Drogheda 3
Bohemians 2
A SCINTILLATING FIRST half from Drogheda United helped them on their way to an impressive 3-2 win over an out-of-sorts Bohemians this evening.
Drogheda United were controversially awarded a penalty with just 10 minutes gone when Jordan Adeyemo was deemed to have been taken down in the box by James Talbot — although it looked to be just outside.
Mark Doyle made no mistake slotting the ball into the bottom corner to give Drogheda the perfect start in front of their own fans, with the visitors not happy at all with the decision.
The early goal gave the hosts a shot of confidence as they began to really take the game to Bohs and deservedly had their second on 20 minutes.
A trademark set-piece from Ronan Murray from the corner found centre-half Joe Redmond in the middle of a busy box of players. Redmond showed wonderful technique to volley the ball with his first touch and straight past Talbot to double his sides’ lead.
From the off, Drogheda had showed a fierce intensity and hunger in their play and, as well as holding a two-goal lead, were comfortably dealing with anything Bohs came at them with in the opening half.
Despite trailing 2-0 early on, Bohs enjoyed plenty of the first-half possession and showed real patience in their play, but struggled to make any breakthrough up against a sublime Drogheda defence.
Amazingly, with five minutes to go in the opening half, Drogheda had their third courtesy of the lively Jordan Adeyemo. A mesmerising passage of play between Gary Deegan and Adeyemo saw Deegan play the Drogheda striker through on goal with a perfectly-weighted through ball right through the middle of the Bohs defence.
With his first touch, Adeyemo calmly side-footed the ball past Talbot to give Tim Clancy’s side a commanding 3-0 lead at the break.
Seconds after the restart, the visitors had a goal back through Liam Burt. An incredible individual effort from Burt saw him chip the ball from near the halfway line right over David Odumosu and into the net.
Odumosu was busy in the second half, with Bohs enjoying all of the ball and pushing hard for a second. With 20 minutes remaining and Bohs probing for a second, Odoumsu denied both Devoy and Ward with two incredible last-ditch saves.
Georgie Kelly slotted an 88th minute penalty after Burt was taken down by Conor Kane to set up a tense finish in Drogheda.
The sublime Odumosu denied Kelly with a stunning full stretch-save close to the goal line in the dying seconds with Drogheda holding on for a huge three points.
Drogheda United: David Odumosu; Conor Kane, Joe Redmond, James Brown, Daniel O’Reilly; Gary Deegan, Mark Doyle, Killian Phillips, Ronan Murray (Dane Massey 65), Darragh Markey (Luke Heeney 53); Jordan Adeyemo (Dinny Corcoran 89)
Bohemians: James Talbot; Andy Lyons, Rory Feely, Ciaran Kelly, Tyreke Wilson; Conor Levingston, Keith Buckley (Keith Ward 63), Ross Tierney (Dawson Devoy 53) Ali Coote (Promise Omochere 75); Liam Burt, Georgie Kelly.