Whelan celebrates birthday with winning goal

Drogheda United 2 Longford Town 0

Gavin Whelan celebrated his 23rd birthday a few hours early with his first goal of the season to seal this win and move Drogheda up to third in the Premier Division table.

The win came at a cost, however, as Drogheda finished with ten men after skipper Declan O’Brien was sent off for a 58th minute foul on David Freeman, his second yellow card of the night. He now misses the visit to leaders Shelbourne next Friday.

O’Brien’s red car was unfortunate as he was central to Whelan’s goal on 47 minutes; his deflected cross falling nicely for the midfielder to shoot home.

Drogheda enjoyed much of the possession but needed an own goal to give them their half-time lead.

That came on 26 minutes when Paul Keegan’s quickly taken free kick put Steven Gray away down the left and his low cross was deflected into his own net by defender Stephen Paisley.