Sligo Rovers v Derry City: Match Preview (15th March 2025)

 

Sligo Rovers v Derry City: Match Preview (15^th March 2025) 

Sligo Rovers FC v Derry City FC, League of Ireland Premier Division Round 6, Sligo Showgrounds, Saturday 15^th March 2025, kick-off 7.45pm

Tiernan Lynch’s start to life as a League of Ireland manager hasn’t gone quite to plan, with his Derry City side sitting bottom of the Premier Division table after five games. It’s early days though, and with a promising showing in a 1-1 draw with Galway United last week, he’ll hope that his side earn a win over bogey-side Sligo Rovers on Saturday.

Derry City:

Coming into last Friday's tie with Galway United, a side unbeaten in their first four and with the second best defence in the league last year, Derry City would have needed a much improved performance to avenge back-to-back defeats in their previous two. With key midfielder Carl Winchester suspended, Tiernan Lynch gave a debut to Hayden Cann and set out with a back five in defence. City started the brighter too, holding most of the ball in the early stages. Dom Thomas came painfully close with a snapshot which flashed just wide of the post within three minutes, before Liam Boyce nodded a cross from the Scotsman narrowly wide fifteen minutes later. Derry’s peppering of the Galway goal continued as Michael Duffy, Kevin Holt and the aforementioned Thomas each worked Brendan Clarke within the first 40 minutes.

In typical fashion, and despite dominating the first half, City found themselves a goal down going into the break. A long throw from Ed McCarthy found its way to New Zealand international Moses Dyer at the back post, who poked in to give the away side an advantage just minutes before half-time. City’s fortunes turned six minutes into the second half though. When a bouncing ball was caught on the volley by Sadou Diallo, it deflected off the upper-arm of Pat Hickey and went wide. Referee Neil Doyle duly pointed to the spot and flashed a yellow card at the American. It looked dubious from the replay, you can see why the travelling support found themselves hard done by. Michael Duffy made no mistake from the spot however, as he rifled one into the roof of the net to level the scores.

Despite the finding the equaliser, Derry failed to truly threaten Brendan Clarke’s goal in the remainder of the second period. Deep into injury time at the end of the half, a misjudged bounce from Kevin Holt saw Jimmy Keohane nip in to go one on one with Brian Maher. The veteran midfielder tried to clip the ball over the Derry stopper, but was denied by a strong right hand from the 24 year old. A major heart-in-mouth moment for City, who picked up a fourth point of the season.

Friday night didn’t yield the win that the City faithful are so desperate for, but the first half in particular showed that when this team click’s the attacking football can be impressive. Dom Thomas, Liam Boyce and Michael Duffy caused The Tribesmen’s defence all sorts of issues before the visitor’s scored.  The Candystripes sit bottom of the table, but there isn’t a panic-stations factor that you might expect from a team in that position. I’m convinced that this team will click and give someone a hammering, but there are no easy games in this division anymore. With just one win, one draw and three losses from the opening five, City will hope to come out firing with a huge performance to beat John Russell’s Sligo Rovers on Saturday and pick up a first win in three weeks.

Michael Duffy’s penalty was his fourth goal of the season, but City’s wait for a goal from open play will extend past the one month mark when they kick-off in Sligo. Duffy’s header from a Dom Thomas cross on the opening day of the season is City’s only goal from open play this year; there has been a free kick and two penalties since then. With the attacking quality in this team, City will surely begin to climb the table when the likes of Liam Boyce, Pat Hoban and Danny Mullen manage to find goals from central areas.

Going into Saturday’s game, City are without the suspended Carl Winchester, who serves the final of his two game punishment. Cameron Dummigan is City’s only long-term injury concern, whilst new signings Gavin Whyte and Shane Ferguson made the bench last week. Paul McMullan spent the full 90 on the bench, that’s the first game of his Derry City career in which he hasn’t been involved. Hayden Cann showed that he’ll provide good cover in centre back, whilst Ben Doherty and Ronan Boyce looked promising as wingbacks should Lynch continue to employ the back-five system. Brian Maher will also be on the hunt for just his second clean sheet of the season, after conceding eight in the first five. With a two week break, then an away game with Shamrock Rovers after this one, Tiernan Lynch will be hoping that City can clinch a first competitive win in Sligo since August 2021.

Sligo Rovers:

After a 6^th placed finish in 2024, Sligo Rovers’ 2025 campaign hasn’t got off to the start they wanted. After five games, Sligo find themselves in the relegation zone. They’ve conceded twelve in those fives, but launched set out on launching comebacks against both Waterford and St. Patrick’s Athletic which resulted in tense finishes. A first victory of the season at home to Shamrock Rovers, followed by a point away to Cork City, showed that Rovers’ season may be on the turn.

That opening game against Waterford in the Showgrounds saw the home side go 2-0 down within 33 minutes, before scoring five minutes into the second half and missing a penalty which would’ve had them level on the 57^th minute.  Waterford eventually ran out 3-2 winners, but Rovers showed fight to come close to their visitors and pressed hard late on to find an equaliser. It was a similar story two weeks later in Inchicore, when they conceded twice in as many minutes, before pulling one back through an own goal to go into half-time 2-1 down. It was 3-1 on the 52^nd minute, but a Cian Kavanagh double saw Sligo level in the 78^th minute. By the 80^th though, Pat’s were ahead again and held on for a 4-3 win. A 3-0 loss away to FAI Cup winners Drogheda United means that they’ve conceded 10 in their last two against the Louth side.

John Russell, after becoming Sligo Rovers manager in July 2022, quickly proved that he could do a job on a low budget. His first experience in management, aside from a gig at Westport United, Russell has Sligo Rovers playing direct football and grinding results over the line. Their ten draws was the third lowest in the Premier Division last season, whilst they won thirteen and lost thirteen of the other 26. Russell would have been happy enough with a 6^th placed finish, despite winning just one of their last six. Their 51 goals conceded was the second worst in the division, although seven of those came in one match away to Drogheda United in September. Being tighter at the back will have been a big aim for Sligo in 2025.

The summer losses of Max Mata, to Auckland FC, and Fabrice Hartmann, whose loan from RB Leipzig expired, saw Sligo Rovers lose two players who contributed to 15 goals in the first half of the season. Midfielder Ellis Chapman stepped up, scoring nine and assisting three to become the Bit’O’Red’s talisman from the centre of the park. The Englishman swapped the west coast for North Dublin in the off-season though, signing for Shelbourne and representing a big loss for Russell’s men. Wilson Waweru, signed last season from Galway United, scored seven in the league, whilst Simon Power and Conor Malley both notched four.

Sligo Rovers had a tough preseason in terms of departures, losing some of their key players. Ed McGinty’s loan from Oxford United came to an end before he signed for Shamrock Rovers. Winger Simon Power and captain Niall Morahan left for St. Pat’s and Bohemians respectively, whilst JR Wilson and Kailin Barlow joined promotion hopefuls Athlone Town. Highly rated 16 year old Aidan Gabbidon left for pastures new too, signing for Malmo in Sweden, who will have to pay compensation for the youngster.

Losing a number of his best players, it would always be a tough window for Sligo Rovers. The marquee signing is ex-Ireland U21 midfielder Jake Doyle-Hayes, who made 50 appearances for Scottish side Hibernian after signing from St Mirren in 2021. If they can keep him fit, they have a player with Scottish Premiership quality entering the prime of his career. Winger Francely Lomboto, who made more than 90 appearances for Galway United, signed to provide width, as did New Zealand international Oskar van Hattum. The 22 year old spent his entire career to date with Wellington Phoenix and featured in all of his nation’s matches at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Ronan Manning also made the switch from Galway United, joined in the midfield by Matthew Wolfe, Jad Hakiki and 18 year old Brazilian by Guilherme Rego Priosti from Esbjerg, Dundalk and Longford Town respectively.

Former Derry City striker Cian Kavanagh joined from St. Pat’s and has scored twice this season – unfortunately already missing two penalties. Defender Harvey Lintott joined on loan from Northampton Town after making 16 appearances in League One last season, whilst the shrewd acquisition of Sam Sargeant from Waterford is a good replacement for Ed McGinty between the sticks.

With a necessary rebuild in key positions, Sligo Rovers have brought in talent, but their start to the season shows that it hasn’t quite gelled just yet. Similar struggles for Derry City and Sligo Rovers in the early stages of 2025. Level on points with the Candystripes at the bottom, scoring four more but also conceding four more, this game looks like it will be entertaining though. The Bit’O’Red still look quite light in defence, although could have scraped draws against Waterford and St. Pat’s if Cian Kavanagh converted his spot-kicks. They’re always a bogey team for Derry City and are on the hunt for a second home win of the season, opening a further buffer on the Candystripes at the bottom of the table.

Round-up:

As the two-teams occupying the bottom two spots of the Premier Division table meet on St. Patrick’s weekend, fans of both Derry City and Sligo Rovers will be hoping for sunshine, blue skies and entertaining football on Saturday. Both sides desperate for a win after picking up just four points from the first five games, Sligo Rovers have the worst defensive record but are the highest scorers, while only Shamrock Rovers have scored less goals than Derry - they’ll both be looking to go all-out at each other in the Showgrounds. Derry City will be hoping that their preseason win over Sligo Rovers will spur them on to a first competitive victory there in three and a half years, while Sligo Rovers look to extend said record until the next meeting in Connaught between the two in July. We’re bottom of the league, haven’t won here since 2021 and Rovers are encouraging fans to dress as leprechauns for a world record attempt. What could possibly go wrong?

Pól O’Hare – 11^th March 2025