Sligo Rovers 2 - 0 St. Patrick's Athletic

• Jessica Farry
• Sun, Apr 10 2011


Sligo Rovers moved to joint top of the Airtricity Premier Division after an Alan Kirby brace gifted them the three points in a frantic encounter at the Showgrounds.

St Pats dominated play early on forcing four early corners from Sligo Rovers. The Bit 'o' Red midfielder Alan Kirby was forced to head the ball off the line in the first minute after a Brian Shortall header from a Stephen Bradley corner. Sligo keeper Brendan Clarke pulled off a fine save in the fifth minute after a Shane McFaul shot. The resulting corner was headed wide by David McMillan. Saints were comfortably dispossessing Sligo Rovers in the opening half-hour.

A string of tremendous Gary Rogers saves kept the scoreline at 0-0 at half-time. Rogers saved from an Eoin Doyle – Matthew Blinkhorn movement after the pair played a one-two with Rogers first saving from Blinkhorn and then Eoin Doyle. Shortly after, Jason McGuinness was unlucky not to score as his header was cleared off the line by Derek Pender. Just before the half-time whistle, Rogers was once again the hero for the Saints as he excellently stretched to prevent the goal.

The second-half began where the first half finished up. Sligo put the pressure on Saints early on and a Blinkhorn chance was just wide of the post. Soon afterwards, Ian Daly went close when his shot was just wide of far post. On 59 minutes, Iarfhlaith Davoren was booked for a challenge on Ian Daly. The resulting free-kick was taken by Bradley and the fingertips of Brendan Clarke tipped it over the bar.

The introduction of Sligo youngster Daryl Horgan had an immediate impact on the game. Horgan initiated the movement which lead to Kirby scoring the first goal. Richie Ryan played in Aaron Greene who crossed to Kirby inside the box. Kirby smashed the ball into the net with an excellent finish.

A few minutes later and Kirby, a former St Pats player, had doubled his tally and Sligo's lead finishing well from a Blinkhorn assist. Evan McMillan came close to getting a goal back for the Saints but his header was just wide.

Sligo Rovers: Brendan Clarke, Eoin Doyle, Iarfhlaith Davoren, Derek Foran, Jason McGuinness, Richie Ryan, John Dillon (Daryl Horgan,62), John Russell (Joseph N’Do 74), Alan Kirby, Aaron Greene, Matthew Blinkhorn (Rafael Cretaro, 82)
Subs not used: Ciaran Kelly, Mark McGoldrick, Danny Keohane, Barry O’Mahoney

St Pats: Gary Rogers, Derek Pender, Brian Shortall, Evan McMillan, Ian Bermingham, Dave Mulcahy, Shane McFaul, Daryl Kavanagh (Anthony Murphy 80), Stephen Bradley (John Flood 74), David McMillan, Ian Daly (Danny North 74)
Subs not used: Chris Bennion, Jordan Keegan, Thomas Crawley, Derek Doyle

Extratime Man of the Match: Alan Kirby-apart from his two goals he played and attacked very well.

Referee: Padraig Sutton

Attendance: 2,450