Kirby strike seals 3 points for Rovers
Alan Kirby's 2nd half strike was enough to seal 3 points for Sligo Rovers against Dundalk tonight.
Alan Kirby
Photo from sligochampion.ie
Rovers dominated Dundalk from kick-off, doing a lot of the attacking. The first real effort of note fell to Joseph Ndo, who went for a spectacular goal, but his effort, was well off target.
The game then took a horrible turn for Ndo when a knock he picked up very early in the game forced him off with just 15 minutes of the game gone, John Russell replacing him.
For all the attacking play, Rovers weren't creating a whole lot of chances, but Aaron Greene almost scored a goal directly from a cross, but was denied by the bar.
Cherrie was almost left red faced when he miskicked a passback that ended up at Alan Kirby, but the keeper got off extremely lucky when the midfielder slipped taking his shot, seeing it go wide.
Greene was proving to be a nuisance for Dundalk on the night, and had another pop at goal when he met a Richie Ryan corner with a powerful header, but it went just wide of the far post.
Rovers came out from half-time and picked up from where they left off, and their best move of the night almost got the goal it deserved when a ball was put in for Eoin Doyle, but at full stretch, the ball was just out of his reach.
Minutes later, there was another chance, and it was Jason McGuinness who got on the end of a Ryan corner with a header, but his effort came back off the post. They were getting closer to finding the opener.
The next chance of the game proved to be the one that would break the deadlock, and it was Alan Kirby who, after a bit of a scramble inside the box, saw the ball roll out to him and scored with a lovely finish. He may have put the ball into an open goal, but he still managed to make it look like a quality goal!
Dundalk finally forced a save out of Brendan Clarke when Mark Quigley struck a great long range strike, but the 'keeper was alert and reacted quickly to push it past the post.
Doyle won't want to see a replay of his next chance, after running almost half the pitch with the ball and cutting through the Dundalk defence, he was left in a 1-on-1 situation with Peter Cherrie, but disappointingly dragged his shot wide. Can perhaps be forgiven this time considering he's scored 10 League goals so far.
Possibly the most unexpected moment of the season occured when the referee told Gavin Peers to take off the bicycle shorts under his kit. Rather than going out of sight, he decided to waste no time and take all off in front of the Treacy Avenue Stand and change back into the Rovers shorts. No one could have seen that coming!
Dundalk subsitute Johnny Breen could've equalized when he latched onto a free-kick into the box, but he scooped his shot over the bar from close range.
Brendan Clarke was on hand to pull off a wondersave when Michael Hector had a go at goal from close range, but will still be wondering how it didn't go in. That save alone could well keep Clarke in the team for the next game.
Dillon had the last real opportunity of the game when he had a go from 25 yards, but it was clear to see his effort, which went well over the goal, was just a way of wasting time.
A great and deserved win for Rovers on the night, and should have perhaps won by more. Next up is the visit of non-League side Pike Rovers in the FAI Cup this Friday.
Sligo Rovers: Clarke, Keane, Peers, McGuinness, Davoren, Dillon, Kirby, Ryan (Ventre, 68 mins), Ndo (Russell, 15 mins), Greene, Doyle (Cretaro, 82 mins)
Subs not used: Kelly, Foran, Horgan, Blinkhorn
Dundalk: Cherrie, Madden, Hawkins, Guthrie, N. Murphy, Gaynor, Hector, Bennett, Ward, Quigley, Griffin (Breen, 75 mins)
Subs not used: P. Murphy, Kerr, Duffy
Attendance: 1500 (approx.)
thebitoredblog Man of the Match: Iarfhlaith Davoren
