Finn Harps 3
Drogheda 0
Alan Foley reports from Finn Park
AN ERIC MCWOODS brace for Finn Harps against Drogheda United means Ollie Horgan’s side hopscotched over UCD at the bottom of the Premier Division.
The American scored twice after Filip Mihaljević’s penalty had opened the scoring on 23 minutes to give Harps only their third win of the season and put to an end a run of 12 matches without a win.
UCD sat out this evening’s action due to their scheduled opponents’ Shamrock Rovers European participation and this day week, Belfield will play host to a pivotal clash between the bottom two, with Kevin Doherty’s Drogheda looking like they’ve already sailed off into the horizon.
Drogheda went the closest in the opening quarter, with Adam Foley – who played for Harps last season – failing to get the better of former Grimsby Town netminder James McKeown and Darragh Nugent unfortunate to see a shot hit the post.
Barry McNamee made a fine block when Dayle Rooney squared for Darragh Markey and his rebound hit Chris Lyons and deflected wide.
Harps took the lead when Mihaljević planted his spot kick past Colin McCabe following a foul on McWoods and a minute before the break, the Croatian returned the favour with an assist. This time McWoods clipped past McCabe for a 2-0 lead at half-time.
The third goal came on 59 minutes which confirmed the three points, with McWoods finishing well from a header after Regan Donelon’s cross following a daring forage forward by Ethan Boyle.
Ryan Brennan came closest to a consolation for the visitors, only to see McKeown make a fine spot.
Finn Harps: James McKeown; Gary Boylan, Conor Tourish, Rob Slevin; Ethan Boyle (José Carrillo 89), Elie-Gael N’Zeyi, Ryan Connolly, Regan Donelon; Barry McNamee (Mark Timlin 90); Filip Mihaljević (Ryan Rainey 70), Eric McWoods.
Drogheda United: Colin McCabe; Georgie Poynton, Andrew Quinn, Dane Massey, Evan Weir; Adam Foley (Dean Williams 61), Gary Deegan, Darragh Nugent (Ryan Brennan h-t), Dayle Rooney; Darragh Markey (Dylan Grimes 65); Chris Lyons (Victor Arong 75).
Referee: Damien McGraith.