City surrender unbeaten record
The key incidents in the game came back-to-back just past the quarter hour mark when, after Richie Baker had given the visitors the lead, Joe Gamble gave his own team a mountain to climb by incurring a sending off just two minutes later.
Drogheda seized the advantage to make it two before the break and, though a battling Cork side were hardly outclassed on the night, Paul Doolin’s men might well have doubled their final tally had they been a tad more clinical in front of goal.
With Doolin opting for a spearhead of Tony Grant, supported on either side by Aidan O’ Keefe and Richie Baker, Drogheda belied their recent woes with a positive start but, after weathering some initial pressure, Cork quickly got to grips with the game.
In truth, City played some terrific football in the early stages, with Joe Gamble, Colin Healy and George O’ Callaghan to the fore as the home side orchestrated a succession of bright passing moves played with pace and precision.
Jason Gavin and Graham Gartland stayed strong for Drogheda, the closest the home side had to a breakthrough coming when Liam Kearney got in behind the defence and just failed to get on the end of Dave Mooney’s defence-splitting through ball.
But, as often happens in football, Cork got caught on the break when, just on 15 minutes, full back Joe Kendrick swung a fine cross in from the left and there was Richie Baker to head home at the far post.
And things immediately got worse for Cork when, almost from the restart, Joe Gamble was shown a straight red card for a costly moment of indiscipline, after he kicked out at Shane Robinson in an off the ball incident.
Traditionally, these two clubs haven’t been the best friends and the Gamble sending off only served to pour fuel on the fire of an increasingly feisty affair, which saw referee McKeon hand out three yellow cards to Drogheda players before the game was 30 minutes old.
Despite their one man disadvantage, Cork rallied well but, on 36 minutes, Drogheda broke quickly to double their advantage. After excellent work on the flank by Ollie Cahill, Michael Devine looked to have saved Cork when he superbly blocked Tony Grant’s initial effort but the striker headed the rebound back towards goal where Aidan O’ Keefe was able to finish from close range.
At two down, lesser teams might have crumbled but, in the second half, Cork continued to take the game to Drogheda – not that they had any alternative. Just short of the hour mark, the hard-working Dave Mooney almost got them back in the game but his acrobatic overhead kick from Kearney’s chipped cross flew just over the bar.
The danger for Cork was that in throwing everything forward in search of a lifeline, they risked being caught on the quick counter attack. Sweeping behind his defence, Michael Devine’s alertness had already kept Drogheda at bay but Tony Grant should really have made it three when, after finding himself in space in the box, he failed to make the most of Baker’s incisive pass and fired his shot on the turn into the side-netting.
Ten minutes from the end, Drogheda’s most impressive player Aidan O’ Keefe squandered an even better chance when, after Ollie Cahill’s ball had picked him out directly in front of goal, he could only drive his shot low past the post.
But by then the three points were in the bag, the loss of Brian Shelley with a hamstring problem the only blot on the night for Paul Doolin’s men who kept their cool and their lead right to the end.
CORK CITY: Devine, Horgan, Murray, Lordan, Murphy, O’Callaghan, Healy, Gamble, Kearney, Behan (O’Connor 67), Mooney
DROGHEDA UNITED: Ewings, Kendrick, Gavin, Gartland, Shelley (Keegan 67), O’ Keefe, Cahill, Robinson, Hughes, Baker (O’ Brien 9i), Grant (Zayed 82)
Referee: D McKeon
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