Plenty of positives in derby defeat
THERE will be much bigger prizes than the Malone Cup for Dundalk to contest as the year progresses, but victory in the annual season opener against neighbours Drogheda Unitd should never be underestimated around Oriel Park.
Goals from Michael Duffy, via the penalty spot, and Dylan Connolly ensured the Lilywhites claimed their third consecutive triumph in the competition, played in honour of former club president Jim Malone.
That late double might have put something of a flattering look on the scoreline from the home side’s perspective, but coming on the back of a victory over Bohemians earlier in the week, Tim Clancy can be pleased with how his Drogheda side are shaping up.
In the first half, in particular, they showed plenty of attacking threat, with full-backs Colm Deasy and Conor Kane showing plenty of ambition to get forward in support of Lee Duffy and Mark Doyle.
That threat diminished in the second period, but a different sort of quality was shown as the side soaked up pressure for large periods with relative comfort. While the visiting fans would have been looking to see more from their team going forward, the side’s workrate was most pleasing.
While the penalty that effectively decided the game at the end could be disputed, Clancy will be pleased with the performance of his centre-half pairing Ciaran Kelly and Kevin Farragher, who restricted Dundalk to few chances from play for much of the game.
The home side largely threatened from set pieces, so that perhaps gives him something to work on, but overall the quality of opposition Drogheda will face in the weeks ahead won’t be as good as it was on Saturday night.
Oriel Park has been the scene of some pretty big defeats for Drogheda sides in recent times, but they acquitted themselves well on Saturday, with the midfield trio of Sean Brennan, Jake Hyland and Luke Rossiter frustrating their opponents for long periods and all putting in a good shift.
The Malone Cup has traditionally been a competition that Dundalk have struggled in. While Saturday’s victory marked the third success in a row, adding to the wins of 2015 and 2016, it was also just the club’s sixth win since the first game was played in 1997.
Half of those have now been claimed under Stephen Kenny’s reign, and while there is little doubt the balance of power in County Louth has shifted in recent years, Dundalk still have some way to go to match the Boynesiders’ tally of 13 wins in the competition.
Saturday’s game will hardly be remembered as a classic. Drogheda, to their credit, did put it up to Dundalk in the opening half, taking a shock lead with a stunning strike from Lee Duffy.
While that was cancelled out by Stephen Folan’s second goal in as many matches, Dundalk lacked the cutting edge up front to really test Clancy’s side.
The visitors sat back in the second half – only registering their first attempt in injury time – but despite a couple of close shaves from set pieces they largely coped with what the home side had to throw at them.
The game looked destined to go to penalties – a scenario which has seen Drogheda triumph on all eight occasions when the sides have been level after 90 minutes – but a penalty from Michael Duffy and a wonderful individual strike from Connolly at a time when Drogheda were pushing for an equaliser ensured Dundalk took the bragging rights.
Four goals were served up in the end, but the woodwork was also rattled on the same number of occasions. The first of those arrived after just six minutes when Ronan Murray’s free kick crashed off the underside of the crossbar before goalkeeper Paul Skinner gathered the follow-up header from John Mountney.
Lee Duffy would sting the palm of Gabriel Sava with his side’s first attempt a minute later before giving his side the lead in shock fashion on 14 minutes.
There appeared little on when he picked the ball up 25 yards from goal, but a stunning left-foot strike rifled to the net off the underside of the bar, with Sava only able to watch it flash past him. It might only be January, but Drogheda, or any side, will do well to score as good a goal for the remainder of the year.
Dundalk pressed for a reply after that and almost found it on 25 minutes when lovely link-up play involving Robbie Benson and Murray saw the latter pick out Benson’s run. His touch in trying to take the lofted pass down inadvertently set up Michael Duffy for a shot coming in off the left, but Farragher did well to block the effort.
The equaliser would arrive two minutes later. After Connolly was taken out by a late challenge from Mark Doyle on the right, Duffy’s free found its way to the back post where Folan was on hand to steer the ball home from close range.
Drogheda were inches away from restoring their lead on the half-hour mark. Luke Rossiter was a good 15 yards inside his own half when he spotted Sava off his line and launched the ball forward with an effort that rattled the crossbar.
The visitors had a let-off of their own a minute later when Duffy teed up Benson for a shot from the edge of the area that he pulled agonisingly wide.
Dundalk then passed up another good chance on 39 minutes when a cross from Murray was headed against the bar by Benson, with Connolly somehow turning the rebound wide from about four yards out. His blushes were spared somewhat by the offside flag.
While Drogheda had shown plenty of ambition in the opening half, there was little of it on show in the second as Dundalk began to dominate possession, without ever really carving their opponents open.
Their best chances came from corners, with Brian Gartland going close on a couple of occasions before Folan headed against the bar in the 75th minute, only to see his volley on the follow-up deflected over.
Gartland would meet the resulting corner with another header, but Drogheda managed to clear following a scramble at the edge of their six-yard box as Folan looked to pounce.
The Galway man would go close again five minutes later when Jeff McGowan’s header from Duffy’s corner was cleared as far as him, but he couldn’t keep his effort down on this occasion.
With eight minutes to go it looked as though Dundalk would finally make their dominance count when Connolly’s teasing cross from the right picked out the inrushing Jack O’Keeffe, but the ball hopped up awkwardly in front of him as a good chance went abegging.
The Under-19s player would have a big say in deciding the game, however, as he was adjudged to have been taken down by Ciaran Kelly three minutes from the end, with Duffy stepping up to send Skinner the wrong way from the spot with a cool finish to the bottom left-hand corner.
The victory was then assured on the 90-minute mark when Connolly used his pace to burst from halfway past a number of despairing Drogheda challenges to slot low past Skinner to the bottom righthand corner.
The visitors did have a rare chance after that when Mark Doyle broke in from the left, but his tame effort was comfortably saved by substitute goalkeeper Ross Traney.
From Drogheda’s point of view, a greater threat from the attacking players will be expected going forward, but that will hopefully come. Lee Duffy’s stunning goal will give him plenty of confidence on his return to the club and he showed enough in his 62-minute cameo on Saturday to suggest he can be a major asset this season if he remains fit.
Overall, there were plenty of positives for Drogheda to take from their trip to Oriel Park.