MU15 vs Waterford (1-1 AET, Drogs win on penalties)
Waterford were the visitors today to DIFE in the last 16 of the Michael Hayes Cup. The Drogs came into the game after a good victory last week. Once again, both sides started strong and straight away you could see this was going to be a tight game. Again, there were great defensive displays from GK Liam Greenslade and his back 4 of Patrick Bourke, Aaron McQuaid, Ewan Fox and Alex Curran.
Strong displays in the midfield from Sean Hegarty and Alex Carainica. Conor Hassett and Adam Johnstone linked up well to create a couple of chances, strong attacking displays from Alex Kelly making his debut for Drogheda on the right and on the left the tricky and fast Gearoid Hannigan was a real threat. Halftime came and both sides had a few chances but great saves from both goal keepers kept the score at 0-0.
Cillian Gunnery replaced Alex Kelly on the right and worked very hard up and down the right hand side. Evan Carberry and Jack McDonnell came into the middle to replace Sean Hegarty and Alex Carainica. The 2 boys had put in a great shift. Sam Eglington came in to replace Adam Johnstone in the number 10 role, Sam had an unbelievable impact on the game, as did Jayden Kearns coming in for Patrick Bourke at RB. Drogheda turned the screw but couldn’t convert some good chances. Full-time whistle went, extra time loomed.
Both teams left it all out there with a great advertisement for MU15s LOI football. In the first half of extra time, Drogheda got a free kick. Up stepped the very talented Gearoid Hannigan who hit a smashing low drive into the bottom corner of the Waterford net…..wonderful strike. The lads held out to come in Halftime of extra time 1-0 up!
2nd half of extra time started, and the Drogs soaked up a bit of pressure but still looked like they might get a 2nd. James Pullen came on in extra time for Liam Greenslade in goal and made 3 outstanding saves to keep Drogheda 1-0 up. On the 4th minute of injury time, Waterford got a corner and scored from it. Devastating for the boys and penos were no only seconds away.
Both teams converted some wonderful penos. James Pullen made a great save in the shootout, as did the Waterford goal keeper. James made another save and up stepped Jack McDonnell. If Jack scored, the Drogs were in the hat for the quarter finals. Jack held his nerve and converted an excellent peno, and put the boys through to the next round. What a game! Up next, it’s back to the league with a home game against Longford, kick off 1pm.
MU20 1-0 vs Cork City
Drogheda MU20s hosted Cork today in the LOI Academy Cup. Conditions were tough to play in the first half with Cork really using the wind to play long but Drogs defence managed everything thrown their way & managed the game well. Not many chances in the half bar one Cork shot that easily saved by Theo Hennessey.
In the second half conditions died down & both teams started to play a bit more which opened the game up. Some good link up play by Cian Wilson & Sean McGrath set Richard Nwosu up to score his first goal for the 20s. Nwosu who has had a terrific season so far with the 17s added to his goal tally & caused the Cork defence a lot of problems with his pace & power.
Cork created quite a lot of chances but the Drogheda defence were not to be broke down. Unbelievable defending from Haddock, Graham, Povall, McLaughlin, Cleary & McCarthy made sure Drogs got their 3rd clean sheet in a row.
Stephen Brady made his 20s debut today & added some real quality into our midfield with some fantastic passing & positional awareness.
We wish Scott Brady a speedy recovery as he picked up an ankle injury which led to an early substitution.
Another positive display from the 20s & into the hat for the next round. Next up is Longford at home Saturday 12th of July in the league phase.
