Derry City 0 - 2 Drogheda United

Derry City's title aspirations were dealt a severe blow by a Drogheda United side who thoroughly deserved all three points at the Brandywell on Friday evening.

Goals either side of the break first from Gavin Brennan and then a penalty from his brother Ryan were enough to condemn a lacklustre Derry City to their fourth defeat in their last six league outings.

The home side started the game the brighter of the two teams and a couple of half chances fell to Rory Patterson, one a free kick that he blasted into the wall and another a tame header from a Paddy Kavanagh cross. But it was the away side who almost opened the scoring in the 15th minute.

Cathal Brady who was giving Eoghan Osbourne a torrid time, once again beat the left back and his cross found Gavin Brennan at the back post but he powered his header over the bar. In the 18th minute O'Brien sprung Derrys offside trap but his shot was well saved by Doherty.

Derry's best effort during this period was a 30 yard free kick from Patrick McEleney which was deflected before it could trouble Schlingermann in the Drogheda goal. The game settled into a bogged down midfield affair and the next chance of note fell to the home side. Paddy Kavanagh swung a corner in which found Rory Patterson whose shot was saved, but the rebound fell to Ruaidhri Higgins who could only blast the ball well over the bar.

The breakthrough came in the 38th minute. Simon Madden and Shane McEleney seemed to leave the ball to each other allowing O'Brien to get a shot off. Although it was parried out by Doherty it fell invitingly for Gavin Brennan who just nodded it in to the empty goal. This seemed to take the sting out of Derry and Drogheda were easily passing the ball around until the half time break.

Drogheda came out in the second half in a much more positive frame of mind with the Brennan brothers in particular grabbing the game by the scruff of the neck. In the 47th minute a corner was headed back across the goal and Gavin Brennan's strike was well saved by Doherty.

Two minutes later Ryan Brennan had a free header but managed to head well wide. Drogheda's second was as much due to an awful piece of defending as opposed to great play. Ryan Brennan chased a through ball and was heading away from goal when Shane McEleney barged him in the back from behind in the box and the referee had no option other than to point to the spot.

Brennan got to his feet and promptly dispatched the penalty into the bottom right hand corner, doubling the Louth teams lead. Declan Devine introduced Barry Molloy and Barry McNamee as the home side chased the game, but it seemed that nothing they tried would come off.

Molloy put a through ball into the box in the 65th minute which Schlingermann couldn't hold but McNamee couldn't convert the rebound. In the 76th minute a powerful McBride header from a Kavanagh corner was close but Drogheda were containing the Candystripes with relative ease and were able to see out the game quite comfortably.

Mick Cooke will be delighted with the application and discipline his side showed but Declan Devine will be wondering where it has all gone wrong as his side slipped to their fifth straight home defeat in all competitions.

Derry City: Gerard Doherty (c); Simon Madden, Ryan McBride, Shane McEleney, Eoghan Osbourne; Paddy Kavanagh, Patrick McEleney, Sean Houston (Barry McNamee 56), Ruaidhri Higgins (Barry Molloy 56), Michael Duffy (Mark Griffin 81); Rory Patterson.
Subs not used: Eugene Ferry, Raymond Foy, Ryan Curran, Thomas Crawley.

Booked: Houston (23), Duffy (37), Molloy (70), R McBride (88).
 

Drogheda United: Michael Schlingermann; Michael Daly, Alan Byrne, Derek Prendergast (c) Philip Hand; Cathal Brady, David Cassidy, Paul O'Conor, Ryan Brennan, Gavin Brennan; Declan O'Brien (Peter Hynes 86).
Subs not used: Gabriel Sava, Gavin Holohan, Ciaran McGahon, Eric Foley, Jason Marks.

Booked: O'Brien (22).

Referee: Alan Kelly.
Attendance: 900 (estimate).
ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Gavin Brennan (Drogheda United).