![\"8](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/0024561b-614.jpg\"\/)
\nJohn Martin and Sean McHale contest an aerial ball<\/p>\n
Shelbourne continue their search for some home comfort as they made it eight games without a win at Tolka Park this season.<\/p>\n
Joey O’Brien\u2019s Reds had beaten Sligo in their previous five outings, but they couldn\u2019t break the Bit O\u2019 Red down here despite utterly dominating.<\/p>\n
Indeed, despite being under the cosh for prolonged spells, Sligo had a goal disallowed while also wasting a glorious chance of their own late on.<\/p>\n
The result means Shelbourne drop to seventh place while Sligo, who\u2019ve lost just once in seven games, remain ninth.<\/p>\n
But John Russell’s side have edged 10 points clear of bottom side Waterford and are just one point behind Galway United and two off Shelbounre.<\/p>\n
With three changes from Monday\u2019s north Dublin draw at Bohemians, Shelbourne started on the front foot against the last side they had beaten at home back in October of last year.<\/p>\n
Though enjoying plenty of the ball, Shels laboured to create openings as Sligo stood solid at the back.<\/p>\n
It was 11 minutes before Sam Sargeant was worked between the Sligo post when he got down well to push away a John Martin header from JJ Lunney\u2019s ball.<\/p>\n
Sargeant was again well positioned to collect a deflected Jack Henry-Francis shot minutes later.<\/p>\n
An audacious chip from inside his own half by Harry Wood, in a counter following a Sligo corner, dropped wide over Sargeant\u2019s head to bring the Shels fans to life.<\/p>\n
Maintaining the pressure, substitute Ali Coote, on for the injured Jack Henry-Francis, saw a shot deflected over with Wood rifling Kerr McInroy\u2019s corner off target.<\/p>\n
\nJohn Martin and Sean McHale contest an aerial ball<\/p>\n
Sargeant then rescued Sligo with a brilliant save to tip Coote\u2019s shot out for another corner as Sligo remained under massive pressure.<\/p>\n
The openings kept coming, Wood shooting straight at Sergeant after Martin did well to tee him up.<\/p>\n
Sligo survived to trouble Shels for the first time on 38 minutes, Carl McHugh heading skipper Will Fitzgerald\u2019s cross straight at Wessel Speel.<\/p>\n
Sergeant\u2019s two saves aside, Shels\u2019 poor finishing was the story of the first half, failing to score from 14 chances.<\/p>\n
Wood having a shot blocked from a Coote cross minutes before the interval summed up their frustration.<\/p>\n
The Shels angst continued into the second half with four early corners coming to nothing.<\/p>\n
They then needed a very tight offside decision to deny Sligo taking the lead on 56 minutes.<\/p>\n
Fitzgerald\u2019s corner wasn\u2019t dealt with before Archie Meekison headed to the net only for an assistant referee\u2019s flag to be raised.<\/p>\n
Shels continued to dominate as service resumed at the other end.<\/p>\n
McInroy rifled a free kick wide while Evan Caffrey fizzed a shot across goal from the influential Wood\u2019s set-up as the goal just wouldn\u2019t come.<\/p>\n
Substitute Maill Lundgren looked set to finally break the deadlock for Shels on 80 minutes. But the Swede somehow powered his head from Wood\u2019s cross over the bar from just yards out for the miss of the match.<\/p>\n
Sligo might then have won it in a rare counter.<\/p>\n
Ollie Denham did superbly to get forward, cut inside Sam Bone, only to shoot wide of the far post.<\/p>\n
Shelbourne: Wessel Speel; Sam Bone, Paddy Barrett, Kameron Ledwidge; JJ Lunney, Kerr McInroy (Ellis Chapman 77); Evan Caffrey (Sean Moore 77), Jack Henry-Francis (Ali Coote 23), Harry Wood, Will Jarvis (Maill Lundgren 64); John Martin (Sean Boyd 64).<\/p>\n
Sligo Rovers: Sam Sergeant; Ollie Denham, Gareth McElroy, Sean McHale; Will Fitzgerald, James McManus, Carl McHugh (Shane Blaney 63), Sean Stewart (Kyle McDonagh 72); Archie Meekison (Alex Nolan 90), Daire Patton; Cian Kavanagh.<\/p>\n
Referee: Oliver Moran (Dublin).<\/p>\n
Attendance: 3,610.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shelbourne continue their search for some home comfort as they made it eight games without a win at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439708,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-439707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}