Premier Division - Ireland

The two teams were locked level when the floodlights at the Sligo stadium partially failed and the FAI says the result will remain

The result from the abandoned fixture between Sligo Rovers and Finn Harps will stand, the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has confirmed.

Partial floodlight failure at The Showgrounds on Saturday March 19 saw the game abandoned on the 86th minute with the score at 1-1 and SSE Airtricity League Director Fran Gavin indicated that the points will be shared following receipt of the Match Delegate’s Report and the Referee’s Report..

"As League Director I have decided to allot the points according to the goals scored at the time of the abandonment as per Rule 19.16 of the Participation Agreement. The final score of the game is Sligo Rovers 1 Finn Harps 1," Gavin said.

Speaking after the game on Saturday, Finn Harps manager Ollie Horgan felt the 86th-minute abandonment was the correct decision.

Horgan believed it would be too dangerous for his players to continue playing in the partially lit Showgrounds, while Sligo Rovers manager Dave Robertson was happy for the game to continue.

The Bit o’Red took the lead on 11 minutes through Chris Lyons, while the visitors got back to level terms in the second-half thanks to a volley from Damien McNulty.

"If we ended up with another serious injury to add to the list that we already have, I wasn’t going to take responsibility in that situation," said Horgan.

"Sligo are an excellent side and will do well. But we have a series of long term injuries, last thing we wanted was players who were 10-12 minutes out there standing around, then having to go into play." 

The Ballybofey side were just building momentum when the lights went, and Horgan accepted that the timing was not ideal.

He said: "It was probably the only time in the game we felt we were on top. But look, we’ve had a number of serious injuries in the club, the last thing we wanted was to add to that, with the level of floodlit that was there - I think there was 16 lights out of 48 working.

"We’d love to have continued with the lights when we were on top. It was a pity the lights went when they went.”

League of Ireland Attendances - Gameweek 4

The opening day attendance of 4,195 for Finn Harps victory over Derry City remains the highest of the season after four Gameweeks. Gameweek 4 saw a full schedule of ten games being played despite the best efforts of the Sligo Rovers floodlights to reduce that.

Dundalk’s loss to Cork City in Oriel Park topped the charts with an attendance of 3,528. Five Premier Division games broke the 1,000 mark with the encounter of Longford Town and Bray Wanderers estimated to be below that mark. As with Gameweek 2 there was no official attendance figure coming out of the Brandywell so we have once again estimated.

Four games in the First Division and one of the four attendances is an estimate. We have requested official counts and if we get them we will revise the article.

We have had 35 games so far and we have recorded 30 official attendances. The home attendances missed are from Derry (2), Bray Wanderers, Longford Town and UCD. We will endeavour to acquire the official counts and update our previous articles should we do so.

This week’s attendances were as follows:

Home Team	Away Team	Attendance
Dundalk	Cork City	3,528
Shamrock Rovers	St. Patrick's Athletic	3,453
Sligo Rovers	Finn Harps	2,238
Limerick	Cobh Ramblers	1,590
Derry City	Galway United	1,500
Bohemians	Wexford Youths	1,336
Longford Town	Bray Wanderers	700
Shelbourne	Cabinteely	568
Drogheda United	Athlone Town	564
UCD	Waterford United	250
TOTAL GAMEWEEK 4 ATTENDANCE		15,727
	Average Overall	1573