Sporting Fingal came into tonight’s clash with Sligo Rovers in search of their first points of the new season after loosing 1-0 to Bohemians last week after a dodgy penalty decision had robbed Buckley’s men of at the very least a draw.

The opening stages of this game was very much up tempo and after 4 minutes almost took the lead, Conan Byrne sped down the right hand side and delivered Garry O’Neil with a gift of a ball but that particular opportunity was very much wasted at the last minute. 2 minutes later Sligo had a chance of their own when Padraig Amond found himself with tonnes of space but he hit his shot of the post. The up tempo action didn’t end there Stephen Paisley had a chance but that also coming off the post. On 9 minutes a scoreline of 3-1 would have been a very fair score when Conan Byrne had the best chance of the game but he just couldn’t find the target. from then till the 26th minute the tempo seemed to have been sucked out of the game with neither team able to break the others defence. Towards the end of the half Fingal should have had a free kick outside the box when Rovers net stopper Richard Brush palmed away headed ball by Stephen Paisley outside the box but the referee and lines man who were both in line of the keeper failed to act and respond but then again the Sporting players didn’t put up much of a protest to referee Neil Doyle.

The second half started pretty much the same way the first half did, both teams bring back the high tempo to this game. 10 minutes had gone in the second half and Fingal were finally on the scoreboard with their first goal in the Premier Division of the Airtricity League with an electric strike from Gary O’Neil who well beat the keeper rush, it was a fine goal and even though its only the second weekend of the new season, that goal will surely go down as the best of the season. Paul Cooks men replied with an equally classic goal exactly 5 minutes later Padraig Amond put it away through a lovely ball played through from Iarfhlaith Davoren to level the score once more. From then on the official attendance of 1,267 in the Morton stadium hadn’t alot to cheer about, in fact the biggest cheer of the night came when Sligo’s Eoin Doyle was booked for a really poor tackle on Kenny Browne. On 77 minutes the much anticipated home debut for Glen Crowe came and there was a standing ovation when he replaced the very effective Alan Kirby who appeared to be carrying a knock but he seemed a little reluctant to come off. Fingal really should have taken the game very late on and deserved it too, Keith Quinn nutmegged the keeper but just about stayed out of the net, Liam Buckley celebrated as he thought it was most defiantly in. Fingal had one more chance in the last seconds when Danny Ventre was booked for a poor challenge on Shane Mc Faul. Conan Byrne stood up to take the free and it was almost all 3 points for Fingal Quinn again on the end of it but it just drifted wide and the fat lady had sang. So a first point for Liam Buckley’s men in the Premier Division but more importantly for Sligo their point puts them top on goal difference. Full time score Sporting Fingal 1, Sligo Rovers 1

Sporting Fingal: Brendan Clarke, Kenny Browne, Keith Quinn, Shaun Williams, Shaun Maher, Stephen Paisley, Conan Byrne, Ronan Finn, Gary O’Neill, Alan Kirby, Shane McFaul Substitutes: Brian Gannon, Colm James, Eamon Zayed, Darren Quigley, Glen Crowe

Sligo Rovers: Richard Brush, Paul Whelan, Iarfhlaith Davoren, Gavin Peers, Alan Keane, Danny Ventre, Gary McCabe, Richie Ryan, Matthew Blinkhorn, Padraig Almond, Eoin Doyle Substitutes: Conor O’Grady, John Dillon, Mark Doninger, Mauro Almeida, Ciaran Kelly

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