WLOI REPORT: Denied. Shamrock Rovers Frustrated by Sligo's Stand

Saturday May 10th 2025

Christine Allen reports from Tallaght Stadium

How do you solve a problem like Sligo Rovers? 

By 6:45 on Saturday evening, having hurtled the kitchen sink at the Bit O'Red, Rovers were none the wiser.

Manager Steve Feeney must have felt like a chess grandmaster as the team bus slipped onto the N4 – his side’s 4-5-1 mid to low block cutting off a knight move from The Hoops. 

The positives? 

The Tallaght tiki-takas swung for the full 90’, giving up little (if anything) to the opposition. 

Gassed? Not once. 

As for the away side? 

A backline drilled with military precision, while between the posts, Bonnie McKiernan channelled the 99’ version of Peter Schmeichel to secure a point for the visitors. 

It was clear from the off that patience was to be the order of the day as Feeney’s eleven stuck to the green and white shirts like jam, forcing the home side to seek out the channels to circumvent a tight defensive structure. 

WNT manager Carla Ward was in good company at Tallaght Stadium with former Hoops Jessica Hennessy and Lia O’Leary supporting the Rovers Women from the upper tiers. 

“Up the line! And again!” A fan in the West Stand encouraged as Katie O’Reilly shuffled and dipped inside in a tireless effort to sashay away from the red shirts. 

Keelin Comiskey out left followed suit, threading an intelligent pass to Aine O’Gorman who beat Emma Hansberry for pace, but an alert Bonnie McKiernan smothered before O’Reilly could inflict damage at the back post. 

The linesman was kept busy throughout the full 90’ as Rovers fought to time their runs behind the backline as they probed for an IN. 

They found it in the 11th minute when O’Reilly shrugged off Anna McDaniel and dinked the ball forward to Joy Ralph. 

Scanning as she pointed for its placement, the Greenhills assassin shaved it back to Ruesha Littlejohn but Keeva Flynn blocked her first swing. 

It was enough to put the Glaswegian off, and she skewed her second attempt wide and to the left. 

Sligo rarely looked dangerous on the counter. 

When they did break it was via Mairead McIntyre’s link up with Cara King down the right, but Maria Reynolds and Scarlett Herron mopped up whenever Rovers were caught in the transition. 

The Tallaght tiki-taka's never once let their foot off the gas, and it wasn’t long before another sweeping move found the roving Ralph inside the box. 

Doing well to control the takedown under the cosh, the number 9 teed it up beautifully for O’Gorman and the West Stand held their breath. 

The captain settled it with her right, then belted it high with her left. 

As the ball soared towards Kiernan, the former Cavan Shamrocks keeper bent her body back and leapt – tipping the strike over the cross bar with her fingertips. 

But there was a long way to go...

In the 34th, Ralph pick-pocketed the ball in the centre of midfield and spun to escape Sarah Kiernan, fizzing it out right to O’Reilly who carried it down the pipe. 

Receiving it back inside, the striker took a punt, but Kiernan snatched it back and Ralph’s boot connected with the air. 

Touché.

When Emily Corbet’s half-volley was stifled in the 34th, the Rovers bench must have deemed their side cursed - Ruesha Littlejohn’s roar encapsulating the frustration felt in Dublin 24 as the half-time whistle approached.

Before making her way onto the pitch for the second 45’, Vice Captain Reynolds conversed intently with Assistant Coach Stephanie Zambra within the dugout.

She would take the armband in the 76th (a foreshadowing of things to come) when O'Gorman was subbed - passing on instructions from the bench as she rallied, communicated and encouraged.

On the restart, Sligo started on the front foot - McKiernan firing a long drive that Cara King added yards to with a grazing header towards midfielder

McDaniel.

Dragging it beyond Reynolds, last weekend's goal scorer for the Bit O’Red switched it to Lillie on her left, but O’Kane stopped the show before it could hit the ground running, cutting off the follow up pass with her trademark intercept and pirouette. 

Ella Kelly’s introduction in the 57th brought an injection of venom to the Hoops attack while the Rovers number 8, like a pendulum, swung the ball from left to right. 

Skipping past the red shirts to feed in Kelly, O’Kane relished the puzzle presented by the women from the West and was determined to solve it. 

The Hoops continued to hammer and in the 60th came within inches of breaking the deadlock when Aoife Brophy sailed a first-time strike towards the top left-hand corner but it rattled between the angles of the crossbar and the Tallaght faithful were left wanting once more. 

Hope beckoned when the whistle blew and Littlejohn stood over the ball twenty-yards out in the 67th but she whipped the set-piece well and wide of the North Stand End. 

The Hoops made a triple substitution in the 76th, and it was Anna Butler who made the greatest impact, hassling the red shirts to win the ball and slipping it to Ralph in the centre.

The number 9 then switched it wide to Kelly who ducked and dipped inside, drilling it into the side netting. 

Sligo battened down the hatches in the final 15’. Helped with a water break, the Bit O'Red managed to weather the Hurricane Hoop until the final whistle.