Drogs boss g
PETE Mahon officially turned 69 years old on Saturday but must have felt he’d aged significantly the night before as his Drogheda United team once again put him through the proverbial wringer.
Two weeks previously the Boynesiders had scraped the narrowest of victories against 10-man Athlone and even in Tolka Park seven days later they didn’t put Shelbourne to bed until the 88th minute despite the hosts having a player sent off in the first half-hour.
It was more of the same in United Park on Friday last, and but for one moment of class in an otherwise dour game Drogheda would be reflecting on a second successive scoreless draw in games against lowly Cabinteely.
For all that, the well-worn phrase ‘a win is a win’ most certainly applies as the result increased Drogheda United’s advantage over fourth-placed Cobh Ramblers to seven points, strengthening their hold on a play-off place and boosting their chances of an immediate return to the Premier Division.
However, that cushion could well shrink over the next few weeks as Drogheda prepare for difficult fixtures at home to Limerick and away against UCD and Waterford, while Cobh face three of the bottom four clubs and two of those games are at St Colman’s Park.
The likely scenario is that the gap will be more like three points by the time Cobh visit United Park on September 2nd in what could be a pivotal fixture in Drogheda’s season.
Crucial to the Boynesiders’ current run has been their watertight defence which has now not conceded a goal in 280 minutes of competitive football. Indeed, their tally of 20 league goals conceded this season is almost as good as champions elect Limerick and considerably better than anyone else in the First Division.
It’s Drogheda’s relative lack of firepower that could yet derail their push for a top-three finish, and against Cabinteely that weakness was evident again as the opposition keeper Michael Kelly had what must have been one of his easiest nights all season.
The hosts made a bright enough start and a slick move involving Colm Deasy, Jake Hyland and Sean Brennan ended with the latter’s cross towards Aaron Ashe, only for Cabo defender Adam Maher to knock the ball behind for a corner.
Then Deasy’s quick throw released Brennan who cleverly ghosted his way into the box and sent an inviting ball across the