Bad Friday as McGlade punishes Drogheda
THERE wasn’t much ‘good’ about Drogheda United’s Friday visit to the Carlisle Grounds and they have now slipped to sixth place after one round of First Division fixtures.
Round two in this league is a bit like Saturday’s ‘ moving day’ in a major golf championship and Tim Clancy’s men will have to improve their points ratio significantly over the next nine matches if they are to maintain their hopes of a promotion challenge.
In particular there will be a focus on tightening up their defensive record and reducing the number of errors which are undoubtedly costing them points. Fourteen goals conceded comfortably exceeds the number Longford and Bray have shipped between them, and is considerably more than Galway who are propping up the table along with Wexford.
At one stage on Friday night it seemed that a repeat of Drogheda’s heroics in Athlone might be on the cards as they again threatened to overturn a twogoal deficit, but Bray’s back four are resilient and they sucked up incessant pressure before killing off the game as Dylan McGlade completed his hat-trick.
With injuries still taking their toll, the Boynesiders lined out unchanged, except for Luca Gratzer making his first-ever league start between the sticks owing to Paul Skinner’s absence.
Unusually for the Carlisle Grounds, the flags flying behind the goals barely rippled on a perfect evening for football, and in the early stages Drogheda looked poised to kick off the holiday weekend on a high note.
Inside the first minute Mark Doyle pulled a shot to the right after a good interception from Cian Kavanagh, and then a good move involving Kevin Farragher, James Brown and Kavanagh ended with Jake Hyland using Conor Kane’s run as a decoy. Instead, the skipper struck a 25-yard effort that had former Drogs keeper Gabriel Sava scrambling as it slid narrowly wide.
There were a couple of early signs that it might be a difficult night for the Drogs, though, with the pace of Dean O’Halloran and Jake Ellis testing the visitors’ back three.
The 12th minute was a case in point as McGlade’s ball over the top found Ellis who showed Luke Gallagher a clean pair of heels before crossing just too high for the on-rushing O’Halloran.
Moments later it was O’Halloran who skipped past Luke McNally and his cross was volleyed over the bar by another former Drog, in Richie Purdy.
The Boynesiders were playing some good one-touch football and Gallagher started a move involving Doyle and Kane that ended with the centre-back hitting a tame shot straight at Sava.
However, the visitors had to start playing catch-up when they conceded the opening goal on 16 minutes. Once again the back three looked exposed as Ellis got in behind and crossed towards O’Halloran who was bundled over in the box by Farragher.
The contact looked minimal, but Farragher’s use of the hands was certainly unwise, O’Halloran went down and referee Dunne duly pointed to the spot.
McGlade stepped up and combined power with accuracy as he pinged the ball in off the post, with the unfortunate Gratzer unable to get a touch despite diving fulllength to his right.
Another ball in from O’Halloran found Ellis whose clever flick failed to trouble Gratzer, before the action swung back to the other end where Kavanagh got on the end of a James Brown cross but volleyed weakly straight into the hands of Sava.
On 31 minutes Kavanagh shot well over the bar from distance, and it was from his short corner to Kane that Stephen Meaney’s looping header didn’t quite hit the target.
At 1-0 Drogheda would have fancied themselves to get back in the game, but right on half-time they pressed the self-destruct button. Gallagher, unaware of McGlade’s presence nearby, played a blind square pass towards McNally and the livewire Bray number 10 caught the young defender flat-footed.
The briefest of battles for possession ensued, before McGlade came away with the ball, bore down on goal and sent an unstoppable shot to the net for a 2-0 lead.
Clancy, mindful of Farragher being on a yellow card as well as the need for a tactical change, took off the defender and replaced him with Luke Heeney at the break.
His side needed to strike back early in the second half, and they did within six minutes of the restart. Kavanagh played a short corner to Kane and got the ball back before floating in a cross which a Drogheda player hoofed high into the sky under pressure.
Sava was ill-advisedly tempted off his line towards a ruck of players near the penalty spot and it looked like McNally got his head to the ball in front of the keeper, directing it towards Gallagher who nodded into the empty net.
McGlade responded with an awkwardly bouncing 25-yard shot that Gratzer did well to push away, but for the next half-hour Drogheda threw everything but the proverbial kitchen sink at the Seagulls.
Doyle bent a shot wide of the target before inadvertently blocking teammate Hyland’s shot, with the captain seeing another effort from the ricochet stopped by Darragh Gibbons.
Hyland was replaced by Sean Brennan going into the last quarter and the Rathmullen native’s creativity presented a chance to Brown who blazed over the top from 18 yards.
Paul Keegan, a league winner with the Drogs back in 2007, coughed up possession in the 78th minute to Brennan who immediately released Doyle, but the ball got caught between the number 14’s feet and he eventually scooped the ball wide of the target.
There was still plenty of time to create a couple more chances, but Bray defended stoutly and then inflicted the hammer blow in the 87th minute. On a rare visit into Drogheda territory they got the ball to McGlade who stepped inside a couple of challenges and sent an explosive shot beyond Gratzer from a very tight angle for 3-1.
The Boynesiders did push for a second goal that would have given them a glimmer of hope, but Doyle’s shot was deflected behind and late substitute Jordan Adeyemo fired straight into the arms of Sava.