Drogheda United's Jake Hyland: 'Our objective is to make sure that we're competitive in every game'

Drogheda United captain Jake Hyland is well-versed to the cause at United Park.

The former Bohemians midfielder has been with the Boynesiders for the past five years – and he is now heading into his sixth year at the club.

Four of those years have been spent in the First Division, and he has won promotion twice with Drogheda already (in 2016 and 2020).

In both 2018 and 2019, Drogs, under the stewardship of Tim Clancy missed out on top-flight promotion twice via the play-offs, but there was to be no such hard luck story in 2020.

Clancy’s young guns, captained by Hyland of course, clinched the First Division on the final day of the season with a win away to Cabinteely, ending their three-year spell in the second tier.

United have impressed during the transfer window, bringing a number of proven top-flight regulars of recent years – Darragh Markey and Dane Massey to name just a few.

And it is that which excites Drogs captain who is gearing himself up for his latest jaunt at the Premier Division.

“Competition is healthy,” Hyland said at a media event on Wednesday afternoon. “If you have no one there pushing you for a jersey you can get complacent and your levels can drop.

“That’s the opposite of what we have this year. We have two players competing for every position. Hopefully, we can be giving the manager a headache on who to pick in the starting line-up.”

Also coming in through the door at United Park this year is ex-Shelbourne midfielder Gary Deegan.

Deegan joins the Boynesiders having played with several clubs in Scotland and England – and he was also a teammate of Drogs boss Clancy at Hibernian.  

“Gary has been great so far,” Hyland added. “We’ve had a couple of sessions in with him already and he has been great with the young lads.

“It’s important to have someone with experience when you get promoted and his CV speaks for itself having played in England and Scotland.

“He’s someone that I’m looking forward to working with and learning off.”

But as far as 2021 goes, not only will Drogheda be exposed to a higher standard of opposition in the Premier Division, but they will also have to contend with a higher volume of games, a challenge that the Dubliner is relishing.

“The midweek games are going to be tough,” he said. “In the First Division you don’t have the Friday-Monday games, so I think the most important thing there is recovery.

“We’ve got a great group of staff who know well about that and are well-equipped.

“We’re under no illusions that the competition will be tougher, but our objective is to make sure we’re competitive every game and not roll over for anybody.”