Sligo Rovers’ stint as a top-tier club, spanning over two decades, will end bar a miracle after they lost out in the Connacht derby.<\/p>\n
With results favourable elsewhere, perhaps Galway can start dreaming of fourth place rather than worrying about the relegation zone, though this season has become wildly unpredictable.<\/p>\n
The start here, Sligo going ahead on eight minutes through Cian Kavanagh, was against the odds too, but Jimmy Keohane’s penalty and Stephen Walsh’s header had United back ahead before the break.<\/p>\n
Another late Keohane spot-kick was hard luck on a doughty but down-and-out home side.<\/p>\n
Kris Twardek was exceptional in direct running and intelligent deliveries as Galway moved to within four points of faltering Dundalk – who are fourth – with a game less played, and are fighting Europe-bound wars on two fronts; they host Derry in the Cup semi-final next month.<\/p>\n
Sligo, whose run in the top flight is almost miraculous in itself as a members-owned club, must wonder what their future holds, even if there were bright indications of that here, albeit in another demoralising defeat.<\/p>\n
A day mainly of rain – before darkness fell on the Showgrounds – seemed consistent with the general mood with the home side desperately needing a win after a demoralising defeat in Drogheda on Friday.<\/p>\n
Boss Darren Purse has spoken about the team picking its battles but here he made notable changes. Reuben Gillespie, who made his debut in Drogheda, started; there were competitive debuts for stopper Liam Hughes and Aidan Gabbidon, the Irish underage international who left Malmo, returning home to Sligo Rovers, in February.<\/p>\n
Purse spoke pre-match of looking at and starting players with a view to next season, quite the gamble given what was at stake here.<\/p>\n
Galway looked likely to beat Bohemians on Friday, leading 2-0 well into the second half, only to get nothing; in the battle not to finish second-last, this was their most winnable game left this season.<\/p>\n
United were able to bring David Hurley, perhaps their best player this term, back to the starting 11 after a period of illness.<\/p>\n
The small home crowd was nearly celebrating within a minute thanks to two former Bohemians players.<\/p>\n
Archie Meekison crossed on his left and, after a fine James McManus connection, Hugo da Cunha showed he had recovered mentally from a terrible blunder on Friday to save well to his right.<\/p>\n
For all the pre-match negativity, Sligo seemingly knew nothing of it, and were ahead through main danger Kavanagh on eight minutes. Kavanagh, who scored a brace off the bench against Galway in Salthill when the sides last met, took his time and hit the opener via a Wasiri Williams deflection. Again, Meekison and McManus were key to the attack down the right.<\/p>\n
Whistler Rob Harvey had a tough call to make 17 minutes in when former home favourite Twardek, neatly played in by Keohane, collided with McManus in the box. It seemed a debatable one but that did not bother the cool Keohane when the penalty was taken.<\/p>\n
The experience of Keohane and direct running have both shone this season. One played in the other on 22 minutes but Keohane’s shot, with Hughes nowhere to be seen, was headed away by Carl McHugh.<\/p>\n
Aaron Bolger, who has had a fine season for Galway, worked Hughes on 33 minutes in an entertaining ball game.<\/p>\n
Walsh, who scored one of the finest goals Terryland Park ever witnessed on Friday, was back at it six minutes before the break, heading home at the back post, Hughes not at all convincing, with Twardek doing all the hard work down the left.<\/p>\n
For all their woes, Sligo’s spirit in the second half was admirable and they were so unlucky not to be level within a minute. Kavanagh and Meekison combined before playing in Jack Shorrock, on loan from Port Vale to fill the hole left by Will Fitzgerald’s exit, and his left-footed effort kissed the outside of Da Cunha’s post.<\/p>\n
There was an element of fortune about the start of what turned out to be a beautiful Sligo move on 53 minutes, the excellent Meekison finding Gabbidon whose efforts deserved a goal.<\/p>\n
Kavanagh had been a living nightmare for United and poor defending allowed him in on 65 minutes, only for Da Cunha to block well.<\/p>\n
And United, who’ve coughed up plenty of late goals this term, did not convince that they would get over the line. One substitute – Luke Pearce – fired wide on his left foot before another, Kaiyne Woolery, found Kavanagh whose shot was blocked when possibly bound for the net.<\/p>\n
A superb Luke Young strike from around 30 yards looked more dangerous than Da Cunha’s body language implied, Sligo continuing to fight.<\/p>\n
Hughes’ lack of game time seemed exposed again four minutes before the end with substitute Dylan Connolly still having enough pace to get there in front of the stopper. The penalty was inevitable and that Keohane would score, which he did, seemed certain too.<\/p>\n
Sligo’s relegation is an apparent certainty now.<\/p>\n
Sligo Rovers: Liam Hughes; Aidan Gabbidon (Luke Pearce, 70), Gareth McElroy, Luke Young, Se\u00e1n Stewart; Carl McHugh, Reuben Gillespie (Kaiyne Woolery, 54); Archie Meekison, James McManus, Jack Shorrock; Cian Kavanagh.<\/p>\n
Galway United: Hugo da Cunha; Jimmy Keohane, Anthony O’Connor, Wasiri Williams, Gianfranco Facchineri, Lee Devitt; Conor Barratt (Frantz Pierrot, 50), David Hurley, Aaron Bolger; Stephen Walsh (Francely Lomboto, 50), Kris Twardek (Dylan Connolly, 76).<\/p>\n
Referee: Rob Harvey (Dublin).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sligo Rovers’ stint as a top-tier club, spanning over two decades, will end bar a miracle after they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625112,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-625111","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\/625111","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=625111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625111\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}