League Report: Drogheda United 7 - 0 Sligo Rovers

It was a night to forget at Weaver’s Park for Sligo Rovers as they slumped to a 7-0 defeat at the hands of Drogheda United. First half goals from Douglas James-Taylor, Andy Quinn and Frantz Pierrot left the home side 3-0 up at the break before Pierrot, Conor Kane, Elicha Ahui and Adam Foley found the net in the second period.

With the sides coming into this fixture on the back of contrasting fortunes last weekend, the form guide pointed towards Drogheda, who had hammered non league Wilton United 9-0 while the Bit O’Red were defeated by First Division outfit UCD.

However, in the league the Westerners had won five of their previous six games to sit fourth in the table at the time of kick off while their hosts sat bottom with a single league victory since May.

The previous three encounters this season had gone the way of the home side and it took only four minutes at the Louth venue for a similar pattern to emerge- on loan striker Douglas James-Taylor slammed a close range finish from a corner beyond Ed McGinty to open the scoring.

Within seven minutes they had doubled their lead as Andy Quinn, who had netted a consolation in The Showgrounds in March, converted a set piece to make it 2-0. It was 3-0 with 37 minutes on the clock as Haitian forward Pierrot crashed a header to the net for his sixth league goal of the season.

His seventh arrived shortly after the break as he bundled home a rebound from close range after his initial effort was blocked. Not to be outdone, the marauding Conor Kane made it 5-0 to the home side just past the hour mark. Sligo made five substitutions over the next ten minutes but it still wasn’t enough to stop the Drogheda men scoring again.

Last season, loanee Elicha Ahui netted once- the winner against Derry City in April 2023. This season, his first league goal of the campaign was a scrappy finish on the rebound to raise the scoreline to half a dozen with over a quarter hour left to play.

The hosts weren’t finished though, as in the first minute of injury time substitute Adam Foley was set free on the left hand side of the penalty area and his low finish across McGinty and into the bottom corner put the tin hat on a tough night for the men from the Yeats County as their hosts lifted themselves off the bottom of the table.

Drogheda United: Luke Dennison; James Bolger, Conor Kane, Andrew Quinn, David Webster (Jack Keaney 75); Elicha Ahui, Ryan Brennan (Gary Deegan 75), Shane Farrell (Darragh Markey 40), Luke Heeney; Frantz Pierrot, Douglas Taylor (Adam Foley 75).
Subs not used: Andrew Wogan, Aaron McNally, Warren Davis, Bridel Bosakani, Aaron Harper Bailey.
Booked: Darragh Markey (45).
Sent off: None.

Sligo Rovers: Edward McGinty; Ollie Denham, Reece Hutchinson, Charlie Wiggett (Jack Henry Francis 64), John Ross Wilson; Kailin Barlow (Simon Power 64), Ellis Chapman (Daire Patton 71), William Fitzgerald (Owen Elding 63), Connor Malley (Luke Pearce 63), Niall Morahan; Wilson Waweru.
Subs not used: Richard Brush, Kyle McDonagh, Colin Mooney, David Jonathan.
Booked: Connor Malley (28).
Sent off: None.

Referee: Robert Harvey
Attendance: 1915