Drogheda United 4 – 3 St Patrick’s Athletic

Drogheda United ended their season on a high on Friday night after coming out on top of a seven goal thriller against St. Patrick’s Athletic to register their first home win since July.

A stunning 40-yard lob by Dinny Corcoran was the highlight of the night when attacking and free flowing football dominated. With Mick Cooke constantly re-iterating the fact that several players are playing for their contracts, his side didn’t fail to impress.

Tiernan Mulvenna seemed to keep running for the entire game, while Gavin Brennan gave the Pats defence a lot to deal with. But Danny North was a constant threat for the visitors and was generally the medium through which Pats moved. But the dogged work of the Drogs eventually saw them through.

St Pats took the lead after just nine minutes as David McMillan had what looked to be a speculative shot from 30-yards out but Stephen Trimble wasn’t set properly and the ball ghosted through him to give them visitors the lead.

In all fairness to Drogheda they did battle back and got their reward just after the half hour mark, Gavin Brennan bursting through the Pats defence and was dragged down by Connor Kenna and Richie Winter had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. Up stepped Dave Rogers and the centre-half seemed to slip as he hit the ball, but he still managed to put it past the diving Rogers.

Then, directly from the re-start, Pats lost possession as Tiernan Mulvenna nipped in to intercept a rather lacklustre pass and after a quick break down field he poked the ball through to Dinny Corcoran who in-turn just stabbed the ball under the advancing Rogers.

The sides went in level at the break as a total lack in concentration from Drogheda allowed McMillan to get the ball on the edge of the box and fire home past Trimble.

The visitors started the brighter after the break and took the lead on 48 minutes when Sean O’Connor fired a brilliantly placed freekick into the roof of the net, but questions have to be raised about the positioning of Drogheda keeper Trimble.

A mere five minutes later and the Boynesiders were level once again as Gavin Brennan dominated down the wing and managed to dink a pass to Mulvenna who controlled the ball with his chest before smashing the ball past Rogers.

But it was Corcoran who stole the show on 71 minutes, seeing the Pats keeper off his line, he struck a sweet floated strike from all of 40-yards out which left Rogers with no chance.

St. Pat’s pressed for another equaliser but Drogheda managed to withstand the remaining 19 minutes of pressure to hold out for the win and send the home support away with a smile on his face.

Drogheda United: Srephen Trimble; Conor O’Keefe, Alan McNally, Dave Rogers, Philip Hand; Mark O’Brien, Peter McMahon, Jordan White, Gavin Brennan; Tiarnan Mulvenna (Shane Fitzgerald 77), Dinny Corcoran.

Subs not used: Shane Finnegan, Robbie Clarke, Robbie Gaul, Shane Dolan, Tony Melis, Sean Challenger.

Bookings: G Brennan (36).

St Patrick’s Athletic: Gary Rogers; Derek Pender (Brian Shorthall 46), Conor Kenna, Evan McMillan (Anto Murphy 46), Ian Bermingham; Shane McFaul (Derek Doyle 79), Dave Mulcahy, Paul Crowley, Sean O'Connor; David McMillan, Danny North.

Subs not used: Chris Bennion, Sean Stewart, Jake Carroll, Ian Daly.

Bookings: North (37), O'Connor (61), Mulcahy (75).

Referee: Richie Winter.

Attendance: 900 (est)