Dundalk finally break duck as Han Jeong-woo clinches derby win
Dundalk’s Jeongwoo Han celebrates scoring his sides second goal. Picture: INPHO/James Crombie
It was a case of seventh time lucky for Dundalk as they finally claimed their first victory of the season against their Co Louth neighbours Drogheda Utd at Oriel Park this evening.
Goals in either half from David McMillan and Han Jeong-woo ensured a run of 188 days without a league win came to an end.
Chris Lyons did pull a goal back for Drogheda right at the death but it wasn’t enough to deny the home side their first three points in 10 attempts stretching back to last season.
This result will be a welcome tonic for those around Oriel Park after a difficult week which saw both team manager Shane Keegan and coach Filippo Giovagnoli depart the club.
The breakthrough arrived in the 24th minute.
Full debutant Wilfried Zahibo switched the play to release Raivis Jurkovskis on the left. The Latvian international then beat James Brown to cross for McMillan to steal in ahead of Dane Massey to head to the bottom right-hand corner.
After surviving sustained Drogheda pressure at the start of the second half, the home side then doubled their advantage on 71 minutes when McMillan centred for Han to slot home his first goal for the club.
It looked as though the home side would go on to win comfortably at that stage but on the 90-minute mark Brown slipped Lyons through to slot past Peter Cherrie.
Unfortunately for Tim Clancy’s side time was against them as they slipped to a second successive defeat.
Cherrie; Dummigan, Cleary, Boyle, Jurkovskis (Leahy 60); Shields (O’Kane 79), Zahibo (Sloggett 60); Han, McEleney (Murray 60), Duffy; McMillan (Junior 88).
McCabe; Douglas (Adeyamo 76), O’Reilly, Massey; Brown, Deegan, Phillips, Markey (Doyle 67), O’Shea; Murray (Clarke 87); Lyons.
Adrian Reale (Kildare).
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
