Drogheda United 3-0 Sligo Rovers

Eamon Zayed and strike partner Declan O'Brien put Sligo to the sword almost single-handedly as Drogheda drew level with St Pat's at the top of the Premier Division table tonight.

Between them they scored all three goals inside half an hour, and had the Drogs kept up the onslaught they might have scored several more.

Paul Doolin surprisingly left highly rated midfielder Paul Keegan on the bench in favour of Stephen Bradley, while giving Zayed a rare start in attack. But the Drogheda boss's selection was immediately vindicated as the Boynesiders struck the lead goal inside eight minutes.

Shane Robinson's floated ball into the box was chested down by Declan O'Brien into the path of Zayed who sent a blistering shot curling into the top corner with the outside of his right boot.

The goal aside, the teams were pretty evenly matched for the opening 20 minutes, and Sligo weren't afraid to attack in numbers when the opportunities arose.

Rafael Cretaro was involved on three occasions in quick succession, testing keeper Mikko Vilmunen from long range, and then shooting wide, shortly after unsuccessfully claiming a penalty when he tangled with Damian Lynch in the box.

But two further goals from Drogheda in the space of three minutes all but ended the contest.

The Boynesiders doubled their advantage mid-way through the half when O'Brien pounced on hesitant defending to square the ball across the box, and Zayed turned sharply before shooting through the legs of Sligo keeper Richard Brush.

Leo Tierney's side then quickly conceded a third when O'Brien collected Simon Webb's pass, switched the ball to his right foot and curled a superb shot beyond Brush's reach.

But Drogheda were firmly in control, and Zayed came close to completing a hat-trick seven minutes into the second half when his long-range shot was deflected over the Sligo crossbar.

From the resulting corner floated in by Bradley, Stuart Byrne's glancing header flew narrowly wide, and Brush then came to the rescue with a close-range save from Robinson.

Vilmunen had a nervy moment when a looping header from substitute Jason McCartney struck the junction of post and crossbar, and Fahrudin should have done better with a close-range header that was saved easily by Vilmunen.

Chris Turner then saw his fierce 25-yard shot deflected over the bar by Damian Lynch, but O'Brien nearly added a fourth in injury time after being put through by who else but Zayed?