Rovers giving themselves fighting chance

There’s an advert doing the rounds these days for Rockshore, featuring Roy Keane jostling for position at a packed Turners Cross to watch Cork City.

Keane was actually there last Friday night in real life, but one wonders if he and the other City supporters will be quite so eager to attend in the coming weeks after they squandered a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 to Sligo Rovers and, in the process, inflict an almighty dent in their hopes of staying in the League of Ireland’s Premier Division.

There has been something of a toxic atmosphere building around Cork City in recent months, with the departure of manager Tim Clancy raising eyebrows. Ger Nash, a highly rated underage coach in England, arrived to much fanfare as did his assistant and son of Cork David Meyler, yet the change in management has failed to spark an upturn in form. Since their arrival, City have failed to win a match and they’re now 11 points adrift at the bottom of the table.

Roy, and his buddies in the Rockshore ad, may have plenty of space to watch in Turners Cross in the weeks ahead if that form continues.

Yet, for all the talk about Friday’s result being something of a capitulation from Cork City, lets shine a light on the good run Sligo Rovers are currently on.

Written off in most quarters in the early part of the season as they struggled for form, Rovers are now unbeaten in five league matches and lie 11 points ahead of bottom place, with eighth placed Galway United firmly in their sights.

There were questions around whether Rovers would be able to sustain something of push to stay in the division earlier in the campaign and, truth be told, it could so easily have been like the Cork City situation.

But enormous credit is due to the club and its manager, John Russell.

The Galway native has come under pressure at various stages and there have been question marks around recruitment at various times under his tenure but, by and large, Rovers have held their own in the top tier since Russell took the reins in 2022. There was also a memorable European run that summer which included a win over Motherwell.

There has to be a consideration of the wider context when one attempts to assess where Rovers stand in the overall scheme of things in Irish football. That’s not to hold an inferiority complex, but there has to be an understanding that financial realities are now more of a consideration, given the influx of money into the game here.

Paying players a couple of grand a week, as is happening at other clubs, is just not sustainable for a regional outfit like Sligo Rovers.

The club is fan-owned, which is remarkable in itself in the current environment, so relies on fundraising and sponsorship to keep its head above water. Even at that, there are limitations.

For example, Bohemians, who are the other fan-owned side in the Premier Division, have had a 2-thousand percent increase in merchandise sales in the last ten years. Recent reports indicate that of their 4.5 million euro turnover last year, some 2-million was generated through merchandise sales.

Bohs deserve huge kudos for those figures and for being so innovative, but it’s also an area where Sligo Rovers, and everyone else in Ireland, struggle to compete.

That means that, with the money they do have, Rovers have to be smart. And they have to produce players from within their own system good enough to play at this level. This season, there’s evidence of both.

Owen Elding - son of FAI Cup hero of 2013, Anthony - is the best young player in the country bar none. He will get a move, eventually, with several clubs said to be interested. But, for now, the young attacker is producing the goods having come through the academy system locally. Westport’s Conor Reynolds too has been a revelation.

Signings have been important in the recent up turn in form. Instead of taking risks in the foreign market, Russell has opted for the tried and tested of League of Ireland players with experience. It has worked a treat - Paddy McClean and Ryan O’Kane, who both arrived this summer, netted in the win in Cork last week while James McManus is a neat and tidy midfielder who couldn’t get much of a look-in at Bohemians, but is set to thrive at the Showgrounds.

It would be easy for Rovers to chuck it in and say it’s all too difficult.

Just look at this list - which is nowhere near exhaustive - of top players that have left the club in recent seasons: Ed McGinty, Johnny Kenny, Max Mata, Aidan Keena, Simon Power, Greg Bolger, Garry Buckley, Lewis Banks, Niall Morahan, Adam McDonnell.

From the win over Motherwell in the Showgrounds in the early part of Russell’s tenure in 2022, just one player that started that night - Will Fitzgerald - started in last Friday’s win over Cork City. That, by any stretch, is an astonishing level of turnover under the same manager in that space of time.

Alas, that is the nature of the game for Sligo Rovers. They have to make peace with their best players eventually wanting to leave for pastures new - yet the Bit O’Red just get on with things with minimum fuss.

Many clubs around the country would love to have that attitude. And, in many cases, that’s what separates Sligo Rovers from others. Sure, the trophy cabinet isn’t bulging and European football may be a way off, but this is a team, and a club, the region can get behind because they don’t make excuses. And, they are playing a brand of football that is easy to support.

As well all know, one swallow doesn’t make a summer and this season may yet end in severe disappointment; after all, as things stand, Rovers are still destined for a promotion/relegation play-off.

But, on the evidence we’ve seen so far, they won’t go down without an almighty fight.

That’s why people are prepared to continue to stand up for the Bit O’Red.