Welcome to Sligo Rovers

WELCOME TO

SLIGO ROVERS FC

In the final match, Sligo Rovers are our visitors and in a truncated season the Bit o’Red have done well and they have enjoyed a fine resumption since the lockdown.

Liam Buckley has assembled an exciting squad which has secured safety in the league for next year and now has an outside chance of qualifying for Europe through their league position and certainly by means of the FAI Cup. Their season does not finish tonight however before the pandemic halted the season, things were a lot different for Sligo than they are now and everything could have had a different landscape had we carried on.

In that opening period, they had zero wins from their opening four matches left them bottom of the table with things looking bleak however the Covid-19 pandemic hit and after fundraising were able to add last season’s top scorer Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe to their ranks and this allowed them to go on a run since July 31st which has not only propelled them from the foot

of the table but to safety and leading a challenge to finish third in the standings.

Five wins from six after the re-start was enough to banish relegation worries and that led to Buckley’s side looking up the table. There have been some shady results since then but they have had a fine season and their record since the lockdown has been fantastic and if the league had started since July, it would see them finish in third in the table and they have certainly taken advantage of the sprint type nature of the campaign.

It should be noted that the season does not finish here for Sligo tonight and they have the FAI Cup quarter-final against Derry City to come which will be fixed for a later date however they have something to look forward to and have a route to silverware and European football and who knows? In three weeks we may finish the season with another clash with both European football and the trophy on the line and a trophy which Sligo have a rich history in.

WELCOME TO

SLIGO ROVERS FC

MEET THE MANAGER LIAM BUCKLEY (DOB: 14/04/1960)

The most experience manager in the league, Liam Buckley has had an outstanding career both on the pitch and in the dugout. A creative midfielder, Buckley was one of the best players within the league of Ireland and claimed domestic honours on the pitch with league titles at Shamrock Rovers and St. Patrick’s Athletic, Leinster Senior Cup and the Dublin City Cup. His career was dotted with spells across the world and lined out for Vancouver Whitecaps in Canada, Waregem in Belgium and Racing Santander in Spain. He took the road less travelled by most throughout the Irish football landscape and earned two Irish caps in 1984. When his playing days finished with Athlone, he took on the manager’s role which opened the door to a return to Pat’s in 1998 and he took his first league title as manager. A return to Athlone followed and a spell at Shamrock Rovers also before a spell out of the game and he made a come back with Sporting Fingal in 2008. An FAI Cup, promotion and a venture into Europe against Maritimo of Portugal were all port of Fingal’s short stay in the league and after a year out Buckley got the Pat’s job again and once more won the league, this time with League Cups in 2015 and 2016 but perhaps most significantly, ended the club’s long, long wait for an FAI Cup in 2014 with a 2-0 win over Derry City. That has led to immortality with The Saints faithful and after leaving in 2018 moved west to Sligo Rovers after a brief spell as a player in 1997. Things have been steady since his arrival just over 2 years ago and he has began to bring an identity to the side with a challenge for Europe and the FAI Cup still ongoing this year and with time he can develop the Bit o’Red as a real force within the league again.

24 October 2020; Ronan Coughlan shoots to score his side’s second goal past Liam Bossin during the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division match between Sligo Rovers and Cork City at The Showgrounds

18 August 2020; Alex Cooper celebrates after scoring his side’s second goal with team-mates Ronan Coughlan, left, and Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe, right, during the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division match between Sligo Rovers and Waterford at The Showgrounds