Cooke delighted with derby victory

Goals from Sean Brennan and Paul Crowley in either half gave Drogheda United an impressive 2-1 victory over their local rivals Dundalk on Friday night and their manager, Mick Cooke, told extratime.ie that he was delighted with the win and praised Dundalk for their part in a thrilling match at Oriel Park.

"I am delighted, to get three points and obviously it was an away game so I am delighted with that. Coming to Oriel Park is never easy and fair play to Dundalk, I thought there second half performance was excellent. I thought we bossed the first half, maybe we should have went in two up but we knew Dundalk would come out all guns blazing. You don't need any motivation for a local derby and they got what they deserved, the equaliser. Dundalk played their part.

"Credit to our lads, we got a great goal to put us back in front but we didn't push on and it was certainly a nerve racking last ten minutes"

Cooke felt that Paul Crowley's goal right after the home side equalised was crucial as they had been on the back foot for a period.

"After Dundalk being on top of us for the beginning of the half it was important that we got the goal then, it was vital in terms of our victory. It sort of stemmed the tide a small bit because they were totally on top and I'd say if it had to go another ten minutes level then they could have done more damage.

"But our response was instant and as I said I am happy just to get three points."
 

The former Monaghan United manager also praised the performance of his goalkeeper Gabriel Sava who performed heroics to keep Dundalk at bay.
 

"Certainly some of the saves he took off were top class. One particularly in injury-time, I was right behind it. It got deflected and I actually turned away I thought definitely it was in the top corner and how he got a hand to it I don't know.
 

"He is one of the best 'keepers in the league and he deserves some great recognition certainly for his performance tonight."
 

Going into the break, the Boynesiders sit in fourth place in the table just eight points off leaders Sligo Rovers. However, Cooke never anticipated the season going like it has.
 

"It's going well. From the position we were in last year, coming into this season I said I would have been happy to finish seventh or eighth in the league and get a run in the Cup. As we go into the break we are in the top four and still in the two Cups so we'll go now and enjoy the break."