Derry City 5
Drogheda United 1
Simon Collins reports from the Ryan McBride Brandywell
DERRY CITY MADE it four straight League of Ireland victories with an impressive five goal dismantling of bottom club Drogheda United at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium on Friday night.
The Candy Stripes were in charge from the first whistle, Cameron Dummigan’s brilliant 25 yard volley the catalyst for a dominant display that kept Ruaidhri Higgins’ team hot on the heels of leaders Shelbourne.
Drogheda did threaten briefly but Adam Foley’s equaliser proved only a stay of execution for Kevin Doherty struggling side as goals from Will patching, Daniel Kelly, Pat Hoban and Ciaran Coll put the seal on an excellent night for the home side, one which also saw the return to first team of former Ireland U21 striker Colm Whelan.
Whelan was introduced as a 76th minute substitute for Patching, his first Derry appearance since injuring his ACL on 1 May 2023.
Higgins’ troops warmed up for the restart with a 2-0 friendly victory over Irish League side Crusaders last Saturday and were quickly out of the blocks again at Brandywell last night.
Daniel Kelly, starting in place of the injured Michael Duffy, had already had a couple of early sighters, the second of which required a smart save from Drogheda keeper Andrew Wogan, by the time Dummigan shot the Candy Stripes hit the front with only five minutes on the clock.
And what a strike it was, the right back taking a pass from Sadou Diallo before volleying a sublime effort over Wogan and into the top corner for his third goal for Derry City and his first since April 2022 against St. Patrick’s Athletic.
It was exactly the start Derry were after but their good work was nearly undone inside 60 seconds when an intricate Drogheda move ended with Warren Davis finding himself in space inside Derry’s box but his weak effort was cleared off the line by Kelly at the back post.
It was a warning Derry failed to heed and on 25 minutes they were made to pay when Evan Weir’s corner from the right wasn’t cleared allowing Adam Foley to poke home Drogheda’s equaliser through a crowded six yard box.
But Drogheda’s joy was short lived – as was Foley’s, three minutes to be precise as Derry hit the front for a second time in somewhat controversial circumstances.
Paul McMullan’s 28th minute corner was aimed at Mark Connolly’s run but the Derry defender’s progress was halted by Foley, illegally according to referee Rob Harvey who pointed to the spot. Drogheda weren’t happy and they were even less so when Will Patching rolled home his third spot-kick of the season – his sixth goal overall – to hand Derry back a lead.
Paul McMullan almost increased the home advantage when he latched on to a Kelly header only to pull his shot wide from 18 yards while Brian Maher had to be alert to parry a late Ryan Brennan effort wide to ensure Derry took their lead into the break.
Drogheda thought they had equalised for a second time four minutes after the restart when another Weir corner was forced home amid a mass of bodies but the visitors’ celebrations were cut short by a linesman’s flag.
The Drogs’ frustrations were compounded on 56 minutes when Kelly, looking suspiciously offside, raced on to a long clearance from his own half before driving into the box and firing home his first goal for Derry on what was his 23rd appearance.
A bad night for Kevin Doherty’s men got worse when Frantz Pierrot, who had been walking a disciplinary tightrope after a first half yellow card, was eventually shown a second following an aerial clash with Connolly on 64 minutes.
And just one minute later, Drogheda’s task went from a mountain to mission impossible when Derry produced the best move of the match to score their fourth through Pat Hoban. Diallo started it with a lovely raking pass down the left to pick out Ben Doherty’s run. Doherty’s cross matched the pass and found Kelly who nodded down perfectly for Hoban to sweep home a superb finish for his 12th of the season.
And Derry weren’t finished yet as Ciaran Coll headed home with his first touch to confirm a ninth home win in 13 league games for Higgins’ title challengers.
DERRY CITY: Brian Maher, Cameron Dummigan (Ronan Boyce, 84mins), Ben Doherty (Ciaran Coll, 84mins), Mark Connolly, Shane McEleney (Sam Todd, 84mins), Sadou Diallo, Adam O’Reilly, Will Patching (Colm Whelan, 76mins), Daniel Kelly, Paul McMullan, Pat Hoban (Danny Mullen, 68mins).
DROGHEDA UNITED: Andrew Wogan, Evan Weir (Evan Haddock, 85mins), Andrew Quinn, Jack Keaney, Frantz Pierrot, Adam Foely (Emre Topcu, 75mins), Matthew O’Brien, Ryan Brennan (James Byrne, 70mins), Luke Heeney, Conor Kane, Warren Davis.
Referee: Rob Harvey
The level of insight that this website provides (on the sport of rugby – I don’t read anything else) is remarkable and pretty much unparalleled. So I write the following as a huge fan of the writers of the 42: it’s pretty disappointing the way they pretty much refuse to criticise aspects of the game that clearly are open to criticism.
I’m a Munster and Ireland fan, but the PoC piece is typical of this. There’s very obvious issues with the lineout for some time now, but god forbid anyone writes a negative word about Paulie. He’s ‘a legend of the game’ as the 42 -and many other- writers unceasingly remind us.
Agreed. He is. So that means he’s above criticism? Our lineout is a joke at this point, and it’s his responsibility, is it not? In any other industry he’d be fired at this point, or at the very least subject to a serious performance review. But what do we get on the 42 and on every other Irish rugby podcast: well, you can’t blame Paulie. His expertise is unparalleled. It’s not his fault we don’t have the players to compete with Fiji.
FFS.
@Liam Murray: bit like Andy Farrell aswell.
@Niall English: Yeah, the Irish team has been dreadful since Farrell was made Head Coach
@Liam Murray: the problem with the Irish lineout is all PO’C’s fault argument is it fell apart when Leinster’s lineout suffered an even worse collapse. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to point out that we need to look at the common pieces of both line outs to understand where the problem is.
@Michael Corkery: POC is still responsible for Ireland’s lineout which has been a disaster for 18 months.
Regardless of what happens at the provinces he is still responsible.
@Kevin Ryan: achieved no better than any Irish coach before him and with a better squad than any coach before him and against far weaker opposition in 6 nations
@Niall English: Since you are such an expert and we clearly know nothing. Can you list all the previous coaches, who won a series in New Zealand? My memory must be foggy.
@Niall English: Weren’t you the same nitwit who insisted that the same Farrell had a ‘huge falling out’ with Mack Hansen and that Hansen wouldn’t be selected for the AIs? You claimed you were in the know. Quite wide of the mark with that one, as you are with this comment, and Porter’s scrum tech…and most things rugby!
@Liam Murray: it’s a very small industry for these lads , if you upset one player / coach you might find your access cut to others etc I think they have to strike a fine line when reporting
It’s not just a Leinster issue. It seems there’s nobody in the 4 provinces able to hit their man at a line-out at any sort of regularity.
@Ray Ridge: Bar the boys from the west they are the best in ireland
@Ray Ridge: the Munster lineout has improved massively since Codling went in as a consultant. The IRFU would never move him from the Women’s team to a province or men’s team in a Women’s RWC year, the PR backlash wouldn’t be worth it
@Ray Ridge: Connachts line out has probably been the best of them
@Shanie: D Murray may find himself in the next Irish squad – best line out caller on the island
Should be a great game munster will allways have a chance its munster sure and leinster such an amazing team when firing hope for a cracker dont really care who wins
@Shanie: As long as it’s not like last year
@Thesaltyurchin: cant even remember what happend yesterday lol
Are we over thinking it?? Seems mad obvious, they all do a hakka now before they even call it, throw it in ffs. After 100 years of rugby are there are still new ‘modern ways’ to strategies the throwing and catching of a line out? No there isn’t… of course there are multiple impacts when the player hits the ground and how the play follows but the precursor is basic.
To be fair, they have been pretty consistent in the second half of the last 3 seasons
Absolutely nothing wrong with the Ulster lineout and I’ve never noticed a problem with Connachts so it must be a Leinster and Munster problem