Sligo Rovers 2 Motherwell 0 (Sligo win 3-0 on aggregate)
A Bit O’ Red goes a long way. Historic, unforgettable night in Sligo town, as a club struggling for mid-table security in the League of Ireland outworked and outclassed Motherwell, in equal measure.
The result means that Rovers break new ground. The club had never won two European ties in the same run, until now.
The team finishing third in a semi-professional league is not supposed to beat the fifth best in the Scottish Premiership, but this result tells no lie. What really matters is Sligo Rovers earn €850,000 for progressing to the third round of the Europa Conference League qualifiers.
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“It’s significant [as the club is] run by the fans and the committee,” said Rovers manager John Russell. “The amount of work they are trying to do; they are trying to raise money to build a new stadium here and a training ground so moments like this are going to help off the pitch.”
The prize money morphs into an eye-watering €3 million if Russell’s compact side somehow clear two more hurdles, the next being Viking Stavanger of Norway, with the first leg away next Thursday, as thoughts turn to where the second leg might be held.
The Showgrounds does not currently meet Uefa criteria for a 4,300 capacity but plans are being hatched to avoid moving to Dublin.
“The product is there and it has been for a number of years, the quality of player is in the league,” said Russell. “We are doing our best at the moment but our hands are tied with finances, the way the league is being run, so it is hard to invest and improve stadiums quickly.
“You look at the moment with Bohs and Shels, I can name so many clubs. We need investment. We need Government funding.”
If Rovers keep winning, their €17.3 million redevelopment plan for a 6,000 seater stadium and community hub might be accelerated, but demands on bodies are about to spike.
“It is what we want but it is relentless,” said Russell. “It seems like we have been on the road for two months, which seems crazy, but it is what players want. We are professional footballers.”
‘Blaney Shane’ it is so. The Scottish commentator at Fir Park last week felt it sensible to switch the Rovers centre half’s Christian and surname. It was a forgivable error that led to the Letterkenny native swallowing spoonfuls of ribbing.
Who is laughing now?
In the fourth minute, Shane Blaney glanced at Liam Kelly standing a few feet from his goal line and decided to make the whole of Scottish football pay a hefty price.
A swerving free-kick looped over Kelly, as it would most goalkeepers, to shake The Showgrounds as if one of the surrounding Dartry Mountains was an active volcano.
But this was no geological event. Sligo identified a Motherwell weakness in the first leg when Aidan Keena punished Bevis Mugabi’s error to lob the only goal. From the off here, Keena went straight at the tall Ugandan and kept at him until drawing a free from Swedish referee Bojan Pandzic.
Blaney’s left foot special did the rest.
Mugabi was hooked on 71 minutes but any Motherwell player could have followed as they look in an awful state of disrepair, winning just twice in 2022.
The humiliation continued as Sligo players outfoxed their opponents, which only created concern for how Ireland under-21 midfielder Ross Tierney can develop under Motherwell manager Graham Alexander. Such concerns are shelved as this remarkable scalp deserves to be celebrated. And it was, all over town.
Motherwell may be in for a long and punishing domestic season, starting at St Mirren this Sunday, as their game plan lacked any coherent sign of strategy besides aiming to score off a set piece. Even that theory failed to convince when Ricki Lamie headed a Josh Morris corner into the grass and over the crossbar with 12 minutes remaining.
Locals in the 3,876 crowd behaved the same all evening, singing and hopping as visiting fans forced an intervention from Gardaí and security after what appeared to be a bout of infighting.
That summed up the Scottish club that has housed plenty of Irish players down the years. On this night, Tierney was whipped off long before a perfect finale, as Max Mata came off the bench to sprint on to Keena’s through ball to blast home a second.
The weekend came early to Sligo. Next week a raiding party must journey deep into Viking country.
SLIGO ROVERS: McNicholas; Banks, Buckley, Blaney, Kirk; Cawley (Pijnaker, 79 mins), Morahan (Mata, 69 mins), McDonnell (Barlow, 79 mins); O’Sullivan, Keena, Fitzgerald (Liivak, 90 mins).
MOTHERWELL: Kelly; McGinn, Mugabi (Johansen, 71 mins), Lamie, Carroll; Maguire (Goss, 69 mins), Slattery, Spittal (Shields, h-t); Morris, Van Veen, Tierney (Efford, 69 mins).
Referee: Bojan Pandzic (Sweden).
