CLOSE range finishes from Raffaele Cretaro and Eoin Doyle in the five minutes before half-time eased Sligo Rovers past UCD at the Showgrounds.

Substitute Daryl Horgan got the third when he scored direct from a corner on 68 minutes, and Cretaro grabbed his second in the closing stages.

UCD started well and gave as much as they got for the opening 40 minutes, with Graham Rusk and Daniel Ledwith both forcing saves off Brendan Clarke with shots from distance.

Former Rovers player Seamus Coleman was watching from the stands, but the hosts struggled to get into their normal passing groove before the game changed dramatically in the four minutes leading into the break.

Firstly left-back Aaron Greene broke down the wing before crossing for Cretaro to slide the ball home from inside the box.

And then top-scorer Eoin Doyle prodded to the net from close range in first half injury-time after Ger Barron saved an initial header from Jason McGuinness.

The Students’ confidence dropped after this and Rovers dominated the second half, with the killer third goal arriving on 68 minutes.

Substitute Daryl Horgan took the credit for it, after his corner looped past everyone and into the net off the far post just two minutes after his introduction.

Cretaro wrapped up the win by curling the ball home from outside the area with just eight minutes left.

SLIGO ROVERS: Clarke, Keane, Ventre, McGuinness, Greene, Dillon (Horgan 65), Ryan, Ndo (Russell 65), Kirby, Cretaro (Devaney 82), Doyle.

UCD: Barron, Harding, Boyle, D O’Connor, Nangle, Marshall (Russell 75), Ledwith (Benson 75), P O’Connor, Corry, Meenan (Roche 84), Rusk.

REFEREE: R Winter (Wicklow).