Trevor Murray at Eamon Deacy Park
Galway United 1-2 Sligo Rovers
Sligo Rovers capitalised on their numerical advantage over 10-man Galway United in the SSE Airtricity League as the Connacht derby ended in a 2-1 result on the banks of the river Corrib.
A 20th minute sending off for Armin Aganovic handicapped the home side for much of the match as he was shown a straight red card for an off the ball incident on Raff Cretaro and that proved to be the main talking point in the early afternoon kick-off.
However, it was Kieran Sadlier who proved the match winner, popping up in the 72nd and 84th minutes to score both goals either side of Gary Shanahan's second-half consolation strike.
The match started at a lethargic pace with neither side threatening much and the earliest sign of any danger arrived in the eighth minute when Raff Cretaro went down in the box under a challenge from Marc Ludden after a surging run, but referee Dave McKeown was unmoved by the protests.
A few minutes later, the Bit O' Red attempted to claim another spot kick for themselves after Gavin Peers went to ground in the middle of a corner kick melee, but again the referee was quick to dismiss the player's protests.
The Tribesmen offered little going forward, and it was easy to see why as they had a new-look attack on show with Enda Curran playing as a winger in a front three that also consisted of Gary Shanahan on the right and the free-scoring Vinny Faherty as the spearhead.
The home side's cause was obviously not helped by the dismissal of Aganovic as an off the ball incident which was flagged up by the linesman between the Swedish man and Raff Cretaro saw the 21-year-old brandished with a straight red card. Their uphill task was made all the steeper with a man less.
The crowd were forced to wait until the 26th minute for the first shot on target as Sligo's Kieran Sadlier forced Conor Winn into a save with a low-driven effort after charging towards goal. Nine minutes later Tobi Adebayo-Rowling had a pop from 30 yards but Winn was more than equal to it.
The restart saw Galway up their tempo, earning a few counter attacks through Vinny Faherty and Gary Shanahan. Ruairi Keating came close after he was played in by a Shanahan ball, but he failed to keep his side-footed effort down.
Shanahan should have earned his team a penalty but he was denied the chance to do so thanks to a suspect officiating decision and that will certainly have left the hosts with a chip on their shoulder.
Sadlier's opening goal threatened to seal a dramatic away win with a beautifully struck effort that had Winn well beaten, but Shanahan, clearly miffed at being denied a penalty, showed great determination to peg them back with a header in the 79th minute.
In the end, though, this was Sadlier's day and he did well to slot the ball past Winn again for the winner in the final stages of the clash to gift Sligo an important win.
This was a poor result for the Corribsiders, despite being a man down, and Tommy Dunne will be unhappy that they couldn't end the month on a happier note.
As for Sligo, they are really making the most of their rich vein of form and will have their sights set on leap-frogging Galway next month.
Galway United: Conor Winn, Marc Ludden, Kilian Cantwell, Paul Sinnott, John Sullivan, Enda Curran (Eric Foley 91), Ryan Connolly, Vinny Faherty (Jesse Dever 89), Ruairi Keating, Gary Shanahan, Armin Aganovic
Subs not used: Kevin Horgan, Cormac Raftery, Conor Melody, Stephen Folan
Sligo Rovers: Michael Schlingermann, Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Regan Donelan (Phil Roberts 72), Raff Cretaro, Kieran Sadlier, Jordan Richards, Gary Boylan, Jimmy Keohane, John Russell, Lima Martin, Gavin Peers (Jaanai Gordon 83)
Sub not used: Ciaran Nugent, Chris Lyons, Gary Armstrong, Paul Doyle, Mikey Place
