7th May 2010

Drogheda United v Sporting Fingal

Match Report

Airtricity League of Ireland
Drogs 1 Sporting Fingal 1

This was a game of two halves, the first half being the depressingly familiar Drogs from this season which has seen us lose seven matches on the trot, second to the ball at every instance, drifting through the game unconcerned, and it appeared to be a question of how many Sporting Fingal would score. The visitors started off very well and only two minutes in, Eamon Zayed, portlier than in his sting at the Drogs, drifted in unopposed from the left wing and shot unopposed just past the right upright.

Damien Brennan was a last minute replacement for the injured Corie Treacy at right full and Brian King lined out in an unfamiliar left back position. So, while our back four were trying to get used to playing with each other, SF were dominating the midfield and up front and Kirby, Finn and Zayed were given the freedom of the park, and it came as no surprise when the visitors took the lead on 14 when our defence committed our own particular brand of hara-kiri. Damien Brennan attempted to play the ball across the back and hit it marginally short, and it was the visitors who grabbed possession and Ronan Finn appeared to have all the time in the world to send a great low shot into the corner for the lead goal. Just the start we didn’t need, and it was particularly unfortunate for Brennan who went on to play a great defensive game for us.

We had a visiting referee from the I.F.A. and he appeared to be playing the rougher version of the rules that they play up North and this came into focus when SF keeper Quigley was injured on the edge of the box on 25minutes and the red waved play on. (In our jurisdiction, of course the referee would immediately stop the play if the keeper’s hair was messed up). Anyway the ref waves play on and suddenly Quigley makes a miraculous recovery to sprint to the goals and keep out a Paul Crowley shot.

SF continued to dominate and in a way, though we tried hard in the middle and up front, we have away possession too easily with aimless long balls out of defence which Glen or Colm had no chance of winning, and it made hard work of O’Connor, Daly and McGill seem wasted. Anyway we somehow made it to half time without conceding again.

And as I said, it was a game of two halves and the Drogs came out for the second half a different team. There was Damien Brennan showing us what we needed at the back, McNally and Harris playing more confidently and our midfield starting to work with more purpose and Gareth O’Connor went on to give a Man of the Match performance. The elements of commitment and purpose were there in abundance and in a short space of time after the restart, we got a grip on the game and suddenly Fingal were going nowhere. Damien Brennan gave us a great attacking option with his intelligent use of the long throw and we fought harder in the middle for the precious attacking space and got our just rewards on 72 when O’Connor carved out an opening for himself outside the box and hit a glorious equaliser into the left hand corner. This was the signal for more pressure and four minutes later Jamie Harris saw a great header come back off the post. We peppered the SF goal right up to the final whistle and denied them any attacking chances for the entire second half.

This is the way we can play – lots put together the full ninety 90 in Sligo next week!

Team: Skinner, D. Brennan, King, McNally, Harris, O'Connor, B. McGill, Crowley, Daly (E. McGill 75), Smith (Duffy 85), Fitzpatrick,