Title win sends Sligo wild

When the final whistle blew and the fans packed into The Showgrounds rushed on to the pitch to celebrate Sligo Rovers’ first league title since 1977, it felt like the centre of the universe was a small town on the north-west coast.

A dream for so many in an area with a population of around 20,000 had been realised after what must have seemed an eternity. The wild celebrations were entirely justified. The Bit O’Red were, for just the third time in their history, kings of Irish football.

The awarding of a contentious last-minute penalty which was, it’s important not to forget, terribly cruel on St Pat’s, wasn’t perhaps the greatest way to clinch the title but the man who put it away, Mark Quigley, certainly deserved the glory.