Play-off almost in the bag after routine victory

BACK in the spring Drogheda United racked up four consecutive wins against Waterford, Cobh, Athlone and Shelbourne and they have now repeated that feat against the same teams following Friday’s victory over Shels.

Those previous successes were all by a single goal, but this latest run - part of a nine-match unbeaten sequence - has been more convincing and the Boynesiders seem to be hitting top form at exactly the right time in the season.

Mathematically, they still need two points from the three remaining games to copper-fasten their place in the play-offs after Cobh won at UCD on Friday night, but it would take a remarkable slump in fortunes to deny Pete Mahon’s men a shot at promotion in a few weeks’ time.

Perhaps mindful that Drogheda don’t have another home match until mid-October, the supporters in the decent-sized attendance made the most of the occasion on Friday as the decibel levels moved up a notch - and the team responded accordingly.

Drogheda made a bright start as Aaron Ashe - in for the suspended Gareth McCaffrey - sent a good reverse pass into the path of Jake Hyland who was just beaten to the ball by the advancing Shels keeper Jack Brady.

The home side had another sight of goal moments later when keeper Stephen McGuinness launched a long kick and Ashe controlled the ball before releasing Adam Wixted who moved inside onto his left foot before seeing his shot deflected wide.

Then, in the seventh minute, Marc Griffin ran onto Stephen Dunne’s throw and helped the ball on to Sean Thornton who dragged a disappointing shot wide from 18 yards.

Shortly after, the Drogheda defence was momentarily outnumbered when Dylan Kavanagh took possession 30 yards from goal, with both Jamie Doyle and James English well placed in front of him, but Kavanagh opted for a shot and sent the ball trickling tamely through to McGuinness.

In the 18th minute Shelbourne threatened again when Reece McEnteer launched a long throw into the box for Jamie Doyle who swivelled and hooked his shot wide.

But moments later Drogheda fans were celebrating the lead goal when Shelbourne failed to deal with a Dunne cross and the attempted clearance dropped invitingly for Wixted, lurking in an almost identical position to his third-minute opportunity. This time he struck the ball first-time and swept it past the out-stretched left hand of Brady.

Within 60 seconds Drogheda almost doubled their advantage as Wixted and Colm Deasy combined to put Hyland away, and from a difficult angle on the right the midfielder’s half-volley dipped just over the crossbar.

Jamie Doyle continued to provide the chief threat for Shelbourne and he tested McGuinness for the second time in the game on 23 minutes, before Griffin headed over at the other end from a Thornton free kick.

Drogheda, bursting with confidence, were playing with a bit of a swagger at this stage and they put together another great move just past the half-hour.

Richie Purdy, who was having his best game in a Drogheda shirt, conbined with Griffin to put Dunne away on the right, and when the cross came in Purdy played a onetwo with Griffin before sending a shot narrowly over the bar.

English and Jamie Doyle responded with poor efforts from long range, and Drogheda nearly struck again right on half-time when Griffin and Hyland combined brilliantly to put Ashe through on goal, but this time the winger had strayed marginally offside. An opportune time, perhaps, to mention referee John McLoughlin who was excellent. Last time he refereed Drogheda, at home to Limerick, his performance was highly contentious, but on this occasion he maintained a low profile and didn’t show a single card over the 90 minutes.

Shelbourne improved at the start of the second half and their impressive veteran midfielder - and former Drog - Daire Doyle stung the hands of McGuinness in the opening seconds, before the keeper went full-length to his left to keep out another Jamie Doyle effort.

It was a key save, as the Boynesiders cleared the resulting corner and seconds later had doubled their lead. Purdy and Ashe were involved in the build-up and the latter’s mis-hit shot ricocheted towards Wixted at the far post. Showing great composure, Wixted drifted across the six-yard box to make a bit of space before lashing the ball high into the net.