Top
100
Top
100 This section of the website looks back at some of the great players to wear the bit o' red. If you would like to suggest a player we have missed send your suggestion to Sligo Town Supporters Club
Bob Mooney Alf Peachey Stephen Mc Donagh Johnny Kenny Paddy Rooney Eamonn Reddy James Mc Cann Mattie Monaghan Paul Fielding
Bob
Mooney: Came to Sligo in the summer of 1948 from Glasgow
and played for four seasons with Rovers. He made 164 appearances for the club
mainly as full back and during his four seasons with the club he had the distinction
of only missing one game. He was made player/coach at the club for the 1950/51
season which saw Rovers lose the league by a single point to Cork Athletic after
leading for a period. Mooney returned to Scotland after the 51/52 season.
Alf
Peachey: Joined Rovers as a centre half in 1938 and enjoys legendardy
status with many of the older Rovers fanes. He made 60 appearances for the club
in this position but never managed to get on the scorsheet. A rock in the cenre
of the defence Peachey was made captain of the team which lost out so narrowly
to Shelbourne in the 1939 Cup final. This was a Rovers team which also included
another legend in Dixie Dean. Peachey was made trainer of the team in his second
season at the club and he was also chosen to represent The League of Ireland.
Stephen Mc Donagh: He was a local who played at inside forward for the club during the fifties. He left the club during the early fifties and spent a brief period in England before returning to Rovers for the 1952/53 season. He played 90 league games for the club and made 137 appearances in all competitions. He laso had a decent goal scoring record scoring 42 goals in all competitons during his time with the bit o' red. He later went on to become involved in local politics.
Johnny Kenny
A
local winger, born in Riverstown, who burst onto the scene with Rovers in 1993.
He played his junior football with Arrow Harps and then had a spell with Galway
United before he arrived at the Showgrounds. In his first season with the bit
o' red Rovers won an unprecedented treble as they marched to the First Championship
and First Division Shield. The treble was completed with an unbelievable FAI
Cup win against Derry City at Lansdowne Road. Johnny's main quality was an incredible
turn of speed which often left the opposition defenders for dead. He also had
an eye for goal and scored 12 from the wing in his first season. This included
one of the best goals ever seen at the Showgrounds on the night the floodlights
were switched on for the first time against Home Farm. He left Rovers in 1996
and joined Finn Harps where he still plays.
His goalscoring record for Rovers
reads:
|
League
|
FAI Cup
|
League Cup
|
First Division
Shield
|
European Cup Winners
Cup
|
Total
|
|
|
1993/94
|
8
|
0
|
3
|
1
|
--
|
12
|
|
1994/95
|
2
|
1
|
1
|
--
|
1
|
5
|
|
1995/96
|
3
|
0
|
1
|
--
|
--
|
4
|
|
Total =
|
13
|
1
|
5
|
1
|
1
|
21
|
Black Rooney was a full back who played for Rovers in their Junior days from 1932 to 34. He won a Leinster Senior League winners medal and an Intermediate Cup winners medal. In that time he scored four goals for the club. He left in 1934 to join Athlone Town although he returned to Rovers in 1937
Eamonn was a local right winger who played for Rovers between 1952 and 1957. In his time at the club he notched up 137 appearances including 79 in the league. He also had a decent goalscoring record for a winger scoring 25 goals in his five seasons with Rovers. He wrote his name into the history books in 1957 when he became the first player to score a competitive goal at Flower Lodge in Cork, which would later become the home of Cork Hibernians. The goal was scored in an FAI Cup tie against the Ancient Order of Hibernians in February 1957 and Reddy's goal gave the bit o' red victory in the tie.
Derry born centre half who joined Rovers in 1936. He played with Rovers for two seasons before leaving to join Cork. He returned to play a part in the Championship win in 1936/37. He played 116 times for Rovers and scored 13 goals in that time. Once again he left the club in 1938, this time for Limerick. But he returned for a third spell at Rovers the following season. He has also had a spell as player coach at the club.
He was a local winger/midfielder who came through the junior ranks with Collegians before joining Rovers. He made his debut in April 1970 against Drogheda and scored in the game. He made 30 appearances for the club and scored 10 goals during that spell. Included in that tally was a hat-trick against Drogheda United at the Showgrounds in September of 1970 in a Shield game.
Paul Fielding
Signed
from Rochdale in 1976 by Billy Sinclair Paul initially joined the club as a
midfield player. When Sinclair needed a full back Fielding was converted to
a right back and the rest, as they say is history. Probably not as skillful
as some of the others in Sinclair's team but when he came to reliability he
was unequalled. Fielding was Mr consistency and rarely had a bad game. In his
first season at Rovers he was an integral part of the Championship winning side
put together by Sinclair. In his second season at the club he played in the
European Cup but that season will be remembered for one incident and Fielding
was at the centre of it. Rovers had made the cup final once again and were more
than holding their own against Shamrock Rovers as the game moved deep into injury
time in the first half. A long ball was played into the Rovers box and Fielding
chased with Steve Lynex by his side. Both players seemed to lose their feet
and fell over but the infamous referee, John Carpenter, pointed to the spot
and Shams went in front. The fact that it was four minutes into injury time
in a game in which the physio's had not been on the pitch still rankles with
the older Rovers supporters.
Paul
had four seasons at Rovers before leaving to join Glenavon in the Irish league.
He was on the lsing side in the Irish Cup final of 1981. he returned to Rovers
in 1981 and four more seasons at the lub. During this spell he became player/
manager and wrote his name into the history books as one of Rovers greats. Having
suffered two cup final defeats fat was about to make amends with Paul. As a
24 year old he led Rovers to the final again in 1983 and became the first manager
to bring the cup back to the Showgrounds. Fielding himself played a huge part
in the final when he replaced the injued Chris Rutherford and was heroic in
the Rovers defence. Once again he left th club in 1985, this time for Limerick
and he had a further, brief, spell at Rovers the following season.
In total he made 263 appearances for Roversin all competitions and scored 5 goals.
