REWIND: Sligo Weekender, May 8th, 2007. Shamrock Rovers v Sligo Rovers

A semi will decide ......everything Published in The Sligo Weekender, October, 3rd, 2012

A semi will decide ......everything

JJ Devaney

 An FAI cup semi-final between fierce rivals Sligo Rovers and Shamrock is as big a fixture as is possible to imagine in Irish domestic soccer. However with Sligo Rovers effectively relinquishing their hold on the Airtricity Premier League trophy with a 0-0 draw at home to Cork City on Monday night, this FAI Cup semi-final takes on even more import for the bit o’ red. With the League trophy heading to Inchicore and the EA Sports cup (the League cup) safely ensconced in Tallaght stadium Sligo Rovers will look to bring the Ford FAI Cup back to the Showgrounds for the third time in 4 years.

Having appeared in 3 FAI Cup finals and winning two between 2009 and 2011 you could be forgiven for thinking that the cup is of lesser importance to a Sligo Rovers team that won its first league championship in 35 years last season. The truth is that with such a large and talented squad it is vital that Sligo Rovers aren’t just competing for silverware but winning silverware each season and this season the FAI Cup remains the only real chance of achieving this. Of course all managers will tell you that the most important game is the next game but when you consider how disappointing the last game was, and the fact it effectively brought down the curtain on the league campaign, then psychologically Sunday’s game becomes massive for both fans and supporters alike. It is a season defining encounter. 

Sunday’s match will help define how supporters view the season past and will set the tone for the forthcoming campaign. There was palpable restlessness amongst the natives in the Showgrounds on Saturday night. Some of it was justified, some of it was hysterical. The league title defence has been a disappointment and the crowds of the last few weeks have reflected this. You can expect there will be a bumper crowd in the Showgrounds for the cup semi final on Sunday yet for Monday nights league game, which would have left Rovers just two points adrift of St Pats had they won, there was a very disappointing turnout of just 1600*. It appears the fans had conceded the league title defence was over prior to the weekend’s double header.

Sligo Rovers fans have been spoiled with success the last few years; of that there is no doubt. With a top domestic trophy being delivered to the Showgrounds every year since 2009 and the assembly of a squad of considerable depth and ability, the hope of success has been replaced by a demand for it by many fans. This is the reality for manager Ian Barraclough and his team on Sunday. A place in the FAI cup final in the Aviva stadum awaits; Sligo expects.

Legend of the Raff. Published in the Sligo Weekender, October 3rd, 2013.

 JJ Devaney pays homage to Raffaele Creatro and a lunchtime soccer league where the Sligo Rovers legend made his first impact

Raffaele Cretaro made his 388^th appearance for Sligo Rovers on Friday night and jumped into second place in the all-time appearance list just behind Tony Fagan. Raff was suitably proud of his achievement in his post match comments but it was the managers thoughts on the Tubbercurry man’s special night that reminded me of days gone by and appearances by Raff that weren’t included in the 388.

Ian Barraclough remarked of Raff as being a ‘true legend’ of Sligo Rovers FC but I first remember Cretaro as a legend in his own lunchtime. It was easy to mention his brilliant brace of goals in the game that clinched the title last year at home to St Pats but it was equally easy to recall our shared triumph on the crumbling gravel of the Marist Secondary school, Tubbercurry in vice-principal Oliver Lannon’s 1^st and 2^nd year boys lunchtime league. Mr Lannon presented the winners prize of 20 pound to us but really our victory was assured in the four v four league when the name Raffaele Cretaro was added to the names JJ Devaney, James Frain and Joseph Corscadden. None of us we were bad players but with Raff you always felt you had the advantage.

Back then you couldn’t have predicted how he would weave his name into the rich tapestry of Sligo Rovers football club but you certainly knew he was different. The way he struck the ball was just better, cleaner and harder than anybody else. Playing for the school one day in Sean Fallon Park he rattled one off the crossbar from 30 yards. The bus driver on the way home couldn’t get his head around the ferocity generated by the diminutive 13 year old. We lost to one of the ‘townie schools’ 2-0 that day but even then Cretaro was the stand out man. His presence and ability reduced the inferiority complex of our country school team when faced against those for whom soccer was the singular sport.

As we stood in the tunnel chatting on Friday night Raf recalled his goal scoring debut for Rovers against Monaghan in September 2000 under then manager Tommy Cassidy. A few months earlier in June Raff turned out for his boyhood club Real Tubber in an end of season south Sligo junior soccer tournament called the ‘Jack Davey Cup’. I played for Chaffpool Rovers when we faced Real Tubber in our second game and we won 4-2. Raff was destined for the Showgrounds and so the victory was all the sweeter over our local rivals. Looking back and thinking about all he has achieved since adds an extra gloss to those memories.

388 appearances seems a smaller number than I expected but then you can’t include the day he briefly interrupted a ritual hammering in the Connacht Minor championship at the hands of Joe Bergin and his Galway teammates by coming off the bench to score two points in 3 minutes for Sligo. You see to those of us who watched his rise from the beginning it’s easy to count many more stories, memories and appearances for Raff.

When Ian Barraclough talks of Raff as ‘a true legend’ he is correct. The word ‘legend’ comes from the Latin ‘things to be read’ and Raff has surely written his name into the annals of Rovers history for future generations to read about. Raff is the heir apparent to the mantle of Johnny Kenny for the rural Sligo Rovers supporter. He is one of our own. We all have a story about the rise of Raf around here. We all take particular pride in his achievement. So here’s to Raf! 388 appearances and counting, 68 goals and a thousand memories.