Sligo Rovers 2 Waterford FC 0

Waterford FC’s hopes of remaining in the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division received a huge setback this evening as they fell to a hugely disappointing defeat at the hands of Sligo Rovers at the Showgrounds.

Jon Daly, once again, rang the changes with five new faces in the starting eleven as Benny Couto, Kevin Long, Trae Coyle, Luke Heeney and Jorgen Voilas all came in with Conor Carty, Jesse Dempsey, Hayden Cann and Ronan Mansfield dropping to the bench while Coonan Noonan hadn’t recovered from the ankle injury that forced him off against Bohemians on Easter Monday while Jordan Faria picked up an injury in their training session on Friday ahead of their departure to the North West.

And while there was little between the sides in the opening exchanges, the visitors were sliced open for the opening goal when Cian Kavanagh slipped the ball behind Alan Zborowski for Will Fitzgerald who squared for Archie Meekison who tapped it home on 18 minutes.

Moments before that, Trae Coyle set up Jorgen Voilas but the Norwegian scuffed his shot and the chance was lost.

Sligo had a couple of big chances to double their lead before the break but Sean McHale and Ollie Denham headed over.

Sligo doubled their lead just before the hour when Arlo Doherty’s attempts to punch a clearance ended up bouncing off Fitzgerald and into the net.

It took Waterford 65 minutes to test Sam Sargeant as a Benny Couto shot from the top of the penalty area was parried away while Hayden Cann headed over a couple of minutes later.

With the points secure, the home side just managed the game as Waterford failed to lay a glove on them in the final stages and the final whistle was a welcome respite for the fifty or so hardy souls who made the long journey to the North West to support their team.

Sligo Rovers: Sargeant, Fitzgerald, Meekison, Kavanagh, McManus, Denham, McHugh (Blaney 77′), McHale, Esua, McElroy, Patton (Nolan 77′)

Waterford FC: Doherty, Zborowski (Houston 41′), Mahon, Long, Couto, Heeney, McLaughlin (Carty 60′), McMenamy(Glenfield 60′), Coyle, Amond (Lonergan 70′), Voilas (Cann 41′)

Referee: Arnold Hunter

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