Sligo Rovers have advanced to the quarter-finals of the Enda McGuill Cup after a 2-0 win over Athlone Town. Goals in either half from Eoin Slevin and Paul Doyle saw the bit o’red move on at the expense of the midlanders.
Sligo Rovers boss Brian Dorrian, “Another good display from us, we changed the team around as we played on Sunday.”
“The game started off well for us with us taking the game to Athlone and creating some half chances.”
“We took the lead on 17 minutes when Dayo Fubrini latched onto a through ball and clipped it over the keeper for Eoin Slevin to tap in.”
“To be fair to Athlone they probably should have equalised on the stroke of half time when they broke and our keeper Lorcan Callaghan pulled off a great save. Just before that Liam Hughes should have scored twice from two headers from close range.”
“In the second half I thought we controlled the game but should have created more opportunities in the attaching third.”
“We got the second goal on 75 minutes when Brian Morley created a cross for Paul Doyle to head home.”
“It was a good open game and Athlone nearly pulled a goal back late on but Callaghan saved it again. We kick on now to Saturday at home to Shelbourne.”
Athlone’s Michael Dolan said, “We were very disappointed with the level of our performance against Sligo as much as the result.”
“We started the game well, got on the ball and looked to create opportunities in the Sligo half and got a couple of early corners and free kicks when we looked threatening.”
“We went behind on 15 minutes when poor defending allowed Dayo Gubrin get in behind our back four and put Sligo ahead.”
“The most disappointing aspect of the game overall was our poor reaction to going behind and we lost all cohesion and willingness to get on the ball and play our way back in to the game. Sligo then dominated possession and created a few half chances without really working Jack Lydon in our goals.”
“Kevin Fitzgerald was excellent defensively to keep us in the game and along with Conor Layng’s willingness to try get in behind Sligo’s centre backs there wasn’t a lot a lot of positives in our response.”
“Our only cohesive passage of play just before half time saw Conor Layng get in one-on-one with Sligo goalkeeper but Lorcan Callaghan made a decent save when Conor would have expected to score.”
“Two substitutions and a much better attitude saw us come in to the game much more in the second half and we had a better share of possession and pressure in Sligo’s half.”
“On 61 mins Lorcan Callaghan made a great point blank save from David Fortunes header when he got on the end of Luke Kelly’s superb free kick from the right. Again David would have expected to score from the position he was in and as we pushed on seeking an equaliser Sligo threatened a couple of times from counterattacks.”
“They put the game to bed when Paul Doyle headed home with 8 minutes left and the last real action in the game saw Callaghan make his third excellent save of the night when he turned Johnny Corboy’s brilliant 25 yard half volley over the bar and Sligo then scrambled the ball away from the resulting corner.”
“Sligo deserved to win the game as they were much more cohesive and fluent on the night, and we would like to wish Brian Dorian’s squad all the best in the next round of the cup, but we still have to be very disappointed by the quality and level of our own performance on the night.”
Photo Credit: Sligo Rovers FC