Sligo Rovers FAI Ford Cup Final
Published in the Sligo Weekender on November 8, 2011.
Soccer coach JJ Devaney looks at how the three areas of the
Sligo Rovers team functioned last Sunday
DEFENCE
ANYdefensive analysis of Sligo Rover’s must begin and end
with the Shelbourne goal. An accomplished centre-half part- nership of Gavin
Peers and Jason McGuinness certainly would not have been pleased with the
manner in which Philip Hughes’ goal was created. The ball should have been
cleared by McGuinness in the first instance and even when his clearance was
returned, Peers would be expected to deal with what was far from a penetrating
pass to Hughes. Barry Clancy’s dismissal all but ended any attacking threat
from the Dublin side and allowed Rovers full-backs Davoren and Keane to become
almost exclusively attacking threats as Shelbourne looked to contain Rovers
rather than take them on. The sight of Davoren and Keane aug- menting the
Rovers attack from wide po- sitions was symptomatic of Shels’ lack of an
offensive threat after Clancy’s red card. JJ Says: Job done by the Rovers defence. The uncer- tainty
surrounding Shels’ goal will be washed away in the euphoria of victory.
ATTACK
A DIFFICULT 120 minutes for Rovers’ attack in this FAI Ford
Cup final. Eoin Doyle looked isolated and out of form in what appeared to be a
4-4-1-1 formation. Blinkhorn and Cretaro were introduced to liven up Rovers’
forward line, but time and again they were thwarted by a combi- nation of
excellent Shels defending and laboured approach play. The combination play
between forwards that is quintessentially Rovers was absent. Most joy for
Rovers was to be found from good crosses by John Russell – when he was moved
wide – and Cretaro when he occupied a wide right position in ex- tra-time. A
well-worked free-kick almost paid div- idends but Blinkhorn’s effort was saved
by Shelbourne goalkeeper Delaney as Rovers increased the pressure on an in-
creasingly embattled Shelbourne defense.
JJ SAYS: SNot a vintage Rovers performance in attack but a
fighting one. They kept going to
the end. The four perfect
penalties shouldn’t be discounted either!
MIDFIELD
ANYONEwho may have doubted the im- portance of Joseph Ndo to
this Sligo Rovers team had a very clear and almost disastrous riposte on Sunday
at the Aviva Stadium. Shorn of Ndo’s guile, Rovers’ midfield looked one-paced
and sluggish. This is by no means a one-man band, but Ndo’s abil- ity to
create, cajole with skill and link midfield and attack with penetrating
combinations was tangible by his ab- sence. Rovers needed that little bit of
inspira- tion to prize open a solid and well-organ- ised Shelbourne defence and
Ndo has so often been the man to supply it in tight affairs. Richie Ryan worked
hard to be that cre- ative force, but it was the wide play of Aaron Greene and
John Russell in the second-half that looked most likely to lift Rovers’
offensive malaise.
JJ SAYS: Rovers strength is their passing ability and
creativity in midfield. The fact
that the free-flowing football associated with Cook’s team rarely appeared in
the midfield zone meant that Shelbourne survived and were able to take the game
to extra-time.
SHELBOURNE
ALAN Mathews’ team were set up to be difficult to beat. Any
time Rovers had the ball they faced two perfectly in-sync banks of four
designed to stifle. Clancy’s dismissal merely strengthened Shels defensive
mindset. Had Clancy stayed on a more open game would surely have ensued. This
was not to be and Shels clung on grimly to the bitter end, marshalled by
‘Player of the Match’ Stephen Paisley at centre- half.
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