Fanning strike decides Boys tie
DROGHEDA BOYS LEICESTER CELTIC 1 0
DARREN Fanning struck the only goal of the game as Drogheda Boys proved just too strong for Leicester Celtic in this DDSL Under-16 Major division game played at Marley’s Lane on Sunday afternoon.
On a bright and blustery day Leicester started the game on top and for the majority of the first half they were dominating the exchanges. However, the Drogheda defence, under the calm leadership of Sean Collier, worked hard to snuff out the attacking threat posed by the Leicester forward line.
It was 30 minutes before Drogheda started to come into the game. The combination of Chris Darga and Taju Adigun in the middle of the park started to win more possession and work it through the centre.
On 35 minutes Sean Tighe was put through for him to hit a cross over which went narrowly wide.
The second half saw Drogheda come out on the front foot when from the kick-off they put the Leicester defence under pressure.
The Drogheda players were now getting first to the ball and moving the ball out wide to Fanning on the left wing.
On 52 minutes a fine piece of combined work by Josef Bergin and Adam Courtney put Fanning through where he jinked his way past the last line of Leicester defence and fired off a fierce shot from a narrow angle which went in off the near post.
Now Drogheda had their tails up and started to move the ball quickly, causing the Leicester players to be chasing shadows. Leicester, however, were not giving up and on 60 minutes they put Drogheda under a lot of pressure, firing off a number of shots in quick succession. However, the Drogheda defence cut off each attempt and finally cleared it away.
Leicester were tiring and Drogheda were now in the ascendency. Sean Tighe came close with a wonderful swivel and turn to shoot just narrowly wide. A slick passing move between Adam Courtney and Taju Adigun saw the shot from Adam comfortably stopped by the Leicester Celtic goalkeeper.
Drogheda controlled the closing stages of the game and ran out worthy winners.
DROGHEDA BOYS: Jamie Casserly, Sean Collier, Josh Talabi, David Chrobocinski, Chris Darga, Darren Fanning, Terrence Tientcheu, Taju Adigun, Josef Bergin, Sean Tighe, Adam Courtney, Bradley Abbedeen.