Drogs up against it in derby cup showdown
IT could be argued that Pete Mahon is taking a rather defeatest attitude in describing this Friday’s FAI Cup quarter-final as ‘the draw nobody wanted’ - but you can understand where the Drogheda United manager is coming from.
After overcoming two non-league sides to reach the last eight of the competition, the Drogs were hoping the balls would be kind one more time to give them a genuine chance of advancing to the semi-finals. Instead they got Dundalk - away.
Barring a near miracle, the Lilywhites won’t retain the league title, but they remain on course to better last season’s goals-for and goals-against tallies and a strong finish to the campaign would see them finish just three points worse off than 12 months ago.
Their awesome firepower has come to the fore during their current run of six consecutive wins, scoring 23 goals - including six just last Friday against an in-form St Pat’s. And there’s not much optimism around that Drogheda can trouble the Dundalk keeper and back four either as they’ve only conceded once during that time.
For their part, Drogheda are in a better place now than they were a few weeks ago, even though the league table would suggest otherwise. They still haven’t won in their last 16 league matches, dating back to April 21st, but only lost by a single goal in their last three outings against Cork City, St Pat’s and Bray Wanderers and have shored up their defence considerably.
At the other end, Chris Mulhall has netted five times in his last three appearances - albeit four of those coming against non-league teams in the cup.
Two of the other quarter-final pairings also offer up the possibility of a major upset - Bluebell United v Shamrock Rovers and Longford Town v Cork City - and Mahon feels that one of the league’s top three could bow out in this round.
‘There’s no pressure on us and we have to try and stay in the game as long as we can because there’s always a shock in the cup and you never know what might happen,’ he said, speaking on Sunday afternoon.
‘We have a bit of a repair job to do after the 6-0 defeat [to Dundalk] in United Park, but I feel we are a different team now and I think we will give a better account of ourselves. I hope that will be the case and we can pull off the win.
‘We have to keep 11 players on the pitch, unlike last time, and we’ll have to work like dogs to try and unsettle Dundalk. Last time one or two of our players downed tools, but if we press them they are so fit and it’s hard to sustain for 90 minutes, so the subs could be crucial.’
Asked for his reflections on the current Dundalk team, Mahon continued: ‘It was the draw nobody wanted. Dundalk are the form team, they’re flying again and would appear to be the best team in Ireland.
‘They went through a bad stage when they were going through transition after the players they lost, but they will be overwhelming favourites.’
Mahon was a spectator in Oriel Park last Friday and might have felt a little bit more comfortable about Drogheda taking on Dundalk as St Pat’s reached the 45th minute still on level terms - but by the end the Inchicore men has been routed 6-0.
‘The whole game changed on an incident just before half-time,’ Mahon pointed out. ‘Pats were well in the game, but then there was a penalty given. I would love to see it again because from where I was sitting both of them got the ball.
‘Pats lost Ian Bermingham at the same time [he was sent off], they were in disarray for a couple of minutes and Dundalk got two goals.
‘In fairness to them, when Dundalk smell blood they go for the jugular and they are beating everyone for fun at the moment.’
Mahon had the dubious luxury of being able to see the Lilywhites in the flesh as Drogheda had a weekend off following the postponement of their game in Buncrana owing to international call-ups for Derry City players.
Instead, the Drogheda squad were content to hold an in-house game and Mahon professed himself satisfied with the weekend’s events.
‘It was a good workout and there was a good intensity to it, and there were a few lads who were injured who got 45 to 60 minutes under their belt. Whether they will be ready for Friday is another thing.’
Kevin Farragher and Stephen Elliott were the two players who fell into that category and it would appear that the best either player can hope for is a place on the bench, with Gavin Brennan and Ciaran McGuigan definitely missing out once more. However, Sean Brennan does come into contention for a starting place as he played the full 90 minutes after missing the last three matches.
Thomas Byrne will be itching to start after scoring a superb chipped goal in the Republic of Ireland Under-19s’ 2-1 victory over the Czech Republic at the RSC on Saturday. The Tenure teenager had broken his duck for the Boynesiders the previous week in the 5-1 FA Cup victory over Cobh Wanderers, and he has a point to prove after getting himself sent off in the last Louth derby.
‘He scored a brilliant goal on Saturday night and he’ll be buzzing,’ Mahon predicted. ‘He has to harness that [in the right way] and keep his discipline and I think the penny has dropped a little bit with him.’
•Friday’s tie has a 7.45pm kick-off time and in the event of a draw the replay will be in United Park next Tuesday, also at 7.45pm.