Match report- Derry City vs. Drogheda

Both sides of Derry City were shown on Friday last in Hunky Dory’s Park, Drogheda. Stephen Kenny deployed an attack-minded Derry side that played in a 4-1-3-2 formation for the majority of the first half. After being hit with injuries since the UCD match Derry had to make enforced changes- Emmet Friars came into the heart of the defence after Stuart Greacen’s wrist injury. Also, Kevin Deery returned to caption the side at right back, Derry were also missing Ruaidhri Higgins after he suffered a thigh injury after the opening game against Sligo.

The “Candystripes” started well and within ten minutes of the kick-off they had scored- Libyan International Eamon Zayed provided the finishing touches a wonderfully crafted move by Derry. Patrick McEleney latched onto a ball played over the top which beat the whole Drogheda defence. Unselfishly McEleney played a ball across the 6 yard box which Zayed tapped into the Drogheda net for his first Derry goal. Throughout the rest of the first half Derry played extremely well and created a few decent chances.

However, the second half was a different story. Mick Cooke rallied his team and they came out fighting in the second half. Despite this Derry had got a second through Gareth McGlynn as he scored his second in as many games, this time he struck a beautiful curling shot that dipped and nestled in the top right hand corner of the net.

The “Drogs” continued to fight and got one back through a superb strike that found its way into Doherty’s left hand corner of the net. Within 2 minutes the “Drogs” had another, a long diagonal ball was allowed to bounce and after trying to clear Friars and Lafferty got in each others way and were eluded by the flight of the ball. In a last gasp effort to salvage the situation Doherty came out of his goal but conceded a penalty as he reached for the ball. The spot kick was calmly put away and Drogheda were level. For the remainder of the game Derry were under pressure put managed to leave Hunky Dory’s Park with a point.

In the grand scheme of things this could be seen as one point gained, 4 points from two tough away games isn’t bad. However, due to the circumstances Derry fans leaning Hunky Dory’s Park may have felt dejected and disappointed in the end result. Now lets look forward to the visit of the “Hoops”!
Nathan Adam