Derby night is one to forget

only after Ciaran McGuigan’s red card in the 72nd minute and the goal they conceded from the resulting free kick that Dundalk had all three points safely in the bag.

The Drogs had lost four on the bounce going into this fixture, yet the prospect of playing a Dundalk side minus the influential Stephen O’Donnell, Patrick McEleney and Ciaran Kilduff offered a glimmer of hope.

Question marks over the Lilywhites’ defence and keeper remained, but to threaten the opposition goal you need possession and for the opening half-hour Drogheda saw very little ball.

Inside the first minute there were alarm bells ringing as Dane Massey’s well struck 25-yard shot was badly fumbled by Stephen McGuinness who managed to gather at the second attempt under pressure from David McMillan.

Then in the third minute Colm Deasy committed himself fully to a tackle on Michael Duffy and missed, leaving the number 7 with a clear run on goal, but the former Celtic man shot straight at McGuinness.

In fairness, Drogheda did respond by creating two scoring opportunities in quick succession. On the first occasion, Stephen Dunne ghosted past his marker and played a ball in behind for Marc Griffin who was just beaten to it by advancing Dundalk keeper Gary Rogers.

Then it was the right-back Deasy who got forward and linked up with Sean Brennan whose flick-on allowed Gareth McCaffrey muscle his way round the back of Massey. His next touch was fractionally heavy, however, and although the former Rovers man got his shot away Rogers had narrowed the angle and managed to block.

For the next 25 minutes Drogheda barely got a look-in as Dundalk poured forward in waves, and when the home side did lose possession they invariably won it back through their own endeavours or because Drogheda’s distribution out of defence was poor.

Almost everything was being created down Dundalk’s left and Duffy volleyed the ball across the six-yard box after connecting perfectly with a Massey throw.

Deasy wasn’t getting sufficient help from his colleagues as Massey and Duffy attacked at will down that flank, and on 19 minutes Dundalk should have gone ahead when Massey burst through on goal and blazed over the bar, when a square pass would have left Thomas Stewart with a tap-in goal.

Massey immediately made amends, though, as he chased down an over-hit pass and delivered a brilliant cross from close to the corner flag for McMillan whose close-range header easily beat McGuinness.

On 25 minutes McMillan rose superbly above Deasy to direct a header goal-wards from a Sean Gannon cross and McGuinness did very well to parry the ball away to safety.

Sixty seconds later Dundalk did create a two-goal cushion as Stewart advanced menacingly before releasing McMillan whose cross was turned in at the near post by Duffy.

A moment’s play shortly after said a lot about Dundalk’s composure as McMillan found himself under pressure from a Drogheda player and was forced back some 30 yards, but he retained possession and took his time before finding a colleague who quickly turned a defensive situation back to attack.

Chris Shields and Stewart were off target with further goal efforts, so Drogheda’s goal on 33 minutes came against the run of play. McCaffrey drew his man before releasing the overlapping Deasy whose deep cross just evaded the fist of Rogers and was brilliantly turned into the net by Griffin from almost on the endline.

Drogheda had their best spell of the game after that as their hosts became a bit sloppy and it was frustrating that they were unable to test Rogers coming up to half-time.

Gavin Brennan had a mis-hit effort easily saved and he then played in McCaffrey who cut inside and saw his shot deflected away from goal.