High-flying Dundalk pull off biggest coup yet<\/p>\n
\u201cAs brave a win as you\u2019re ever going to see,\u201d is how Dundalk<\/a> manager Ciar\u00e1n Kilduff described his side\u2019s performance against Shamrock Rovers<\/a> on Friday night. <\/p>\n It was appropriate praise. This was a meeting between two of the most decorated sides in League of Ireland history, and though even a tilt at European qualification would represent overachievement for Dundalk this season, the game had all the jeopardy of a title decider. <\/p>\n Much of that was owed to both sides\u2019 positivity. After a stuttering run of four games without a win, Dundalk were back to their aggressive, enterprising best, hounding Shamrock Rovers and forcing them to drop deep in possession. That was despite Kilduff having to adjust his defence with Mayowa Animasahun and Rob Cornwall absent.<\/p>\n Their winning goal in a 1-0 victory befitted the performance level, a thundering volley from Tyreke Wilson that left Hoops goalkeeper Ed McGinty on his knees as it flew in over him. Daryl Horgan\u2019s pass to Wilson was outstanding, clipped to the back post and into his path from a position that had seemed to pose very little danger. <\/p>\n Shamrock Rovers pushed hard for an equaliser, particularly in the dying embers when the goalscorer\u2019s brother, JR Wilson, was shown a second yellow card for Dundalk. Enda Minogue produced a heroic string of saves to deny them. <\/p>\n In a season of unlikely victories, this was Dundalk\u2019s most impressive yet. Shamrock Rovers arrived into town off the back of six wins in seven. The Hoops seem to have hit top gear earlier than usual this season, and no one would have been surprised had they swept aside a team that, for all its virtues, does tend to concede goals. <\/p>\n Dundalk dug in and fought doggedly, still managing to find their attacking flair in decisive moments. They are showing no signs of falling away from their position in the top half. <\/p>\n Bohemians find form with rare home win over Drogheda <\/p>\n After a dismal run of nine games without a win, Bohemians<\/a> made it two from two with a professional 2-1 victory over Drogheda United<\/a> at Dalymount.<\/p>\n This has been a challenging fixture for Bohs in recent times. Kevin Doherty instils Drogheda with basic and effective principles; they defend well in numbers, wilfully cede possession and exploit opponents in transition and at set pieces. It has proved an effective formula in Phibsborough, where Drogheda had won 1-0 in each of their three previous visits.<\/p>\n On this occasion, Bohemians managed to turn control of the football into incisive attacks. They created plenty of chances, and will be pleased that one of their goals arrived from a corner \u2013 a situation that has become more potent for the Gypsies this year thanks to the towering presence of Patrick Hickey.<\/p>\n Thomas Oluwa scored late to put the result in doubt, but Bohs held on for a deserved win. Alan Reynolds will hope his side is now well over their winless run, and perhaps they can start looking up towards the top two. <\/p>\n St Pat\u2019s struggling to win ugly<\/p>\n Second in the table and top scorers across the League of Ireland\u2019s two divisions, St Patrick\u2019s Athletic<\/a> have good reason to feel positive about their season. <\/p>\n A couple of thorns are holding them back, however, and one is an inability to win games when they aren\u2019t at their best. It is a habit we tend to associate with title-winning teams, and one that has encapsulated the ruthless Shamrock Rovers machine of the past six years. <\/p>\n Hosting Shelbourne<\/a> on Friday night, Pat\u2019s did at least manage to curb another unhelpful trait by avoiding the concession of an early goal. Even on comfortable nights in Inchicore, visitors tend to score inside the first 15 minutes. This time, a whole half passed without a goal, with St Pat\u2019s edging things without creating many chances. <\/p>\n Though Kerr McInroy was forced off at the break, Shelbourne emerged looking like a different side. Buoyed by the energy and invention of Harry Wood, they were lively around the box and forced Pat\u2019s keeper Joseph Anang into some decent saves.<\/p>\n The game\u2019s only goal arrived 10 minutes from time through a pair of substitutes. It was excellent work from Rodrigo Freitas, who fought and twisted in midfield before squeezing a perfectly weighted, left-footed pass into the path of Daniel Kelly. The finish was unerring, and Shels managed to hold on as Pat\u2019s pushed for a late equaliser. <\/p>\n It continues an unusual disparity in home and away form for Shelbourne, with most of their points coming on their travels. There was reprieve for Pat\u2019s in Shamrock Rovers\u2019 defeat at Dundalk, though they will view their own dropped points as a missed opportunity.<\/p>\n Graham Coughlan\u2019s Waterford fall agonisingly short of first win<\/p>\n Waterford FC<\/a> fell short of a first win of the season with the last action of significance at the RSC on Friday, as Henry Rylah\u2019s 94th-minute header allowed Derry City<\/a> to escape with a scarcely deserved 2-2 draw. <\/p>\n This was Graham Coughlan\u2019s first home game in charge of Waterford, and it very nearly produced a badly needed springboard. As it is, they remain nine points behind ninth-place Sligo, who host Galway United on Saturday evening. <\/p>\n The second half was very encouraging for Coughlan. His side overturned a 1-0 deficit, and looked a far more cohesive unit than Derry, who continue to amble and rely on moments of fortune or individual quality to get them through games. For all the quality in their squad, it looks jerry-built and pressure is mounting on Tiernan Lynch.<\/p>\n Coughlan praised an \u201cabsolutely outstanding\u201d performance that offers a blueprint for his side moving forward, but bemoaned the misfortune of conceding so late. He will know that luck needs to be with them if an unlikely survival bid is to take real shape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High-flying Dundalk pull off biggest coup yet \u201cAs brave a win as you\u2019re ever going to see,\u201d is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451582,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3407,23531,61,60,2539,43,11113,25201],"class_list":["post-451581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-bohemians","tag-damien-duff","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-league-of-ireland","tag-news","tag-shamrock-rovers","tag-shelbourne"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451581\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451582"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}