Brilliant Boys pass Palmerstown test
DROGHEDA BOYS FC PALMERSTOWN FC 3 1
WITH the Junior Cert out of the way both sides were eager to get back playing football and after sharing a spoils in a six-goal thriller earlier in the season expectations were high for another cracker.
From the start Palmerstown, playing with the wind at their backs and using it to great effect, were putting the Drogheda defence under severe pressure.
This was to tell on 12 minutes when from a long kick Palmerstown pressed into the Drogheda penalty and from 12 yards out scored form a deflection .
Drogheda used this as a wake up call and started to work hard in midfield to cut out the Palmerstown threat. Sam Victory and Taju Adiugun were combining well to move the ball out to Cian King on the right wing.
Then on 22 minutes from a corner taken by Taju Adigun, Fola Oki rose high into the air on the back post to power a header into the net and level the scores 1-1.
The Drogheda defence was settling in to deal with Palmerstown’s long ball game and on 30 minutes Bradley Adedeen from right back released Cian King who drove into the Palmerstown penalty area and with a fierce shot hit the side netting. Drogheda were continuing to press and create chances but the Palmerstown goalkeeper was in top form.
But Drogheda broke their resilience early in the second half when Michael Leddy squared the ball to the onrushing Josh Wall who calmly slotted the ball back across the keeper to the far bottom corner.
Rather than sit on their lead, Drogheda continued to dominate and on 53 minutes Sam Victory picked the ball up on half way and proceeded to slalom through the Palmerstown midfield and as he rounded the keeper he was taken down for a penalty.
Sam dusted himself off and scored from the penalty to make it 3-1 and effectively decide the contest and send Drogheda into the semi-final.
DROGHEDA BOYS: Jonathon Clear, Oladipo Dele, Taju Adigun, Sam Victory, Ewan Sweeney, Alan Beattie, Bradley Abedeen, Cian King, Sean Collier. Fola Oki, Peter Meegan, Daire Sharkey, Michael Leddy, Josh Wall