A goal by substitute Carl McHugh in the seventh minute of injury time gave Sligo Rovers a remarkable come-from-behind win to take all three points at Tallaght Stadium as Shamrock Rovers lost for the second game in succession.
Having lost heavily to Galway at the Showgrounds last weekend, Sligo put up a brave defensive display against the reigning champions as a second half goal by defender Jeannot Esua cancelled out a first half own goal and the game appeared to be heading for a 1-1 draw.
However, McHugh raced onto a Ryan O'Kane pass, scored the winner with a left-footed low and hard finish into the back of the net before running to celebrate with the small band of visiting supporters in the East Stand. It's only Sligo's second away win of the season.
The home side were 2-0 winners when the sides first met back in March in Sligo, but in the rematch beneath leaden skies overhead in Tallaght, the home support voiced their displeasure at a fragmented display by their side with too many passes going astray and a general lack of urgency throughout.
The Hoops manager Stephen Bradley had shuffled his pack after the defeat in Dundalk last week with four changes as he started Adam Brennan, Dylan Watts, Jake Mulraney and Aaron Greene with Lee Grace wearing the captain’s armband in place of the World Cup-bound Pico Lopes.
For their part, Sligo made two changes from the side that lost comprehensively at home to Galway with defender Shane Blaney and midfielder Alex Nolan getting the nod to start.
In the opening seconds, a deflected Sean McHale shot was just wide of Ed McGinty’s left-hand post with the keeper relieved to see it miss its intended target.
It took the home side until the 10th minute to register a shot as Adam Brennan saw his dipping shot nick off a defender and just clear the away side's crossbar, a prelude to a goal for the Hoops just a minute later as McHale, facing his own net, deflected in an Aaron Greene cross from inside his own six-yard box.
Sligo though responded to going behind and should really have been level in the 25th minute as a left-wing cross by their captain Will Fitzgerald was headed into the path of Daire Patton by Jeannot Esua, but inexplicably, with the goal at his mercy, Patton, leaning back, lifted his shot and it smacked off the crossbar.
With the home side leading 1-0 at the break, Lopes was given a rapturous send off to the upcoming World Cup, the 33-year-old from Crumlin part of the Cape Verde squad who will face Spain, Uruguay and Saudi Arabia in Group H next month.
Five minutes after the restart, the Hoops, who lost both Jake Mulraney and Matt Healy to injury in the first half, should have added to their tally as Aaron Greene worked his way into the area and set up Michael Noonan, but the teenage striker, dragged a more than decent goalscoring opportunity wide.
And having missed that chance the reigning champions were then hit with a sucker punch in the 66th minute as a cross from Fitzgerald was headed on by Cian Kavanagh and Esua lurking at the back post, hammered in the leveller.
Stung by the concession, the Hoops laid siege on the Sligo goal but were denied by some poor finishing, good goalkeeping by Sam Sargent, and in added time a brilliant last-ditch tackle by Fitgerald denied John McGovern who looked certain to score.
Then came the definitive sucker punch as Tunmise Sobowale saw his misplaced pass picked up by sub O’Kane who rolled it into path of McHugh who scored delightfully from the edge of the area to take the points and send both the travelling support and bench into raptures.
Shamrock Rovers: Ed McGinty; Oluwatunmise Sobowale, Adam Mathrews, Lee Grace ©; Jake Mulraney (Danny Grant 38) , Adam Brennan, Dylan Watts (Graham Burke 65) Matt Healy (John O’Sullivan 45), Jack Byrne; Aaron Geene (Victor Ozhianvuna 65); Michael Noonan (John McGovern 65)
Sligo Rovers: Sam Sargeant; Jeannot Esua, Shane Blaney, Gareth McElroy, Ollie Denham, Sean McHale; Will Fitzgerald ©; James McManus (Ciaran Hakin 52-Mai Traore 72), Alex Nolan (Ryan O’Kane 45), Daire Patton; Cian Kavanagh (Carl McHugh 81).
Referee: Paul Norton
