Stuart Byrne was the Drogheda hero, firing home the winning penalty as Paul Doolin’s men made a successful defence of the Setanta Sports Cup in a Windsor Park thriller, the clash with Linfield finishing 1-1 after extra time.
The Drogs trailed 1-0 to a Paul McAreavey goal heading into the final 15 minutes, but Tony Grant replied to force extra time and then the Boynesiders came from behind in a nail-biting shootout to pip the Irish League and Cup double winners.
A flurry of chances fell to the Drogs in the first half of normal time, with the Linfield defence working overtime to keep the scoresheet blank.
Ollie Cahill and Shane Robinson forced a fine double save from keeper Alan Mannus in the fourth minute, while Stuart Byrne shot wide from just inside the box and Eamon Zayed was foiled by a superb Noel Baillie tackle as he prepared to shoot.
Claims for a Drogheda penalty were also waved away when Zayed appeared to be tripped by Jim Ervin, before Zayed fired against the post after being put clear by Declan O’Brien.
Another chance went begging when Robinson put Cahill clear on the left, but when the winger tried to chip over Mannus into the path of Zayed, the keeper just managed to pluck the ball out of the air.
Byrne sent a superb 25-yard shot whizzing past Mannus’ right-hand post, forced another save from the keeper with a close-range header and then fired over after being set up by Zayed, but Linfield almost snatched an undeserved interval lead when Glenn Ferguson headed over from a corner kick.
There was no let-up from the Drogs in the second half as Mannus saved from Robinson and Zayed, who was clean through on goal.
Then O’Brien was sent sprawling in the Linfield box by McAreavey, but Damian Lynch’s spot kick was saved low to his right by Mannus.
The keeper made an even better save to divert Byrne’s shot past the post, but incredibly Linfield hit the front when McAreavey headed home from close range.
Drogheda then survived penalty claims when Jamie Mulgrew looked to have been impeded, but the Boynesiders hit back on 77 courtesy of their two subs, Paul Keegan setting up Tony Grant who fired past Mannus.
Both sides had chances in extra time, but it went down to penalty kicks.
First up was Lynch for Drogheda, and his kick was saved, but Grant, Bradley and Robinson all scored, while keeper Mikko Vilmunen saved twice before Byrne settled the issue, United winning 4-3.
Linfield: Mannus, Ervin, Murphy, Baillie, McShane (McGann 14), Dickson, McAreavey, O’Kane, Mulgrew (Mouncey 93), Ferguson, Thompson (Gault 55).
Drogheda United: Vilmunen, Lynch, Shelley, Gartland, Webb (Gray 58), Robinson, Byrne, Bradley, Cahill (Keegan 77), Zayed, O’Brien (Grant 58).
Referee: Adrian McCourt (Belfast)
