LEAGUE OF IRELAND PREMIER DIVISION Sligo Rovers 2 Galway Utd 0:SUPER SUB Dean Marshall made sure of all three points for Sligo Rovers with an 85th-minute goal at the Showgrounds last night.
Marshall was only four minutes on the pitch when he rifled Rafael Cretaro’s crossing ball to the Galway net to ease Sligo’s relegation worries.
Galway United were disappointing on the night, lacking firepower up front with Vinny Faherty playing a lone striker’s role in a 4-5-1 formation.
Derek O’Brien forced Sligo goalkeeper Ciarán Kelly into a smart save in the 26th minute with a rasping, long-range shot and, at the other end, Galway goalkeeper Barry Ryan did well to deny Cretaro with a superb save from point-blank range in the 29th minute as the home side stepped up the case.
Cretaro missed another great chance for Sligo on 34 minutes, but made no mistake two minutes later with a clever finish from an Eoin Doyle cross.
O’Brien missed an opportunity to square the match in the 59th minute, heading inches wide, and Alan Murphy blasted the ball over the Sligo bar from a free on 71 minutes as Galway tried desperately to force an equaliser.
However, Marshall secured the home win soon after his arrival.
SLIGO ROVERS: Kelly; Ventre, Kendrick, Peers, Keane, O'Grady, Cash, Ryan, Blinkhorn, Cretaro, Doyle. Subs: Meenan for Ryan (79 mins); Marshall for Doyle (81 mins); Turner for Cretaro (88 mins).
GALWAY UNITED: Ryan; O'Toole, Breen, Guthrie, Russell, Murphy, O'Brien, Sinnott, Kelly, Greene, Flaherty, Subs: Fitzgerald for Kelly (67 mins); Molloy for Greene (77 mins).
Referee: D Tomney(Dublin).
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)