Drogheda gain revenge on local rivals as Dundalk dumped out of Cup

Jon Daly guided St Patrick's Athletic to cup glory in front of 44,000 people at the Aviva Stadium eight months ago. His involvement in this years competition ended in more inauspicious surroundings in front of just 2,280 at Weavers Park.

Whilst Daly enjoyed success in his first Louth derby last week, he couldn’t help his team repeat the trick as rivalries were renewed for the second time in a week by the river Boyne.

James Bolger, making his debut at centre back for Drogheda, scored his team’s first and Warren Davis added a second after the break. That rendered Bobby Faulkner’s injury time header a mere consolation in the end.

Tensions were high and security was plentiful as a major Garda operation was in place following the violent clashes between supporters on the Oriel Park pitch last week. These scenes were condemned by both clubs and the League of Ireland.

There was no such repeat here. More violence would have been disastrous for the league and damning for the clubs involved. This game will be remembered, more fondly by United supporters anyway, for the football.

Indicative of the level of turnover both sides have seen in the last three weeks, there were a combined 14 new arrivals in the matchday squads for this resumption of the derby hostilities. Five began the game for Drogheda, four for the visitors.

One of those was Bolger, who signed for the club last week from Swedish fourth tier side Bodens after a lengthy trial. He was deployed at centre half as Kevin Doherty changed tact to a lesser seen 3-5-2 shape.

They had shipped 13 goals in their previous four games so a change isn’t all that surprising in that context. They defended their box well throughout to their credit.

Bolger opened the scoring 16 minutes in. He met