Dundalk eased their relegation fears and increased the chances of their neighbours going down with this thrilling victory over 10-man Drogheda at Hunky Dorys Park.
First-half goals from Ross Gaynor and Matthew Tipton put Dundalk in the driving seat, but Drogheda shrugged off the controversial sending-off of Glen Fitzpatrick to make a game of it in the second half, before the Lillywhites made sure of the points with Fahrudin Kuduzovic’s third goal late in the game.
And if this result and Bray’s win over Galway weren’t bad enough for Drogheda, their two joint-leading scorers could both be facing suspensions.
On the stroke of half-time referee Damien Hancock brandished a red card at Fitzpatrick for an apparent elbow on Wayne Hatswell, but many spectators felt that John Flood was the Drogheda player involved in the incident. Whatever happened was no excuse for Fitzpatrick reacting by throwing the ball at the official before finally making his way off the park.
In a blistering opening, Dundalk striker Matthew Tipton had the ball in the net in the space of three minutes, heading in a Ross Gaynor cross, only for the linesman’s flag to signal that the winger’s cross had drifted out of play.
But Drogheda soon asserted themselves and gave the visitors’ defence three scares in quick succession.
Ryan Brennan latched onto a Conor Sinnott corner and headed powerfully goalwards, only for Shaun Kelly to boot the ball clear off the line.
Then John Flood escaped his marker and made towards the endline before delivering a cross that deceived keeper Peter Cherrie and bounced off the crossbar.
And on 15 minutes Glen Fitzpatrick flicked on Drogs keeper Robert Duggan’s clearance into the path of Flood whose diagonal shot from just inside the box drifted narrowly wide.
It proved a costly miss, for a minute later Dundalk were ahead when Gaynor latched onto Alan McNally’s partial headed clearance, controlled the ball on his chest and blasted an unstoppable low shot past Duggan from 25 yards.
And worse was to follow for the home side when Fitzpatrick gave away a needless free kick and Fahrudin Kuduzovic cleverly rolled a short one to the overlapping Gaynor whose cross was turned into the net by Tipton.
Drogheda rolled up their sleeves and former Dundalk ace Michael Daly nearly got them back into it with a 25-yard shot which was pushed away by Cherrie, but any hope of a Drogheda comeback seemed to be extinguished right on half-time when assistant Rueben McManus drew the referee’s attention to an off-the-ball incident and Damien Hancock swiftly pulled out the red card for Fitzpatrick.
But the Boynesiders battled gamely with ten men and deservedly pulled a goal back on 57 minutes when Flood profited from a defensive slip, and although Cherrie brilliantly pushed his shot away, Meenan latched onto the loose ball and drove the ball low to the net.
Dundalk were rattled, but they survived a couple of nervous moments before finally securing all three points three minutes from time when sub Steven Lennon teed up Fahrudin Kuduzovic for a tap-in.
DROGHEDA UNITED: 23 Robert Duggan; 6 Eric McGill (13 Darragh McNamara 87), 5 Alan McNally, 3 Yael Haro, 12 Eoghan Osborne; 14 Darren Meenan, 16 Michael Daly, 8 Conor Sinnott (17 Peter McMahon 87), 19 Ryan Brennan; 18 Glen Fitzpatrick, 11 John Flood.
Subs not used: 2 Ronan McEnteggart, 1 Paul Skinner.
Booked: None
Sent-off: Fitzpatrick (45min).
DUNDALK: 1 Peter Cherrie; 12 Simon Madden, 5 Garry Breen (15 Ciaran McGuigan 77), 3 Wayne Hatswell, 2 Shaun Kelly; 21 Daniel Kearns (16 Stephen McDonnell 70), 4 Tom Miller, 14 Dean Bennett, 11 Ross Gaynor, 10 Matthew Tipton (20 Steven Lennon 81), 9 Fahrudin Kuduzovic.
Subs not used: 13 Nathan Murphy, 19 Johnny Breen.
Booked: Miller (74min), Lennon (90min).
Referee: Damien Hancock (Dublin).
