Mahon insists Drogs will fight to bitter end
WITH Drogheda United out of the Cup and staring relegation in the face, it would be understandable if their season ended with a whimper - but manager Pete Mahon is insisting that won’t happen.
The Boynesiders, whose dreams of playing in the Aviva Stadium were shattered by Dundalk in their last outing, play host to Bohemians this Friday (7.45pm) in their first home league game for six weeks and Mahon is determined that his team give the fans something to shout about.
Without a league win in 16 attempts dating back to April, Drogheda are 12 points from safety at the foot of the table and Mahon seems resigned to a return to Division 1, but that doesn’t mean his team will roll over in their remaining seven fixtures.
Speaking after training on Sunday afternoon, the manager said: ‘We got back on the horse this morning to get prepared for Bohemians on Friday, and we spoke about it [rest of the season] and said no matter what happens, we will play to the death against Sligo [on the final day].
‘We can’t afford to be disrespectful to the league or damage our integrity and we have a job to do. We have a few games against teams around us that are win-able and we’re going to give every single ounce of energy, of that I have no doubt.
‘I hope we get a couple of wins to give the lads a bit of confidence because it’s been a very, very difficult season, with not a lot of enjoyment in it for the supporters, the people attached to the club, the players, staff and ourselves in the management team.
‘There are teams every year that this happens to and it’s a lonely place when are you are not winning many games, and it’s come to us this season, but we have to make sure we see the season out in the proper manner.
‘It’s going to be very, very difficult [to avoid relegation]. We have not a lot of games and you can expect the teams just above us in the table to pick up a couple of points somewhere.
‘But we’ll give it our best shot and try and get a couple of wins - I don’t care who they come against.’
Mahon will have a stronger squad at his disposal this week, with in-form striker Chris Mulhall returning from suspension, Jamie Hollywood and Eoghan Dempsey back from international duty with the Irish Universities, and Colm Deasy almost back to full fitness after injury.
Having drawn 0-0 at Dalymount Park and lost 1-0 at United Park in a game Drogheda perhaps should have won, there is a score to settle with Bohs in their final meeting of 2017 and hopefully by Friday the squad will have got the chastening 4-0 defeat at Oriel Park out of their system.
‘It just showed once again the gulf in terms of the two teams,’ Mahon conceded. ‘A very, very experienced team who have had the success they’ve had and the European experience, against a team made up of a lot of young players.
‘I felt they had unintended help from the fourth official. I thought it was a free out [instead of a free in] for their third goal and the man stumbled over himself for the last one, but that’s not in any way to take away from Dundalk. They deserved to win 4-0.
‘We started off very well but gave away two preventable goals. We gave the ball away in a bad position for the first one and then didn’t close down Sean Gannon which allowed him to get the ball to Dylan Connolly.
‘But our players gave their all for the 90 minutes and I was happy enough with them. They were well organised and it would have been interesting if we had held out for more than four minutes. We’re just lacking that bit of quality that only finance and experience can bring.
‘I was very disappointed that we went out of the Cup, but it was the draw from hell, the draw that nobody wanted.’