- Gerard Grimes
- Fri, May 26 2017
Marc Griffin and Jake Hyland both had chances to win the game for Drogheda in the second half as Derry City went nine league games unbeaten thanks to a 0-0 draw at United Park.
Aaron McEneff had the first effort of the game as he shot wide from 30 yards. A minute later, his teammate Ronan Curtis made a run down the left but his eventual effort was weak and straight at McGuinness.
The first chance for the home side came as Adam Wixted won the ball off Bray, ran to the line and cuts the ball back to Brennan. However, the Drogheda captain slipped as he made contact and mishit the ball completely.
Drogheda were then dealt a blow as goalkeeper Stephen McGuinness was stretchered off after he landed horribly after he had caught the ball from a corner.
Derry were finding gaps in the Drogheda defence but failed to test either Drogheda goalkeeper in the first half.
Drogheda enjoyed a spell of pressure around the half hour mark which began with Hyland clipping a ball to the back post towards Byrne but Derry managed to clear. Drogheda then passed the ball around with Gallagher, Wixted, Brennan and McEvoy all involved before Gallagher shot wide.
Gallagher was again at the centre of the action minutes later as he broke free from inside his own half, passed out wide to Wixted who gave it inside to Griffin. Griffin laid the ball back to Gallagher but his effort took a big deflection and went out for a corner, which was dealt with by Derry.
Derry continued to find their way behind the Drogheda backline as Dean Jarvis found himself unmarked at the back post but he could only fire his effort into the into the advertising boards behind the Drogheda goal.
The Boynesiders continued to look for a chance on the counter and found another as Sean Brennan played a stunning pass into the path of Wixted who crossed to the near post towards Hyland but his header was gathered by Doherty.
Drogheda should almost managed to find the breakthrough just before the hour mark as Marc Griffin had two glorious chances in less than a minute. For the first chance, he took a touch in the box, found space and shot goalwards, only for Conor McDermott to block his shot on the six-yard line.
Then, seconds later, Sean Brennan played Griffin in down the right and instead of playing the ball to Hyland at the back post, he shot near post and had his effort saved well by Doherty.
The Candystripes had their best effort ten minutes later. Forward Mikhail Kennedy ran himself into space in the Drogheda box but his effort was pushed over the bar by the strong right hand of Coulter.
Drogheda had a chance to win the game with two minutes of normal time left. Jake Hyland picked up the ball, flicked it over the head of a Derry player but his volley wasn’t good enough to beat Ger Doherty.
Drogheda United: Stephen McGuinness (Ryan Coulter 18’); Conor Kane, Kevin Farragher, Luke Gallagher, Stephen Dunne; Jake Hyland, Ryan McEvoy, Sean Brennan (c) (Sean Thornton 73’); Adam Wixted, Marc Griffin, Thomas Byrne (Gavin Brennan 73’).
Unused Subs: Ciaran McGuigan, Mark Doyle, Stephen Elliott.
Booked: Kevin Farragher (25’)
Derry City: Gerard Doherty (c); Lukas Schubert (Nathan Boyle 64’), Conor McDermott, Aaron Barry, Dean Jarvis; Aaron McEneff, Nicky Low, Harry Monaghan; Barry McNamee (Rory Holden 79’), Mikhail Kennedy, Ronan Curtis (Josh Daniels 64’).
Unused Subs: Eric Grimes (gk), Scott Whiteside, Ben Doherty, Mark Timlin.
Booked: None.
Referee: Rob Rogers
Attendance: 450 (est).
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Luke Gallagher (Drogheda United).
