Derry City drop two more points against Drogheda as title hopes fade

Drogheda United 0 Derry City 0

Derry City dropped two more points against Drogheda United at Weavers Park to leave their Premier Division title prospects in tatters. They now trail Shamrock Rovers by four points, having played a game more.

They only have three more games to play and they require a capitulation from Rovers to allow them back into the picture. The hard-fought point confirms Kevin Doherty’s team, with a takeover imminent, will play top-flight football next season.

Drogheda, to their credit, had taken at least a point in four of their previous six meetings with Ruaidhri Higgins team. While victory was a necessity for Derry in their attempts to haul in leaders Rovers, it was far from certain given United’s propensity for bloodying the noses of the league’s big boys.

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The visitors started the game brightly, with Paul McMullan and Danny Mullen drawing saves from teenage goalkeeper Andrew Wogan at either end of a first half that had little in between those threatening moments.

The latter got a volley attempt all wrong when teed up by McMullan early in the second half and then the Scottish winger was off target with a header when he met Michael Duffy’s deep, hung cross at the back post.

The industrious Darragh Markey buzzed around the midfield and he had United’s only shot on target in the first 60 minutes. His long-range strike was straight at Brian Maher and registered as a chance only in a statistical sense, but hardly in reality.

Kyle Robinson’s shot minutes earlier was off target, but only just. It offered a glimpse of the threat United carried and served as a reminder of how quickly both games can change and title challenges die out.

It was a display of strength by Higgins that he could call on Jamie McGonigle, Patrick McEleney and both Brandon and Cian Kavanagh from the bench to change things in the second half.

Late pressure from Derry was concerted and constant but Drogheda, with the returning Conor Keeley showing why he has attracted interest from elsewhere, held firm. Their most worrisome moment arrived when McGonigle escaped the attentions of Luke Heeney but drilled his shot into the side netting.

United’s own second half changes reflected Derry’s dominance in the match. They seemed content to shore up their midfield and hit Derry on the break when the opportunity presented itself. It rarely did as they held out despite Conor Keeley’s injury-time dismissal.

Drogheda United: Wogan; Heeney, Keeley, Weir, Kane; Deegan, O’Brien; Foley (Noone, 82), Markey, Davis (Leddy, 78); Robinson (Wade Slater, 78).

Derry City: Maher; Dummigan, S McEleney, McJannet (Todd, 60), Doherty; O’Reilly (B Kavanagh 77), Patching, Diallo (P McEleney, 77); McMullan, Mullen (C Kavanagh, 71), Duffy (McGonigle, 71).

Referee: Kevin O’Sullivan