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Soccer

Messi beaten by Sligo Rovers | Greatest Aviva Moments

In the second match-up of our 'Greatest Aviva Moments' contest, the League of Ireland won a decis...



Soccer

Messi beaten by Sligo Rovers | Greatest Aviva Moments

In the second match-up of our 'Greatest Aviva Moments' contest, the League of Ireland won a decisive victory over Lionel Messi and Barcelona!

The Bit o' Red's victory over Shamrock Rovers - to wit, goalkeeper Ciaran Kelly's four saves in the penalty shoot-out - comfortably beat Messi's appearance with the Catalans in 2016.

Messi and company were in town to play a friendly match against Celtic, with thousands turning out to see the little Argentinian.

But it was Kelly's goalkeeping heroics that secured the cup for Sligo Rovers and secured their spot in the next round of the competition.

"Proper order," said Richie McCormack of the result.

"I was there, it was definitely a friendly performance from Messi which ticked a lot of boxes for some people.

"As regards a standout performance, Ciarán Kelly's in saving those penalty outstrips whatever Messi did at the Aviva Stadium.

"What Messi did was just show up, what Kelly did - to save those penalties in an FAI Cup final - absolutely needs meriting."

Messi unstuck

As to how the competition works, we'll leave it up to arch-competitor Nathan Murphy to explain.

"We leave it up to the general public is how we whittle this down, I've got together an 8-moment shortlist - and there have been quite a number of memorable moments at the AVIVA Stadium over the last decade.

"We're going to have a couple of polls today, a couple tomorrow and into the semi-finals on Wednesday and Thursday, before we crown the greatest AVIVA Stadium football moment on Friday!"

Aviva Ireland has been a proud sponsor of the Aviva Stadium for 10 years. Since 2010, over 7.2 million fans from around the world have attended matches at the Aviva Stadium. We’re encouraging fans to tell us your favourite moments from the iconic venue by following Aviva Ireland on Instagram and Twitter and sharing them using #SafeToDream


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