COCKHILL CELTIC 0
SLIGO ROVERS 4

By Johnny Craig
Sports editor

Cockhill Celtic crashed out of the EA Sports League last night despite putting in a brave performance against Premier League and cup holders Sligo Rovers at Maginn Park.
A crowd of over 1,200 fans packed the sun-drenched Buncrana venue for what was the biggest competitive game to be staged in Inishowen in living memory.
Sligo manager Paul Cook made only three changes from the team that lost to Bohemians in their FAI Premier clash on the previous Friday while Cockhill fielded the same side that defeated Buncrana Hearts in the League Cup at the weekend.
The visitors started brightly and on seven minutes Conroy parried a Davoren cross into the path of Dillon whose low shot flashed past the right post.
Moments later, Keane rattled the crossbar from close range as the visitors piled on the pressure.
Sligo came close again on 11 minutes when Russell was inches over with an acrobatic overhead kick from close range.
Cockhill responded three minutes later when McElroy headed wide from Gill corner.
However, Celtic’s luck ran out when Sligo took the lead on 18 minutes when a Russell cross from the left was not properly cleared and Ndo tucked the ball home to the bottom right hand corner from 11 yards.
Throughout the remainder of the first half, the home side defended bravely and looked dangerous on the counter-attack without testing Clark in the Sligo goal.
The home side were dealt a blow just after the half-hour when their experienced centre-half McElroy limped off with a hamstring injury to be replaced by Derek Doherty, a change which saw McDermott move to the back four with the substitute taking over his midfield role.
Rovers got the perfect start to the second half when on 49 minutes Dillon’s deep cross from the right found an unmarked Doyle who headed to the bottom right hand corner.
On the hour, Cockhill had their best chance of the game when Moran’s perfectly waited through ball released McKinney but Rovers centre-half McGuinness recovered to block his shot at the expense of a corner.
The home side came close again a minute later when a Gill corner from the left broke for Moran but he shot angle straight at the keeper from an acute angle.
On 67 minutes, Gretaro clipped the Cockhill crossbar with a 25 yard shot and stand-in centre-half McDermott made two crucial tackles to deny Sligo, first on 75 minutes when he slid in well to deny Gretaro following good work down the left by substitute Blinkhorn before denying Horgan in full flight.
At the other end, Cockhill’s McDermott volleyed narrowly wide from a corner.
Sligo ended the game as contest in the 79th when Gretaro rifled home a free kick from 30 yards and they added a fourth with five mintues remaining when substitutes Blinkhorn and Horgan combined for the latter to tap home.
COCKHILL CELTIC: Stephen Conroy, Kieran McLaughlin, William McLaughlin, John McElroy (Derek Doherty, 34 mins), William O’Connor, Malachy McDermott, Liam O’Donnell (capt), James Bradley, Paul McKinney (Michael O’Connor, 81 mins), Mark Moran (Aiden O’Donnell, 70 mins) and Gerry Gill.
SLIGO ROVERS: Brendan Clark, Owen Doyle (Daryl Horgan, 63 mins), Joseph Ndo, Danny Ventre (capt), Iarlaith Davoren, Jason McGuinness, John Dillon (Matthew Blinkhorn, 63 mins), Gavin Peers, Rafael Gretaro, Alan Keane and John Russell.