Sligo Rovers 1 Athlone Town 0JOHN DILLON was on the mark as Sligo Rovers got their FAI Ford Cup campaign off to a winning start at the Showgrounds.
The second half was only 45 seconds old when Joseph Ndo and substitute Dean Marshall played Dillon in for the only goal.
Athlone battled bravely over the 90 minutes and the Midlanders will be disappointed that they didn’t at least force a replay.
Richie O’Hanlon went close for the Town in the 11th minute and Joseph Ndo drilled a shot narrowly wide of the Athlone goal after 16 minutes. Sligo had the lion’s share of possession before the break with Dillon and Iarlaith Davoren fluffing good chances.
SLIGO ROVERS:Brush; Whelan, Davoren, Peers, Foran, Ryan, Dillon, Russel, Ndo, Amond, McCabe (Marshall, 41 mins; O'Grady, 86 mins).
ATHLONE TOWN:Bennion; Scullion (Broughall, 83 mins), O'Shea, Relihan (Dolan, 70 mins), Hope, McCarthy, O'Hanlon, Place, Watson, Skelly, O'Connell (O'Halloran, 73).
Referee:D McKeon (Dublin).
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)