Class act Adeyemo sinks Shels with quality strike
DROGHEDA UNITED SHELBOURNE 1 0
JORDAN Adeyemo’s brilliant strike settled this SSE Airtricity Under-19 Northern Division clash at United Park last Saturday.
With so many of their players on the injury list over the last few weeks, Oisin Proudfoot lined out alongside Cian Quinn at the back and William Hondermarck wore the number 4 jersey after his trip to Ballybofey with the first team the night before.
The Drogs has a golden chance to take the lead on three minutes when Eoin McPhillips’ free was flapped at by the visiting keeper, but unfortunately there was no Drogs player there to prod the loose ball home.
On 19 minutes Eoin Broughan send over a brilliant cross from the left which eluded Tom Adeyinka’s out-stretched foot.
There was more injury woe for the home side on the half hour when the unlucky Sean Cronin went off with a recurrence of his hamstring injury, to be replaced by Stephen Doran.
Although Shels played some good football out of defence and in the middle of the field, the home rearguard stood firm, and with less possession than the visitors the Drogs created the better chances through smart movement in the middle.
Towards the end of the first half Hondermarck and Doran were unlucky not to open the scoring.
The second half continued as in the first period, with resolute Drogs defending and some half-chances being squandered by the visitors, but in the 70th minute a brilliant score from Adeyemo gave the Drogs the lead. They attacked up the left-hand side and Adeyemo took a pass close to the endline, with his back to the goal and three defenders facing him. With exquisite skill he wrong-footed the defenders and shot high into the roof of the net from close range.
This was the decisive moment of the match and the Drogs held out well for a hard-fought and well-deserved win.
There was much to admire in their approach to the game, making the most of their possession and taking their chance when it came, and with a bit of luck they will be able to welcome back some of their injured players in the coming weeks.
DROGHEDA UNITED: Daniel Grace, Dylan Connolly, Eoin Broughan Sean Cronin (Stephen Doran), Cian Quinn, Oisin Proudfoot, William Hondermarck, Eoin McPhilips, Luke Neville (Gabriel Aghita), Tom Adeyinka, Jordan Adeyemo. Subs: Pedro White, Euan Niven.