Derby demolition for Drogs
DROGHEDA United have suffered more than their fair share of derby woe in recent years and this latest implosion last Friday evening was about as bad as it gets.
Old enemies Dundalk helped themselves to six goals as the Boynesiders failed to score for the sixth consecutive game and slumped back into the relegation zone.
But an equally damning statistic concerns Drogheda’s poor disciplinary record as Thomas Byrne became their fifth player to see red this season, paving the way for Dundalk to go on and win while barely breaking sweat. The fact that it happened on home soil made the crushing defeat even harder to swallow.
When the Under-19 international from Tenure got his marching orders in the 31st minute, his team were still on level terms and matching their neighbours all over the field. But by half-time Stephen Kenny’s men had scored from each of their first three attempts on goal to put the result beyond doubt.
The commmon denominator in recent derby routs has been sendings-off. In 2014 Eric Foley was dismissed in a 7-0 away defeat and a year later Jason Marks saw red as Drogheda crashed 6-0 at Oriel Park. And in the first meeting in the current season Ciaran McGuigan got his marching orders in a 3-1 reverse.
In all of those matches Drogheda were well in contention when they had 11 men on the mark and it’s an aspect of their game which the players and management must address as a matter of urgency. A part-time team playing with a man short is destined to lose almost all of the time when they’re up against full-time opposition.
Some bookies were quoting 9/1 on a Drogheda victory on Friday, which seemed excellent value considering Dundalk’s patchy form this season, even allowing for the Boynesiders’ problems scoring goals.
And after half an hour that opinion hadn’t changed as Pete Mahon’s team attacked confidently and defended resolutely.
Ryan McEvoy got an early shot away that sailed over Gary Rogers’ crossbar, and a floated Killian Brennan free kick into the six-yard area had to be nodded away by Brian Gartland, with McGuigan poised to score with a header.
The eldest of the Brennans rolled the resulting corner towards Stephen Dunne who fired over the top with a decent effort, and moments later an untimely slip by Byrne denied him a shooting chance after a superb diagonal pass by Adam Wixted.
All the while Ryan Masterson was showing some promising signs on his full debut, holding the ball up well, but at no stage did
he receive possession in the box and engineer a shooting chance for himself.
There was no threat whatsoever from Dundalk until the 23rd minute when Rogers arrowed a low kickout towards David McMillan to set up a counter-attack. The striker held play up before squaring in the direction of Patrick McEleney, and Killian Brennan did well to get a foot in to deny the Derry native.
Shortly after McEleney tried to turn provider for Thomas Stewart at the back post, but again Drogheda were alert to the danger as Colm Deasy got a vital touch to put the ball behind.
Dundalk’s mediocre start was summed up when Dane Massey fired an attempted clearance off teammate Stephen O’Donnell, resulting in a Drogheda corner.
Pressure from Sean Brennan forced that mistake and the skipper was back to something like his best form, producing a tremendous shift, particularly in those early stages.
Byrne, playing in his first Louth derby, was also showing up well, but the youngster pressed the self-destruct botton shortly after the half-hour when he pole-axed McEleney with a very late challenge and was dismissed by referee Derek Tomney on a straight red card.
Within 13 minutes of going down to 10 men, Drogheda conceded three times as their neighbours exposed them with ruthless efficiency.
On 36 minutes Stephen O’Donnell was afforded far too much time and space to get a shot away from 20 yards. McGuinness dived to his left to push the ball away, but his defenders didn’t react quickly enough to the rebound and David McMillan had little more than a tap-in.
Immediately, Drogheda won a free kick 25 yards out and Killian Brennan’s effort dipped just over the crossbar, with Rogers beaten.
But Dundalk went straight up the other end and scored again. Niclas Vemmelund dinked the ball into the six-yard area and McMillan bundled the ball past McGuinness from almost on the goal-line.
Once more the hosts were awarded a free kick almost straight from the restart, but again Killian Brennan’s effort on goal ended up on the roof of the net.
No such problem for McEleney in the 44th minute. The classy forward took possession some 30 yards out and manoeuvred menacingly from side to side, trying to work an opening. His body language said he only had one option on his mind, but when the shot came it was still breathtaking in its execution as he lifted the ball over McGuinness at pace and planted it in the top corner for 3-0.
Killian Brennan had taken a couple of knocks in the first half and was replaced for the second by Sean Thornton, but it was already damage limitation for Drogheda at this stage and they probably would have settled simply for ending their own goal drought. Even that wasn’t to be.
It was all one-way traffic and Michael Duffy and McMillan were both denied by McGuinness before Sean Gannon and Stewart got their wires crossed and fluffed a tap-in opportunity.
The fourth goal duly arrived on 59 minutes as Massey’s ball into the box was nicely controlled by Stewart and he set up Duffy whose drilled shot nestled in the top corner despite a touch from McGuinness.
McMillan twice went close to completing his hat-trick either side of that strike before a timely interception by Thornton denied Robbie Benson a likely goal.
Ciaran Kilduff replaced McMillan at that point and the substitute was soon on the scoresheet, somehow beating McGuinness at his near post after getting in behind Luke Gallagher.
And, just like McMillan before him, Kilduff completed a quick-fire double on 85 minutes when tapping in from a McEleney through-ball.