Drogheda manager Mark Kinsella has pin-pointed next week’s SSE Airtricity League clash with Longford Town as the game to save their season.
A 2-1 defeat to St Patrick’s Athletic on Friday night left the Drogs mired in relegation trouble as they sit just two points above bottom side Limerick with just two games to play.
The first of those final two games comes next week as Kinsella’s men host Longford and the Drogheda boss insists it’s one of the biggest games in the club’s history.
“We always knew it would come down to the Longford game, that was always going to be a big game for us,” he told RTÉ Sport.
“The game against Longford is all our cup finals, it’s the World Cup, the European Cup, it’s everything. It’s all on that game and that’s something you have to cherish, to look forward to and that’s something that we have to do.
“We know how big it is and we’ll be ready for it.”
Limerick host Derry City this evening and a win for them would see Drogheda drop to bottom spot ahead of next week’s game, but Kinsella insists his side are far from done.
“There’s always going to be a chance to get out of it. We’ll take the punishment and we’ll move on, we’ve got a big game next week and preparation starts now,” he said.
“Today is our second defeat in five and it’s hard to swallow but the performances have been there. The chances - we’re not taking them and we’re getting punished for our own mistakes and we have to learn very quickly.”
Drogheda were second best for large periods against St Pats, although they did give themselves hope when Alan Byrne equalised on the hour mark.
Christy Fagan scored what proved to be the winner seven minutes later but despite the defeat, Kinsella could not fault the effort of his players.
“Today was always going to be difficult, trying to come here and get some sort of result and they gave it everything,” he said.
“In the second half I thought we were excellent, we got the equaliser and I thought we might go on and get another goal but the quality of they had at times and Killian Brennan at the back seemed to control it really.
“To go 2-1 down, to try and lift them again was always going to be difficult but they game it a go and near the end we pushed a few players up and tried to see if we could get another chance.”
