Derry City 0
Drogheda United 1
Simon Collins reports from Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium
DROGHEDA United defender Elicha Ahui stunned Derry City as his late goal ended the Brandywell club’s unbeaten start to the season.
Derry played 40 minutes with an extra man as Drogheda’s Emmanuel Adegboyega was shown a straight red card for a foul on Jamie McGonigle who appeared to be clean through on goal just short of the half hour mark.
Drogheda manager Kevin Doherty was also shown red for letting his frustrations boil over but he didn’t need to worry.
Ruaidhri Higgins’ men were unable to make their numerical advantage count and match referee Arnold Hunter evened things up when showing City defender Cameron McJannet a second yellow card on 67 minutes.
Ten minutes later Drogheda’s Dayle Rooney floated a free-kick towards the back post and City substitute Cian Kavanagh’s downward header across the face of goal was fired home by Ahui.
McGonigle twice had the ball in the back of the net for Derry but both efforts were ruled out. In the end Derry simply didn’t create enough and Drogheda clinched a first victory at Brandywell since September 2015 to move into fourth place.
Derry dropped six points against the Boynesiders last season and once again they proved to have the Foylesiders’ number, inflicting a first defeat of the season on the Candystripes.
Drogheda were compact in the first half and rarely troubled until the 27th minute when they lost their discipline.
McGonigle did brilliantly to get past Adegboyega but as he raced towards the ball on the edge of the box the Drogheda defender brought him crashing down from behind on 27 minutes when he appeared to be clean through on goal.
Both sets of players surrounded the referee who produced a red card to Adegboyega.
City skipper Patrick McEleney was unleashed off the bench at half-time replacing Jordan McEneff. Drogheda were holding firm in the second half but McGonigle should’ve done better when Ben Doherty beat the full-back before pulling it back to the City striker who fired harmlessly over the bar on 63 minutes.
Derry surrendered their numerical advantage on 67 minutes when McJannet was shown a second yellow card inside 20 second half minutes.
McGonigle curled the ball into the bottom corner of the net shortly after when he latched onto McEleney’s perfectly weighted pass but the assistant referee raised his flag after a long delay and the goal was ruled out for offside.
It was Drogheda who broke the deadlock with 13 minutes to go when Rooney’s free-kick towards the back post was headed down by substitute Cian Kavanagh and Ahui pounced to fire home from close range.
McGonigle had a second goal ruled out for offside once again moments later and it was to be a frustrating night for the home lot.
Derry City: Maher, Coll, McEleney, McJannet, Doherty; Graydon (B. Kavanagh 76), Diallo (O’Reilly 57), Patching (Boyce 76), McEneff (P. McEleney h-t), O’Neill ( C. Kavanagh 63) ; McGonigle; Subs Not Used – Ryan, Ward, McLaughlin, Mullan.
Drogheda United: McCabe; Adegboyeg, Keeley, Jones; Grimes, Heeney, Deegan, Rooney; Markey (McNally h-t); Draper (Brennan 75); Subs Not Used – Pagel, O’Brien, Brennan, Topcu, McNally Davis, Leddy.
Referee: Arnold Hunter