Drogs in a good place despite Student lesson

WIN or lose in Friday’s big clash with Longford Town at City Calling Stadium, Drogheda United assistant boss Kevin Doherty believes the Boynesiders are in a good place heading into the short summer break.

Both teams are coming off the back of away defeats - Drogheda at the hands of UCD and the midlanders against Cabinteely - and the net effect is that a win for the Drogs would keep them on the coat-tails of the students and at the same time open up an eight-point cushion over Longford.

Given that the First Division has already passed the half-way mark, that would be a huge gap for Neale Fenn’s men to close, and the significance of the fixture certainly isn’t lost on Doherty.

‘Every single match you play you’re thinking ‘they’re right in the mix’ and it’s another tough game for us down in Longford (kick-off 7.45pm),’ he said, speaking on Monday afternoon.

‘We got the late equaliser against them in United Park and with the break coming up we would be very happy if we managed to get something.

‘Both teams like to play football and we’ll both be trying to win, and if we do that, brilliant. If we don’t we’re still ahead of what we were expecting.

‘In the very worst-case scenario we would be third going into the break and if you’d offered us that at the start of the season we’d have snapped your hand off.

‘We’re in a good position and have done really well. We’ve been competitive in games, we’ve only lost three times and we’ve not gone out against anyone and been well beaten.’

Doherty pointed out that Drogheda won four games in a row in the aftermath of their previous defeat at the hands of Finn Harps, but is also wary of the possibility of a big reaction from Longford as they look to get their own promotion push back on track.

From Drogheda’s point of view, they could have no complaints about the 2-0 reverse at the UCD Bowl last Friday, and Doherty believed the physical strain of playing two big games in the space of four days - both in warm sunshine - did have an impact on the Boynesiders’ performance.

‘We didn’t play as well as we can, but UCD were very, very good and it was as good a performance as I’ve seen in the league and ultimately the difference was George Kelly who got two good goals,’ he said.

‘We did have a chance at 1-0 when Chris Lyons, who’s been excellent for us, went through and the keeper pulled off a decent save. Then they went down the field and got a corner from which their second goal came.

‘UCD certainly deserved to win. They have a very good side, the set-up they have is very good for getting good players in and it’s one other clubs are looking towards.

‘But I think having to play Shels on the Monday before did take a lot out of the lads. We were carrying a fair few knocks and it’s only afterwards that you realise it did take a bit out of our energy levels.’

At the time of going to press Drogheda were anxiously awaiting the release of the weekly suspension list, not knowing whether their talisman Sean Brennan will serve a one-match ban against Longford.

The in-form midfielder believes he was booked in the recent game against Shelbourne, which would be his fifth of the season, but the management didn’t see the match referee waving the yellow card and they’re holding out hope that Brennan was mistaken.

Lee Duffy (ankle) is expected to recover in time to be considered for selection, but it could be a week too soon for Stephen Meaney who is still on the injured list.

Meanwhile, Friday’s game at City Calling Stadium will be the second at the Longford venue in 72 hours for Drogs left-back Conor Kane who has been named in the Ireland Colleges & Universities squad for an international friendly against France Universities today (Tuesday) at 4pm.

Kane is a student at Maynooth University, while the squad also includes two former Drogheda teammates in Shane Elworthy and Jamie Hollywood (both of IT Blanchardstown and Longford Town) as well as Laytown native Georgie Poynton (Dundalk IT/ Dundalk).

In the very worstcase scenario we would be third going into the break and if you’d offered us that at the start of the season we’d have snapped your hand off