Pictured - Ronan Caldwell was sent off by referee Anthony Buttimer.

Courtesy of RTE.ie

Sligo Rovers set to the Showgrounds alight on a night when the floodlights threatened to ruin the show.

The game was delayed by 35 minutes because of a floodlight failure, but a large home crowd waited patiently to see their team pull three points clear at the top of the league.

Three goals from Matthew Blinkhorn and strikes from Aaron Greene, John Dillon, Alan Keane and Raffaele Cretaro saw Rovers romp to victory against ten-man Galway, who had Ronan Caldwell sent-off after just 23 minutes.

Rovers boss Paul Cook made just one change to the team that beat Drogheda United on their last outing, as John Dillon came in for the suspended Richie Ryan.

Top-scorer Eoin Doyle returned from injury to take his place on the bench.

Galway made six changes from the defeat to Galway, with John Egan starting in goal instead of Conor Winn.

Eager to get going after the delay, Rovers took just 24 seconds to create the first chance, as John Dillon fizzed a shot across the face of goal that John Russell almost reached.

Within two minutes, Galway had the game's first boking as Jin Gu Kim obstructed Aaron Greene, but Joseph Ndo's free-kick was wasteful.

But Rovers took just 15 minutes to gain the advantage, as Dillon's cross-field ball was won by Greene, who worked a one-wo with Russell before firing under Egan.

Greene was also involved in the second, as he was held back by Ronan Caldwell when trying to reach Matthew Blinkhorn's cross.
Referee pointed straight to the spot and showed Caldwell a straight red card.

Dillon tucked away the spot-kick.

The third arrived just four minutes later, as John Russell's close range shot came back off the crossbar and left Matthew Blinkhorn with a simple tap-in.

And former Galway defender Alan Keane piled the misery on his former team by driving the fourth home from outside the box after he was teed-up by Ndo's clever free-kick.

Galway almost pulled one back before the break when Alan Murphy's attempted chip beat Brendan Clarke but came off the crossbar, but Rovers were good value for their half-time lead.

They had to wait just ten minutes of the second half to increase the lead, as Blinkhorn flicked home at the near post from Russell's cross, but Oscar Sibanda pulled one back for he visitors by chipping Clarke from inside the box.

Blinkhorn completed his hat-trick with a stunning third before Raffaele Cretaro claimed the seventh with an injury-time tap-in.

Sligo Rovers: Brendan Clarke; Alan Keane, Gavin Peers (Alan Kirby 58), Derek Foran, Iarfhlaith Davoren (Conor Powell ht); John Dillon (Raffaele Cretaro 66), Danny Ventre, Joseph Ndo, John Russell, Aaron Greene; Matthew Blinkhorn.

Subs not used: Ciaran Kelly, Liam Martin, Eoin Doyle.

Galway United: John Egan; Paul Sinnott, Gary Kelly, Eric Browne, Laurence Gaughan (Eduardo Dusi 18); Sean Kelly, Mikey Gilmore, Ronan Caldwell, Oscar Sibanda (Willie Enuibe 82), Jin Gu Kim (Bobby Ryan 58); Alan Murphy.