THOUSANDS OF fans welcomed Sligo Rovers home last night after their FAI Ford Cup final victory over Shamrock Rovers.
Bonfires lit the way from the county boundary after Boyle in Co Roscommon right to the edge of Sligo town where the team switched to an open-top bus for the final stages of their welcome home.
Liam Conlon from Ballisodare said: “Sligo rarely gets a chance to welcome sporting heroes home from a big occasion. This is unbelievable. The team thoroughly deserve all the cheers we can give them.”
The procession started in Carrick-on-Shannon when Liverpudlian manager Paul Cook and his side walked the streets to applause during a meal stop.
They were next cheered through Boyle before stopping off in front of nearly 1,000 people in Riverstown, home of man-of-the match Joseph Ndo, at 34 still enjoying football after appearances for Cameroon in two World Cups. He proudly walked the streets with the cup aloft.
It took the team four hours to travel the last 50km from Carrick-on-Shannon to a rousing welcome at a reception in front of City Hall, where life-long fan Tommie Gorman, better known as the main man for RTÉ in Belfast, was the MC.
It was only Sligo’s third time to win the cup after triumphs in 1983 and 1994.
Mayor Matt Lyons said: “It is a game Sligo will never forget. It was literally a thrill from minute to minute . . . What a wonderful boost for the town and the northwest in these gloomy days.”
He added: “It’s a huge lift for Sligo and it’s great for the business community which hasn’t known anything like the excitement in the town for a long time.”
Club captain Conor O’Grady, who came on as a sub, and team captain Danny Ventre, held the cup aloft in front of City Hall and the crowd hailed club official Dermot Brannigan as he placed the trophy lid on his head in the same way it toppled on to him when it was being presented to the players at the Aviva.
Dermot Healy was there with his grandchildren Emma (12) and nine-year-old Nicole.
The youngsters said they couldn’t be at the game because their baby cousin, Sean Brendan Barry, was being christened.
Dermot quipped: “If the name hadn’t already been picked he might have been called Ciarán. There will be a lot of Ciaráns in Sligo in the next year after the goalie Ciarán Kelly.”
Kelly (30) from Ballinrobe in Co Mayo, was the hero when he stopped all four Shamrock Rovers shots in the shoot-out after the game ended 0-0 in normal time.