Premier Division - IRELAND

 

Premier Division: Derry City 3-0 Drogheda Utd

Derry moved up to fifth in the Premier Division thanks to this comfortable win over the Drogs at the Brandywell.

Anthony Elding netted his first goal for City on his home debut with a stooping header on eight minutes.

It was a scrappy affair and Barry McNamee's volley into the top corner was a rare moment of quality.

Drogheda's Jason Marks was dismissed for handball with 14 minutes left and Elding converted the resulting penalty to seal a second league win for Derry.

Gerard Doherty was making his 300th appearance for the Candystripes but he was nearly caught out for the second time in three days early in the game.

Greg Bolger sent a long-range effort over Doherty and into the net for St Pat's in midweek but the City keeper got back in time to keep out a similar attempt from Cathal Brady.

The action switched to the other end and Elding got in front of his marker to head in the opener from Mark Timlin's cross.

McNamee celebrated his 100th game for Derry in style, capitalising on poor defending to double the lead five minutes from half-time.

A mix-up left keeper Michael Schlingermann stranded as McNamee chested down Joe Gorman's poor clearance before supplying a clinical finish from 25 yards.

City midfielder Patrick McEleney flashed a shot wide early in the second half and Timlin blasted over after being slipped through by Joshua Daniels.

The visitors rarely threatened although Daryl Kavanagh went close when his curling strike flew just over.

Marks was shown a straight red-card when his handball prevented a goalscoring chance for Daniels at the back-post.

Elding slotted home the spot-kick to complete his double as Derry moved up three places in the standings.

Champions Dundalk maintain flawless start to season

Stephen Kenny got exactly what he would have wanted from his 100th game in charge of Dundalk, a victory that maintains the champions’ flawless start to the season.

Five games played, five wins recorded, 11 goals scored and none conceded. As far as title defences go, it has been some start. For good measure, the victory means that Kenny’s side have now gone 21 league games without defeat at Oriel Park, equalling the club’s top-flight record for such a feat.

His side did irreparable damage to their opponents with a powerful first-half display. The opener arrived after 17 minutes, the result of devastating simplicity. Daryl Horgan cut the Sligo back four wide open with a glorious pass and the finish from David McMillan was even better, his side foot finding the top left-hand corner of Ryan Coulter’s goal.

The second arrived nine minutes later. Dane Massey’s cross was cleared by Stephen Folan but the ball fell to Richie Towell and he fired his 18-yard drive past Coulter.

McMillan was denied a second by two wonderful Coulter saves in quick succession, initially after a quick turn and shot. From the subsequent short corner, the striker’s glancing header was somehow clawed away by the goalkeeper.

The Bit O’Red needed a response and Morten Nielsen was denied by former Rovers goalkeeper, Gary Rogers, in the 39th minute before David Cawley’s left-footed effort curled just over the top.

The second half saw Dundalk in firm control and Towell grabbed his second in the latter stages, tapping home from Ronan Finn’s pass before Rogers made a fine save from Nielsen, securing Dundalk their third 3-0 win in the space of seven days.

DUNDALK – Rogers; Gannon, Boyle, Gartland, Massey; Shields, Towell; Meenan (Mountney 81), Finn, Horgan (Kelly 89); McMillan (Byrne 87). 

SLIGO ROVERS – Coulter; Keane, Peers, Folan, Dykes; Beattie, Cawley, Cretaro (Devanney 61), Wearen, Ledwith (Corcoran 75); Nielsen.

Shamrock Rovers can't find a way past dogged Bohemians

For the second Friday in succession, a substantial Tallaght crowd were deprived of a goal as dogged Bohemians tenaciously hung on for a result that delighted the away section.

They required some fortune to hold out in the dying stages of this uninspiring clash with their arch-rivals, but Rovers did not do enough across the duration to feel hard done by. Too little, too late.

Cork came away from this venue last week with a point that was the product of a grizzled back four sticking to the task.

Keith Long’s Bohs were equally disciplined, yet they deserve extra credit considering they fielded 18-year-old rookie Stephen Best in the centre of defence. He showed admirable composure in the circumstances.

With champions Dundalk knocking in the goals at the top of the table, Rovers followers will be concerned that opposing sides are not fazed by coming to Dublin 24.

Pat Fenlon’s troops dominated possession for the majority of this derby, a situation that Bohs were happy to facilitate for long periods as they kept their shape and challenged the Hoops to play through them.

This strategy was effective and, before the interval, the only time that the hosts succeeded was when Keith Fahey, operating behind lone striker Mikey Drennan, burst into the area before he was denied by a sliding tackle from visiting netminder Dean Delany.

Otherwise, Rovers struggled to move the ball at pace, thus giving the Gypsies plenty of time to cover every move. The closest the locals came to a breakthrough was courtesy of a Sean O’Connor free that was nodded off target by Dave Webster.

Long had to plan for his first taste of this fixture without the presence of the experienced Anto Murphy, who was harshly dismissed in Tuesday’s defeat to Dundalk.

He resisted the temptation to bring the energetic Roberto Lopes back from his midfield role and that’s what paved the way for Best, the nephew of Irish international Leon, receiving a big opportunity to impress next to the solid Derek Prendergast.

Fenlon might feel that his team should have put the newcomer under pressure and as the hour mark approached, he reached the conclusion that he had one holding midfielder too many with Stephen McPhail withdrawn for Ryan Brennan

Long’s hard working unit continued to snap at Rovers’ heels, however, with Lopes full of battery power and Kealan Dillon sent in to replace Keith Buckley to charge up that department.

A reasonable spell followed for the Phibsborough men with Rovers frustration summed up by an unnecessary challenge from Dave O’Connor on Paddy Kavanagh that earned a deserved yellow

Best then switched off for a second to follow O’Connor into Paul Tuite’s notebook after Drennan caught him in possession.

As the game entered its final 15 minutes, it had more bookings than clear cut goalscoring opportunities.

Fenlon did send in Kieran Marty Waters with the hope that his direct running would give Bohs a fresh problem and he burrowed into the area and could possibly have gone down under close attention from Lorcan Fitzgerald, but he kept his feet and Tuite was unmoved.

Waters did bring some life to proceedings, though, and his next act was to wander to the left and send in a cross which was met by a Brennan header and a fine stop by Dean Delany.

After Long sent in the veteran Jason Byrne in the hope of catching a break, Rovers turned the screw in search of a winner.

A series of crosses into the box culminated in a frantic scramble and a close range stab from Waters that Delany prevented from reaching its destination.

Bohs stood firm and even managed to probe into the Rovers half with a Dillon daisy-cutter giving Craig Hyland a task to complete.

But Fenlon had one more card to play in the shape of Danny North and in injury time he nearly wrote himself into the headlines by stretching to meet a Waters centre but his header came back off the crossbar. Bohs, and Best, deserved the break.

Shamrock Rovers– Hyland, Madden, Webster, Kenna, O’Connor; Cregg, McPhail (R Brennan 61); O’Connor (Waters 71), Fahey, McCabe (North 85); Drennan

Bohemians – Delany, Pender, Prendergast, Best, Fitzgerald; Lopes, Buckley (Dillon 61); Kavanagh, Creevy, Evans (Moore 75); Kelly (Byrne 79)

ref – Paul Tuite (Dublin)

Elding bags brace as Derry cruise past Drogheda

Derry City 3 Drogheda 0

Derry City striker Anthony Elding stole the show as they saw off Drogheda United.

Elding’s brace along with Barry McNamee’s long range strike was enough for the Candystripes to see off Johnny McDonnell’s side, who also had Jason Marks red carded.

Derry took the lead on eight minutes as Elding’s diving header from Mark Timlin’s centre, flew past Drogs keeper Michael Schlingermann.

City doubled their lead on 39 minutes in fantastic fashion when McNamee’s long range strike on the half volley, flew past a back tracking Schlingermann, after the Drogheda defence  was caught out by Joe Gorman’s mis-placed pass, which fell perfectly to the City midfielder.

Drogheda went close to pulling one back on 61 minutes but Daryl Kavanagh’s free-kick sailed just over the crossbar.

Derry sealed the points on 77 minutes when Elding grabbed his second from the penalty spot.

Jason Marks was sent-off for  denying Josh Daniels a goalscoring opportunity, when he pushed the Derry youngster inside the six yard box, and Elding punished the visitors to the full.

Derry City – Doherty, Kelly, McBride, S McEleney (Clucas 70), Barry; Lowry (Houston 84), McNamee, P McEleney (Curran 84); Daniels, Elding, Timlin.

Drogheda United – Schlingermann, Gorman, Hughes, Daly, Brady (Rooney 70), Brennan (Duffy H-T), Maher, Buckley, Kavanagh (Scott 81), Marks.

Ref – Robert Rogers (Dublin).