19.45 31 May 2008 - Colman's Park
Referee:
Report: Cobh Ramblers 0-4 Drogheda United
- Bar OSullivan
- Sun, Jun 01 2008
Drogheda United moved up to fourth in the table thanks to this four nil win over Cobh Ramblers. Two second half goals from Eamon Zayed put the result beyond doubt. Ollie Cahill and Ibrahima Iyane Thiam had given the visitors a two nil half time lead. Ramblers were reduced to ten men immediately after Zayeds first goal.
James McCarthy returned between the posts for Cobh but centre back Shane Guthrie was still missing with an ankle injury. Sami Ristilla made his first league appearance of the season. Zayed lined up in an advanced right hand side of midfield position in a 4-5-1 formation.
Drogheda got off to the perfect start. Ristilla had a shot from the right hand side of the box blocked by John Meade. The ball came to Cahill a couple of yards outside the box and he curled a shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Cobh were close to equalising a few minutes later. Right back Alan Carey won possession for Cobh on the half way line and found Davin ONeill with a delicate infield ball. ONeill ran at goal but his powerfully struck shot swerved off target at the last second - perhaps skimming the upright.
Brian McCarthy cut out a Drogheda attack and pinged the ball to Michael Mulcorny on the right wing. Mulcorny swung in a deep cross that Ewings spilled - however luckily for the Scottish keeper there was no Cobh player in close enough attendance to benefit from the error.
It was then James McCarthys turn to embarrass himself. He flapped at an out swinging free kick and Iyane Thiam was caught unprepared at the back post - with the ball hitting him and going wide, as opposed to him striking the ball.
Meade was perhaps lucky to escape with just a yellow card, when after twenty minutes, he caught Zayed outside the box after a quick Drogheda counter attack. Joe Kendrick was off target with the resulting free kick.
Midway through the half Drogheda extended their lead. Ristilla released Zayed on the right wing with a perfectly weighted ball and Iyane Thiam was on hand at the far post to guide Zayeds cross into the net.
Referee Whoriskey booked Mulcorny for what the officials like to refer to as simulation - however it looked as if the midfielder had actually been brought to the ground by a late challenge. Cobh then hit the crossbar on the half hour mark. Graham Cummins directed a header goalwards and Ewings did well to get a hand to it - pushing it on to the woodwork.
Stuart Byrne had a sight of goal when he got on the end of a neat one two - but McCarthy saved well with his feet. Byrne was then involved at the other end when the ball appeared to strike his hand. On another occasion Cobh would have been awarded a penalty.
Minutes later Cobh had another penalty shout. ONeill somehow wrangled himself out of the corner. He advanced at goal, along the byline, and when he touched the ball past the covering Drogheda defender, there was little doubt that he was tripped - however once again Meath official Whoriskey was not interested.
Cobh continued to press and delivered numerous crosses into the Drogheda box - however the visitors defence stood firm and dealt well with what was thrown at them. On one of the few occasions were they were found wanting, centre back Kevin Murray wasn't able to get his header on target.
Cobh started the second half looking to be a little bit more adventurous. The 4-5-1 formation now looked a lot more like 4-3-3 and they were much quicker in closing down the opposition. The back four pushed up an extra ten yards as they attempting to squeeze whenever possible.
Striker Cummins had an excellent chance to get his side back into the game, two minutes after the restart. Alan Kearney, introduced before the break for Shane Barrett, got forward from midfield and picked out Cummins with his cross from the left. Cummins let the ball roll across his body before trying to side foot it into the far corner of the net - however he opened his body out too much and the ball ended up well wide of the far post.
Drogheda then made it three nil in controversial circumstances. Cobh centre back McCarthy challenged for a high ball circa thirty yards from goal. He may have won the ball but in doing so he got clattered on the head and fell to the ground immediately.
Drogheda picked up possession and had no problem playing on. Referee Whorisky, only a few yards away from McCarthy, chose to ignore the clear and obvious head injury and allowed play to continue. Roughly ten to twelve seconds passed before Zayed had the ball in the net. Whorisky spent that time taking glances at both the play and McCarthy, but for some reason didn't stop the game and allow immediate attention be given to the centre back - even though officials are given clear instructions to do so.
Zayed found space where McCarthy would have been and showed good composure in finishing neatly from twelve yards. Murray was then issued with a straight red card for remonstrating with the man with the whistle.
With the game over as a contest, Drogheda made it four nil after fifty seven minutes. Ristilla was again involved, he picked out Zayed and the twenty four year old striker again finished well from inside the box.
Cobh Ramblers: James McCarthy; Alan Carey, Brian McCarthy, Kevin Murray, John Meade; Gareth Cambridge, John Kearney, Shane Barrett (Alan Kearney 37), Michael Mulconry (Declan Cahill 53), Davin O'Neill; Graham Cummins (Conor Meade 75).
Subs not used: Roy Long, Martin Deady.
Drogheda United: Jamie Ewings; Brian Shelley (Shaun Maher 53), Jason Gavin, Graham Gartland, Joe Kendrick; Eamon Zayed, Stuart Byrne, Sami Ristilla (John Tambouras 75), Adam Hughes, Ollie Cahill; Ibrahim Iyane Thiam (Guy Bates 67).
Subs not used: Mikko Vilmunen, Richie Baker.
Referee: Hugo Whoriskey
Attendance: 1,700 (est)
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Subs
Subs
P | Team | Pd | W | D | L | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Bohs | 33 | 27 | 4 | 2 | 85 |
2 | St Patrick's Athl. | 33 | 20 | 6 | 7 | 66 |
3 | Derry | 33 | 16 | 10 | 7 | 58 |
4 | Sligo | 33 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 48 |
5 | Cork | 33 | 15 | 11 | 7 | 46 |
6 | Bray | 33 | 11 | 6 | 16 | 39 |
7 | Shamrock R | 33 | 8 | 13 | 12 | 37 |
8 | Drogheda | 33 | 12 | 9 | 12 | 35 |
9 | Galway United (ex) | 33 | 8 | 8 | 17 | 32 |
10 | Harps | 33 | 9 | 4 | 20 | 31 |
11 | Cobh | 33 | 6 | 8 | 19 | 26 |
12 | UCD | 33 | 4 | 9 | 20 | 21 |
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