DUNDALK recovered from 2-0 down to score four times in the second-half of a scintillating Louth derby with Drogheda United at United Park last night, to virtually assure them of a place in the quarter-finals of the League Cup.

First Division Drogheda would have been delighted with their half-time lead with strikes from Mark Ennis after 13 minutes and John Reid just on half-time.

But Dundalk played Drogheda off the park after the interval. Joe Gallen pulled a goal back on 56 minutes following Bobby Browne's corner, before Mick Doohan equalised on 65 minutes from a Browne free-kick.

Gallen then got his second in the 72nd minute, with Paul Patterson saving the best until last with his impersonation of Manchester United's David Beckham by lobbing Drogheda goalkeeper Jodi Byrne from the half-way line six minutes from the end.

A late Colin O'Brien goal gave Cork City a second successive 1-0 win as they beat 10-man Cobb Ramblers in the Cork derby at Turner's Cross, to give them an excellent chance of reaching the quarter-finals.

O'Brien struck with just three minutes remaining of their Group A match, which Cobh generally had the better of, when his 25-yard shot went in off an upright.

It was a night Cobb's Tommy Butler will want to forget as he had a penalty saved by Cork goalkeeper Noel Mooney on 76 minutes and was then sent-off following a clash with goalscorer O'Brien just two minutes later.

It all might have been so different for Ramblers if Willie Broughton hadn't wasted a glorious first-half chance when he blazed over the Cork crossbar from just eight yards out.

A Mark Gill goal after 52 minutes kept Athlone Town on course for the quarter-finals as they beat Limerick FC 1-0 at St. Mel's Park in Group C.

Athlone could have won by a bigger margin but missed a penalty and had a goal disallowed. Johnny Morris-Burke shot wide from the spot on 31 minutes after Duane Shanley had been bundled over.