Kirby's brace makes Rovers joint top leaders

A fantastic brace of goals from Alan Kirby saw Rovers deseverdly beat St. Pats and go level on 13 points at the top of the table with Shamrock Rovers.

Photo courtesy of Kevin Finn

Pats started the stronger team, forcing 3 corners out of Rovers in the opening minutes. David McMillan went close with the 3rd corner, when his header struck the post. Minutes later, Brendan Clarke was forced into an early save when parried away Shane McFaul's shot as it headed for the top corner.

Rovers were struggling to pick out their passes, but Pats failed to take advantage of this and almost paid for it when Alan Kirby's effort was tipped over the bar by Gary Rodgers.

Rovers were finding it hard to beat Rodgers, who had a terrific first half, when he kept out shots from Matthew Blinkhorn, John Dillon and Eoin Doyle and Derek Foran.

After the break, the second half suffered a quiet start with the only incidents of note being Ian  Bermingham getting booked for a dangerous tackle on Derek Foran and Shane McFaul booked for hauling Richie Ryan to the ground.

Cook introduced Daryl Horgan for John Dillon, who had a lively start, getting a lot of curious supporters excited by his immediate impact who hadn't seen him in action yet this season.

The game then saw the deadlock broken, when Alan Kirby scored a goal with fantastic technique from just outside the box. Ryan fed the ball to Greene who smartly picked out Kirby to score the goal.

The goal rocked Pats, and it was now all Rovers. The Bit O' Red kept pressing to increase their lead, and done just that 8 minutes later with another well taken effort from Kirby when Matthew Blinkhorn flicked the ball on to him to score.

Joseph Ndo came on for his first home game of the season to a standing ovation from the home support, replacing John Russell. Defender Derek Foran was lucky not to have seen red, when he was booked for two footed challenge.

There was another good sign for Rovers tonight, as Rafael Cretaro came on for Matthew Blinkhorn. Raff returned from injury having missed the last two games.

Rovers had one more chance as Daryl Horgan attempted to square the ball to Joseph Ndo to tap into an empty net, but the winger's pass had too much power in it for the former Cameroon International to reach.

A good night overall for Rovers, as they join Shamrock Rovers at the top of table, and they just so happen to be playing each other on Monday in the Setanta Sports Cup semi-final first leg.

Sligo Rovers: Clarke, Doyle, Foran, McGuinness, Davoren, Dillon (Horgan, 60 mins), Kirby, Ryan, Russell (Ndo, 74 mins), Greene, Blinkhorn (Cretaro, 80 mins)

Subs not used: Kelly, Keohane, O' Mahony, McGoldrick

St. Pats: Rodgers, Pender, McMillan, Shortall, Bermingham, Kavanagh (Murphy, 79 mins), McFaul, Bradley (Flood, 74 mins), Mulcahy, McMillan, Daly (North, 74 mins)

Subs not used: Bennion, Doyle, Crawley, Keegan

Attendance: 2450

thebitoredblog Man of the Match: Alan Kirby