How will the Rovers script end? Published in The Sligo Weekender, June 20, 2013.

JJ Devaney goes to the movies as he reflects on Sligo Rovers' efforts to retain their crown.

Saturday night’s comprehensive 5-2 win over UCD at the Showground brought the curtain down on act one of Sligo Rovers defence of their title. As Rovers players and fans alike enter into the mid season interval they will both be considering the same thing: In what shape is our main protagonist, Sligo Rovers FC as the curtain is drawn for the intermission.

Sligo Rover’s season so far has resembled one of the summer’s Hollywood blockbusters in many respects. There has been something of an Oscar winning formula to it: We begin with our hero at the top of his game. With most of his enemies vanquished from early on the seeds of self doubt are sown as dark forces contrive to take him down. Defeat at St Pat’s sees our hero lurch into a spiral of bad form and the kind of mid-film crisis of confidence that is the hallmark of almost all of Tom Cruise’s films. Our hero clings onto hope in the shape of the home win against Derry and finishes the opening salvo with a morale boosting win against UCD. The scene is set for a comeback in the second half where our main protagonist draws on old inspirations and reminded by familiar friends (Danny North, perhaps) of the glory days he strives for one more dramatic stab at victory.

 Our plot even has a flawed character that Martin Scorsese would struggle to write. Anthony Elding, the early season all-action hero has to face his disciplinary demons. Can he find redemption and play a leading role in a second half comeback? Can he slay the red demon that has dogged his early season exploits? 

With a body count to rival any of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s films can Manager Ian Barraclough achieve Total Recall for North, Cretaro, Ventre and Lynch? Will the return of the four ‘Rovers-oir Dogs’ jump start the season and cause carnage to the rest of the league?

 There are so many questions to ponder as we munch on our mid season break popcorn. Even more questions appear on screen with the rise of Stephen Kenny’s Dundalk from plucky upstarts to title contenders. St. Pats, Derry City, the Rovers and now Dundalk are coming together to create a title race as complicated and convoluted as Christopher Nolan's  ‘Inception’.

 Hopefully Rovers can maintain the excellent attendances at the Showgrounds that we saw in the first half of the season. With a 5 goals on Saturday night maybe the boss’s mantra is ‘If you score goals, they will come’. Without the fans, Rovers have no chance of making sure that the Showgrounds remains the ‘Field of Dreams’ that it was last season.