Soccer

Romeo Parkes’ early goal sees Sligo squeeze past UCD

Visitors can feel a little hard done by as they stay rooted to the bottom of the league

Sligo Rovers manager Liam Buckley. Photo: Ciaran Culligan/Inpho

Sun Mar 10 2019 - 13:17

Sligo Rovers 1 UCD 0

Sligo Rovers boss Liam Buckley admits he was relieved to beat bottom side UCD at home on Saturday.

Striker Romeo Parkes netted his second goal in two games to earn Buckley his first home way as Rovers boss, but the former St Pat’s supremo was full of praise for their opponents.

“I thought UCD played really well in fairness to them. Their passing game was terrific to watch.

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“The lads have had to graft out a result. We worked very hard, as we did last week against Finn Harps. We have spoken about this, that while we are trying to get better each week, we still have to be picking up points, and we have done well to do that.”

Parkes slid the ball to the bottom corner with less than five minutes on the clock, after Liam Kerrigan intercepted a UCD pass out from defence.

It was a rare mistake from the visitors in what was an excellent performance otherwise, and manager Collie O’Neill was more concerned with their failure to convert any of the numerous chances they created.

“It doesn’t matter how much possession you have, or how many chances you create unless you score goals and keep clean sheets at the other end.

“It’s all about points on the board, and we have got none from the game despite all our hard work.

“We have played well in all our games so far, but it’s points on the board that keep you up or send you back down.

“We tried to play it out and we got caught but I can’t fault the players for that. That is our philosophy and that (style of play) is probably what got us all our chances.

“We can only be angry at ourselves for missing those chances.”

SLIGO: Beeney, Morahan, Dunleavy, Mahon, Banks, Warde (Cawley ht), Keaney, Murray, Twardek (Coughlan 76), Kerrigan, Parkes.

UCD: Kearns, Tobin, Collins, Scales, Dignam, Molloy, O'Farrell, O'Neill, Coffey, McClelland, Mahdy (McDonald 81).

Referee: J McLoughlin.

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