Boys show their class in Battle of the Boyne
THE Boys from Marley’s Lane turned on the class as they outpowered and outgunned Drogheda Town in this FAI Youths Cup tie at the Lane on Sunday morning.
The meeting of two Drogheda teams in this competition is pretty rare, so that added an extra bit of local spice to a derby that went with form.
The Boys are DDSL standard and it showed for the vast majority of the match, the Town lads champions of the NDSL again this year but the gulf in class pretty obvious.
While the home side dominated a lot of the ball in the first 20 minutes, they were finding it hard to break down a durable Town, Adam McCabe giving his all in the centre of the defence.
Defensively, Boys were solid, Neal Hodgins a great attacking force down the right, man of the match Henry Mooney on the other side and the excellent Ben Mullen in the middle with another stand out figure, the rock solid Malik Luzhna.
Barry Akani was the chief tormentor for the Boys defence, his pace always a threat when Town did venture into the attack.
Akani should have scored on 27 minutes having eluded the keeper and Town paid the price two minutes later, a rebound coming off keeper Josh Farrell and Con Sheehan firing to the net.
Donal Gogan almost had Town back in it, only to be denied by a fine Henry Mooney challenge, but the tie was swinging the way of the Boys, their footballing style, encourged by Rory Kerr, finding gaps in the Town defence.
Four minutes from half time, Sheehan swung in a cross and Kian Cunningham blasted to the net for 2-0.
Hayden Fitzpatrick and Jake Bedford kept the tempo high and only great work from Ciaran McBride kept the Town in it.
Just on half time, the busy Harry Svejdar chased down a ball between Rian Farrell and the keeper and when it ran loose, he crossed for Bedford to tap in the third.
The break saw Gary Doyle and Richie Caffrey make a change, keeper Farrell replaced by Nathan Carroll and Donal Gogan heading between the sticks.
But it was at the other end where they made an instant impact, Barry Akani racing free and finishing past Alex Finnegan.
Luke O’Driscoll came into the action for the Boys as the hour approached and minutes later, they got the vital fourth, Fitzpatrick’s free in and Mooney diving to head home.
Brian Murphy waved away a penalty shout on 62 minutes as Akani went down as keeper Finnegan challenged him and with the player still protesting, he was given a second yellow to send the Town down to 10.
McBride continued to defend stoutly for Town as Henry Mooney raced up and down the park, denied a goal chance at one end, before taking the ball off Sean Caffrey at the other.
Sheehan crossed for Bedford to grab a fifth for the Boys on 70 minutes and then the sweetest strike of all, skipper Neal Hodgins rewarded for his workrate when getting possession 35 yards out and unleashing a glorious strike to the bottom corner for 6-1.
Stand in keeper Donal Gogan came up with a few fine saves as the Boys tossed the ball about, Garreth Donnelly coming in and playing his part too.
Christian Connolly prevented a seventh with a goal line block while Mooney again denied Femi Fanifosi with a last ditch tackle on 80 minutes.
The last action again saw Gogan spreading himself to knock away a Sheehan strike.
DROGHEDA Boys: Alex Finnegan, Neal Hodgins, Henry Mooney, James Martin, Malik Luzhna, Ben Mullen, Con Sheehan, Kian Cunningham, Jake Bedford, Hayden Fitzpatrick, Harry Svejdar, Subs;
LUKE Jenkins Garreth Donnelly.
DROGHEDA Town: Josh Farrell, Christian Connolly, Ciaran McBride, Adam McCabe, Rian Farrell, Femi Fanifosi, Sean Caffrey, Barry Akani, Glen Comerford, Maros Drakolakis, Donal Cogan, Subs: Tiafa Mututsu, Nathan Carroll, Conor Dunne, Mark Scullion, Thomas O’Connell.