeded his marker.

The first offside of the match came on seven minutes when the flag went up for Karl Bermingham. Soon after, Sligo built from the back, with Davoren making a run up the left marked closely by Clancy. He played the ball into Boco who charged into the box, but took too much out of it and ran out of pitch.

Bermingham had a shot on Ciaran Kelly but never close enough to trouble. At this point, Sligo were having a lot more of the possession and showed flashes of what they might be capable of.

Within the first ten minutes Bermingham had a couple of chances on goal. His first was a speculative shot from outside the box which was never going to trouble Sava in the Monaghan goal. His second came when he exchanged headed passes with Philly Hughes, who knocked the ball down to him across the front of the box, giving Bermingham the space to drill a half-volley goalward from distance, but it ran wide of Kelly's goal.

Blinkhorn headed wide on ten minutes after a short corner from Ndo was crossed in, onto the head of Blinkhorn by Richie Ryan. A few minutes later, on 14 minutes, Sligo had Monaghan under pressure once again and broke the deadlock. Alan Keane ran at the away defence, dragging Grimes left and right and eventually playing a low chip into Matthew Blinkhorn who took the ball on his chest and struck a shot through the legs of Byrne past a helpless Sava.

Sligo continued to dominate the possession after the goal, passing the ball around well, really making Monaghan work. Davoren made a dangerous run down the wing before checking inside and giving it to Russell who ran at the defence before switching onto his weaker foot and forcing Gabriel Sava into conceding a corner.

On 25 minutes, Monaghan had a chance to test Kelly in the Sligo goal. Declan Hanney gave a free dead-centre, 25 yards out. Philly Hughes stepped up, but he could only blaze it over. A few minutes later Blinkhorn had a shout for a penalty turned down as he felt Gartland had handled the ball inside the area, but replays showed it may have been a harsh decision. Five minutes from the break, after the referee giving Sligo the advantage, Davoren made a surging run down the wing and unleashed a low cross, but Sava had it well covered.

The first half very much belonged to Sligo, as they showed the class of a Premier Division side, limiting Monaghan's possession and regularly testing their rear-guard.

Two minutes into the second half, Keane came steaming through, playing it in for Blinkhorn, forcing Sava to make a save at his near post. The shot could have been further away the keeper, but they still had a corner to show for it.

Gavin Peers picked up Sligo's first booking on 57 minutes, for blatantly pulling back Clancy who was advancing down the middle. 10 minutes later Eoin Doyle found himself in on goal, but managed waste the opportunity, shooting wide.

On 68 minutes, Monaghan made the first change of the match, replacing Sean Brennan with Cathal O'Connor. It didn't really really impact the flow of the game however as Sligo continued to dominate.

With a quarter-hour left to play, the match turned into a real end-to-end affair for a period, with both sides having decent attacking moves. Most notably, the Galwegian duo of Keane and Russell combined for the latter to have a close-range shot on goal. His effort was palmed back into his path by Sava, but his second attempt was off-target.Rovers also made their first change a minute later as the hard-working John Russell was substituted for McCabe. Mick Cooke made his second change of the game, taking off Hughes in favour of Hanaphy.

On 85 minutes, Monaghan's Byrne received a booking for fouling McCabe in a dangerous position. McCabe sent the resulting 40-yard free just over the bar, as they did their best to but the game beyond the visitors.

Hanaphy nearly had a chance to pull his side level in the final minutes of injury-time, but a terrific last ditch interception by Laughlan took it away from him and Sligo's lead remained intact. The home crowd erupted at the final whistle, having won their first trophy since winning the First Division title in 2005 and winning the League Cup for the second time in their history.

Sligo Rovers: C Kelly; A Keane, G Peers, J Laughlan, I Davoren; E Doyle, J Russell (G McCabe 78), R Ryan, R Boco; J Ndo, M Blinkhorn.

Monaghan United: G Sava; C McMahon, A Byrne, B Gartland, S Grimes; A Collins, S Brennan (C O'Connor 68), B Clancy, D Tierney (A Lynch 84); K Berminghan, P Hughes (D Hanaphy 77).

Referee: Declan Hanney