It was a frustrating night for the champions in Thomond Park as an inspired performance from Limerick goal keeper Barry Ryan kept them from collecting all three points.
Rovers flew out of the blocks and had their first chance of the night after just two minutes when Anthony Elding got onto the end of Ross Gaynor's first time cross but he couldn't direct his header on target. They only had to wait three minutes for there next chance when Raf Cretaro broke down Limerick's right hand side a put in a good cross that Elding just couldn't get on the end of. The best chance of the first half fell to Gavin Peers just two minutes later when Ross Gaynor took a short corner and played a one two with Raf Cretaro. From the resulting cross the ball fell to Gavin Peers who headed goalwards only for Barry Ryan to pull off a stunning reaction save to thwart him.
Limerick's first real chance came in the fourteenth minute from a corner when Gary Rogers came for the ball but got nowhere near it. Luckily for him Jeff Henderson was on hand to clear. But Sligo still applied the most pressure and in the twentieth minute Aaron Greene went on a good run down the left hand side and put in another good cross but again Elding couldn't quite get on the end of it. Two minutes later good work from Cretaro down the right saw the ball fall to Elding on the edge of the box, but Rovers top scorer blazed the ball high and wide. Moments later Limerick had the ball in the net when Axel Bossekota got the better of Gavin Peers from a long punted ball forward. Bossekota kept his cool to slot the ball past Gary Rogers only for referee Anthony Buttimer to chalk off the goal and book Bossekota for hand ball. Limerick found a foothold in the game after that and went close when David O'Leary had his free kick tipped over.
Arguably the best chance of the night came right after half time when Elding was put clean through by Joe N'do only to shoot straight at Barry Ryan, who tipped over for a corner. Moments later Rovers had an appeal for a penalty waved away when it appeared that Jeff Henderson was hauled down in the area. Sligo had another chance moments later when Gaynor's free kick was flicked on by Anthony Elding, but Jeff Henderson couldn't get enough purchase on his header to threaten Ryan. After that both teams cancelled each other out, and the game fizzled out as a contest, as both teams seemed happy to settle for a share of the spoils.
TEAMS:
Limerick: B Ryan, S Kelly, S Folan, P Nzuzi. B O'Callaghan, J Gamble, D Galbraith, S Bradley, D O'Leary(D Rainsford 87), S Tracy, A Bossekotta(R Gaffney 61).
Subs not used: V Feeney, S Cussack, S Costelloe, A Browne, B Sheedy
Sligo Rovers: G Rogers, A Keane, G Peers, J Henderson, R Gaynor, R Cretaro(L Martin 90), L Lynch(K Djilali 71), D Cawley(D Ventre 79), J N'Do, A Greene, A Elding.
Subs not used: C Kelly, I Davoren, R Connolly, P Millien,
Referee: Anthony Buttimer
Attendance: 1862
David Scanlon
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