Sligo Rovers played out a scoreless draw with St Patrick’s Athletic at the Showgrounds on Saturday.
Rovers boss Gerard Lyttle gave his reaction to Ocean FM’s Darragh Cox…
Here’s St Pat’s boss Liam Buckley…
MATCH REPORT
SSE Airtricity League Premier Division
Sligo Rovers 0
St Pat’s 0
A towering performance from debutant centre-back John Mahon helped Sligo Rovers claim their first league clean sheet at the Showgrounds last night.
In truth, Gerard Lyttle’s side should have won the match against St Patrick’s Athletic, but their night ended disappointingly after a controversial red card to David Cawley in injury-time.
An end-to-end first half saw positive play from both teams, if little in the way of clearcut chances at either end in warm conditions.
Whatever chances did come, came the way of the home side with the lively Eduardo Pinceli testing Barry Murphy with a dipping shot inside the opening minutes.
A brilliant piece of skill from Raffaele Cretaro created a great chance for Adam Morgan midway through the half, but his low effort from inside the area took a slight deflection before flashing the wrong side of the post.
Rovers had a third decent chance before the break, when Rhys McCabe’s corner picked out Patrick McClean unmarked in the area, but McClean’s header was straight at Murphy.
McCabe was captaining Rovers in the absence of Kyle Callan-McFadden, but his evening was cut short before half-time as he picked up an injury.
He was the second victim of the night as referee John McLoughlin had to be replaced by fourth official Damien McGrath after hurting his calf muscle.
Pat’s best effort of the first half was a long-range effort from James Doona that was deflected narrowly wide.
The tempo dipped a little in the second half, but Morgan had a great chance to win it midway through the half, but he failed to direct Caolan McAleer’s delivery into the net at the back post.
The game ended on a sour note for Rovers, as referee McGrath handed Cawley a straight red for a poor challenge.
SLIGO: Beeney, Boylan, Mahon, McClean, Waters, McCabe (McAleer 42), Pinceli (Wixted 80), Cawley, Keaney, Cretaro (Roy 90), Morgan.
ST PAT’S: Murphy, Madden, Toner, Desmond, Bermingham, R Brennan, Lennon, Markey (Byrne ht), Doona (K Brennan 84), Clarke, Fagan (Keegan 54).
REF: J McLoughlin.
