Drogheda Independent

Drogs now in bonus territory as focus turns to promotion

- MARCUS CAVAROLI

THERE were no wild celebratio­ns from Tim Clancy after his Drogheda United team secured their place in the play-offs in Cobh on Saturday - just a smile of satisfacti­on that his primary goal had been achieved.

Promotion straight back to the Premier Division wasn’t really on the radar for the 34-year-old rookie when he took charge last December, but it’s most certainly achievable now, even though the Drogs will be considered outsiders to go all the way in what is a marathon play-off series.

Shelbourne’s win against Galway in their last game means they finished third in the table and will have home advantage in the second leg of the 4th v 3rd play-off, with the first leg at United Park - probably on Friday week.

The winners of that tie face Finn Harps - again over two legs - for the right to play the Premier Division’s second-bottom team in the play-off decider, with Limerick likely to finish in that position.

Longford Town, who knocked the Drogs out of the play-off places for seven days but then suffered a narrow defeat at United Park the week before last, will no doubt be feeling sore at missing out, but Clancy insisted his team finished in the top four on merit.

‘I think we deserve it, to be honest,’ he said, speaking in St Colman’s Park shortly after Saturday’s victory.

‘Maybe UCD are the only team who have been in the playoff places for longer than us. For 26 out of the 27 weeks we’ve been in the top four and I think it’s just reward for the lads and the season they’ve had.

‘There’s no pressure on us now because at the start of the year we sat down with Fiachra [Kierans, chairman] and Dermot [McKenna, player liaison officer] and the objective was just to try and be competitiv­e in every game. If we were in with a shout of the play-offs come the final round of games, they’d be happy enough.

‘I think we’ve done really well to get to the play-offs and we’ll go in with confidence. We’ve hit a bit of form after winning the last couple and have been playing well in games, but we know Shels is going to be a difficult one because they got a good result as well.’

Drogheda travelled to Cobh knowing that a draw wouldn’t be good enough if Longford beat UCD by three goals or more, but the Boynesider­s were awarded a penalty in the very first minute, converted by Sean Brennan, and with the midlanders only managing a draw Drogheda ended up with a four-point cushion over Neale Fenn’s side.

‘I didn’t really sense any nerves beforehand,’ said Clancy when asked about the mood in the camp beforehand.

‘They’ve performed in most of the big games this season when the pressure’s been on, in fairness.

‘We started the game well, but it wasn’t just the fact we got a penalty, it’s a ball into Mark Doyle’s feet and he’s wrapped it around the corner first time and gone for the return and won the penalty.

‘That’s the more pleasing thing, that we were positive in possession from the get-go. Sean’s obviously put it away and then we scored two minutes into the second half as well, which was brilliant.’

The second goal allowed Drogheda to rest a few key players, including Chris Lyons who still sits one booking away from a suspension.

‘It’s unfortunat­e because the last two bookings he’s had weren’t bookings,’ Clancy said.

‘One was for diving when the referee told us at half-time the centre-back got the ball, so I don’t know why he’s getting done for diving.

‘The other one, he must have got fouled 10 or 12 times against Waterford and he does one foul 90 yards from their goal and gets booked for it.

‘We need Chris, He’s a massive part of our team and when we play well he’s a catalyst for that. It’s frustratin­g for him, but we need him for the play-offs and that’s why we took him off as early as we did.’

Clancy and director of football Dave Robertson both watched Saturday’s game from the stand owing to their four-match touchline ban, which will only come to an end after the second leg of the Shelbourne match.

‘I don’t want to sit in the stand for much longer,’ said a rueful Clancy.

‘It’s obviously something I said, I’ll learn from it and move on, but it’s a lot harder up there, trying to bite your tongue and not being able to get messages onto the pitch.

‘But Kevin [Doherty] is doing a good job on the sideline and the preparatio­n has been good the last couple of games.

‘We’ll go again and hopefully get a good performanc­e in the play-off and see where it takes us. It’s a big game and if we can get a win it would be great for us.’

Drogheda are, of course, without a competitiv­e game this week, but that’s not the case for play-off opponents Shelbourne who host St Patrick’s Athletic in the Leinster Senior Cup Final on Friday.

There’s no pressure on us now because at the start of the year the objective was just to try and be competitiv­e in every game. If we were in with a shout of the playoffs come the final round of games, they’d be happy enough

 ??  ?? Drogheda United captain Jake Hyland breaks away from Ben O’Riordan during the Boynesider­s’ 2-0 win over Cobh Ramblers on Saturday night. Picture: Larry McQuillan.
Drogheda United captain Jake Hyland breaks away from Ben O’Riordan during the Boynesider­s’ 2-0 win over Cobh Ramblers on Saturday night. Picture: Larry McQuillan.

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