Drogs shoot the lights out
Drogheda Utd 6 Athlone Town 0
DROGHEDA made headlines for all the right reasons on Sunday afternoon as they, well, lit up United Park by romping to the easiest of victories over hapless Athlone Town.
The Midlanders were pretty woeful, if truth be told, but the Boynesiders still deserve great credit for the way they went about their business, especially considering they hadn’t played a match of any sort in almost a month because of three successive postponements.
Athlone manager Aaron Callaghan made six changes from the side beaten 4-1 by Galway United in their opening game, but right from the start they were on the back foot against a hungry Drogheda side.
Sean Brennan warmed the hands of their keeper Nathan Murphy with a stinging drive in the opening two minutes and that was a taste of things to come for the young custodian as he worked overtime throughout the game and actually acquitted himself very well.
Chris Lyons was next to be foiled by the keeper and on that occasion the rebound bounced favourably for Lee Duffy whose effort was somehow deflected wide by Cormac Raftery.
In the ninth minute, though, Drogheda had the lead when skipper Jake Hyland played a one-two with Lyons before sending a left-footed 15-yard shot high past Murphy with the help of a deflection.
Within a few seconds Athlone had to replace Shane Stokes because of a head injury as matters went from bad to worse, and for the next half-hour Athlone were in survival mode, all at sea but somehow keeping their goal intact.
Brennan latched onto a Colm Deasy throw and drove a diagonal shot wide, just out of reach of Mark Doyle, and Doyle himself then volleyed over before Brennan sliced an audacious attempt wide from 40 yards after spotting Murphy off his line.
Then Hyland did well to engineer space for a cross from the byeline and it was just an inch too high for Kevin Farragher who headed over the bar at full stretch.
Athlone did have two opportunities from 25-yard free kicks, but Josh Hogan was well off target on the first occasion and Tzee Mustapha’s effort took a deflection off the wall and bounced narrowly wide, with Paul Skinner well beaten.
From the resulting corner kick, Drogheda counter-attacked as Deasy sprinted 50 yards before releasing Duffy who took advantage of Mustapha’s slip to reach the byeline and cross to the near post.
Lyons stretched out in a bid to get a decisive touch but was beaten to the ball by a defender who expertly knocked it out for a corner.
On 41 minutes Drogheda put together an inventive training-ground move that nearly worked to perfection.
Brennan shaped to go for a shot from 25 yards but instead rolled it to Luke Gallagher. He played the ball first-time into the box towards Duffy and he dummied
for on the on-rushing Lyons who couldn’t quite reach it, with only Murphy standing between him and the goal.
The Boynesiders’ patience was rewarded in the 44th minute, however. Brennan played a corner short to Duffy and he dribbled to the byeline before crossing low to the near post where Athlone’s Martin Walsh couldn’t react fast enough and simply diverted the ball to his own net from a yard out.
That goal probably knocked the stuffing out of Athlone and in a nine-minute period just after half-time they shipped three more goals. Hyland should have done better when glancing a header well wide from a Brennan cross, but on 49 minutes Drogheda put the game beyond the Midlanders when a Brennan corner was flicked on by Luke Gallagher and Doyle popped up in the six-yard area to head past Murphy.
Duffy then had a shot beaten away by the keeper after Hyland had run onto a Deasy pass and then cut the ball back into his path, and from the resulting Brennan corner Farragher headed well wide. Brennan then lined up a free kick out on the left and, spotting that Murphy had taken up a position towards the opposite side of his goal, tried to hit the target at the near post but instead found the side netting.
Goal number four arrived on 57 minutes and came from a simple ball out of defence by Farragher. Deasy raced onto it from the rightback position and found himself with only Murphy to beat, and after advancing a few yards he superbly chipped the advancing netminder for his first competitive goal in Drogheda colours.
Barely a minute later the Boynesiders struck again, and once more it was Farragher with the assist as his long ball was collected by Doyle before being lashed past Murphy who got a touch but couldn’t prevent it crossing the line - 5-0.
At that stage, with more than 30 minutes remaining, Athlone’s record league defeat - 9-1 by Shelbourne back in 1927 - looked to be in danger of being exceeded, but some sloppy finishing and excellent goalkeeping ensured the game was in stoppage time when Drogheda struck for the final time.
Richie Purdy, on as a sub, made a late run into the box and hooked wide from a Conor Kane cross, at the end of a move that started with Duffy winning possession at his own corner flag. Then Duffy (twice) and Lyons were denied by Murphy, while another sub, Gareth McCaffrey, fired into the side netting with an angled effort.
Entering stoppage time Purdy hit a weak effort straight at Murphy after good approach play involving Hyland and Lyons, but a sixth goal with time almost up sent the Drogheda fans home with an extra spring in their step.
Once again Athlone’s defending was very poor, but nevertheless Purdy’s kick was well directed into the six-yard box and young centre-half Ciaran Kelly arrived on cue to send a bullet header past Murphy from point-blank range.
Much tougher tests lie ahead and we shouldn’t read too much into the margin of victory, but it’s a good start nonetheless - especially considering that the two likely top scorers - Duffy and Lyons - have yet to get off the mark. No doubt their time will come in the near future!