Sligo Rovers 3-2 Longford Town
Sligo Rovers narrowly survived a spirited second-half performance from Longford Town at the Showgrounds to claim their first SSE Airtricity League Premier Division win in almost two months.
The Bit O'Red raced into a 3-0 lead at the break courtesy of strikes from David Cawley, Keith Ward and Dinny Corcoran.
Rovers were made to sweat following second-half strikes from Town's Mark Salmon and debutant Dean Kelly but held on to secure their third league win of the season.
Sligo took the lead with 21 minutes played when Corcoran supplied Raffaele Cretaro on the right.
The winger's low cross found the foot of Cawley who did well to beat his marker and turn the ball inside Paul Skinner's far post for his second goal of the season.
The game had barely drawn its breath when Ward doubled Rovers' lead two minutes later. Skilfully pulling the ball past Longford defender Mark Rossiter, the former Dundalk attacker then neatly scooped the ball over Skinner for his first goal for Sligo.
Rovers have struggled defensively this year and Salmon almost halved their lead on 24 but Ryan Coulter was relieved to watch the Longford skipper's shot drift over his crossbar.
Joseph Ndo's side continued to press Town hard and Corcoran made it three with ten minutes of the opening half left as Rovers cut open a lethargic Town defence once more.
Gary Armstrong's well weighted pass from the right sat up nicely for Corcoran who knocked the ball beyond Skinner for his ninth of the campaign.
The former Bohs striker came close to his brace six minutes from the break but was unfortunate to see his shot skim the post before going wide following a quick Sligo break.
Ward almost caught Skinner out nine minutes into the second half but the Longford net minder did just enough to scramble back to his line and push away his attempted lob from 40 yards.
Tony Cousins' side were offered some hope on 62 minutes when having been taken down by Ward inside the penalty area, Salmon sent Coulter the wrong way from the penalty spot to cut the deficit to two.
Buoyed by this and with Sligo visibly concerned, the midlanders created chances through Kevin O'Connor and debutant Kelly on 68 and 71 respectively but both were unable to find the target.
The pressure told once more as Sligo struggled to deal with Longford's long ball game.
Cretaro upended Longford sub Aymen Ben Mohamed and Kelly rose highest to nod Salmon's resulting free past Coulter.
Town's Gary Shaw should have levelled the game on 80 minutes but could only head straight at Coulter following a mix-up in the Rovers rearguard.
The First Division champions were unlucky not to be rewarded for their fighting spirit and were afforded one last chance two minutes into added time at the end of the game, but O'Connor dragged his shot wide of Coulter's far post.
Sligo Rovers: Ryan Coulter; Raffaele Cretaro, Gavin Peers, Alan Keane, Regan Donelon; Sander Puri, David Cawley, Gary Boylan, Gary Armstrong (for Liam Flatley 84), Keith Ward (for Kevin Devaney 69); Dinny Corcoran.
Subs not used: Ciaran Kelly, Jake Dykes, Ross Taheny, Ryan McManus.
Longford Town: Paul Skinner; Pat Sullivan, Mark Rossiter (for Jamie Mulhall 89), Rhys Gorman, Conor Powell; Mark Salmon, Kevin O'Connor, Stephen Rice, Jack Doherty (for Ayman Ben Mohamed 63); Gary Shaw, David O'Sullivan (for Dean Kelly HT).
Subs not used: Paul Hunt, William Tyrell, Kaleem Simon, Martin Deady.
