Sligo Rovers arrange friendly with Cliftonville after Dundalk postponement leaves them without a home game for seven weeks

Sligo Rovers will face Northern Irish Premiership side Cliftonville in a friendly at the Showgrounds on Thursday, August 1st.

With no home game scheduled between Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Bohemians and the September 14th visit of Finn Harps, the club have taken the measure to ensure a home gate and match practice.

The home game with Dundalk billed for August 3rd has been postponed due to the Lilywhites’ Champions League tie away to Qarabag on Wednesday.

Due to the uncertainty around how long the Lilywhites will remain in Europe, that game may not be rescheduled anytime soon.

Sligo Rovers had endeavoured to have the fixture fulfilled, as Dundalk’s league game with St Patrick’s Athletic was on Saturday, but were overruled by the FAI.

The Bit o' Red have been drawn away to Glebe North in the first round of the FAI Cup, and face trips to St Patrick's Athletic and Cork City in their next two league games.

And with Cliftonville still engaged in their pre-season preparations ahead of the Irish League kick-off on August 9th, it suits both parties to engage the fixture.

“The game will be used to keep the squad ticking over and as a means of home gate income given we will not have a league match in The Showgrounds until Saturday 14 September, pending the rescheduling of the Dundalk game which will be late August at the earliest,” read a statement from Sligo Rovers.

“As stated last night, the decision to postpone this Saturday’s game with Dundalk was not made by us and we did repeatedly ask for it to be played but unfortunately this could not be met.”

Tickets for the game will cost €10 for adults and €5 for children under 12.