Dundalk 1 Derry City 1
A stunning 93rd-minute header from Patrick Hoban preserved Dundalk’s unbeaten home record as they denied Derry City the chance to leapfrog them into second place in the SSE Airtricity League table at Oriel Park.
It looked as though James Akintunde’s 12th-minute strike would be enough for Ruaidhrí Higgins’s side until Hoban popped up with his 135th goal for the club deep in stoppage time. The late equaliser denied the Candystripes the chance to close the gap at the top with Shamrock Rovers to six points ahead of their meeting at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium next weekend.
As it stands it is Stephen O’Donnell’s side who are six points behind the league leaders, albeit with a game more played, but an equaliser was no more than they deserved after bossing the second half.
The home side settled best and carved out the first clear opening on nine minutes when Hoban released Steven Bradley on the right. The on-loan Hibernian winger then pulled the ball back to Joe Adams, whose effort struck Shane McEleney in the face and out for a corner.
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A minute later Bradley was in the thick of it again as he was picked out by Greg Sloggett on the right but after cutting in on to his left foot his cross just evaded the inrushing Hoban.
The Candystripes then took the lead with their first attack of note on 12 minutes. Sloggett was caught in possession by Joe Thomson with Akintunde bursting into the box before firing left-footed across Nathan Shepperd to the bottom right-hand corner after Andy Boyle had gone to ground too easily.
Things then went from bad to worse for the Louth men when they lost Paul Doyle and Daniel Kelly to injury within the space of five minutes.
They were then lucky not to find themselves 2-0 down on 35 minutes when the influential Sadou Diallo played Thomson through on goal but a heavy touch allowed Shepperd to smother.
Dundalk had a great chance to level in first-half stoppage time when Ryan O’Kane picked the pocket of his former team-mate Mark Connolly before being released through on goal by Hoban but the teenager was denied a first goal for his hometown club by a superb save at full stretch by Brian Maher.
Sam Bone then went close to an equaliser within three minutes of the restart when he charged forward from the back before making a mazy run into the box only to pull his left foot shot agonisingly wide.
Bradley would then go close on 64 minutes when he was released on the right by Hoban but his curling left-foot shot just evaded the left-hand corner before Sloggett headed over from a corner on 77 minutes.
The visitors’ first chance of the half would come two minutes later when former Lilywhite Michael Duffy won a free-kick which he then curled over the wall but Shepperd was equal to it.
The home fans thought they had an equaliser with seven minutes remaining when Bradley beat Cameron McJannett on the right before seeing his cross laid off by Hoban into the path of O’Kane. But the teenager couldn’t get any purchase on his effort under pressure from Diallo, allowing Maher to readjust and make the save as it trickled towards goal.
It looked as though that would be enough for Derry to hang on but up popped Hoban in stoppage time with a stunning header to the top right-hand corner from Bradley’s cross.
DUNDALK: Shepperd; Macari (Benson, 74 mins), Bone, Boyle, Leahy; Sloggett, Doyle (Lewis, 23 mins); Bradley, Adams (Ward, 74 mins), Kelly (O’Kane, 28 mins); Hoban.
DERRY CITY: Maher; Dummigan, Connolly, S McEleney, McJannett; Diallo, P McEleney; Graydon (B Kavanagh, 77 mins), Thomson (Lafferty, 87 mins), Glass (Duffy, 77 mins); Akintunde (McGonigle, 68 mins).
Finn Harps 3 Drogheda United 0
Relegation-threatened Finn Harps notched up a much-needed win as they decisively beat Drogheda United to move off the foot of the table and back above UCD.
Two goals from man-of-the-match Eric Woods and a penalty from Filip Mihaljevic paved the way for what was only a third win of the campaign for the Donegal club.
Indeed, this was a first success in 13 league and cup games for Harps and was a vastly improved performance against a Drogheda side who failed to reproduce the heights of some recent decent displays.
Both sides had chances in a lively opening 20 minutes with Drogheda going closest to scoring with Darragh Nugent hitting the post.
Harps opened the scoring two minutes later courtesy of a disputed penalty. The lively McWoods went down under pressure in the box from Dane Massey and Andrew Quinn and from the resulting spot-kick Mihaljevic fired in his fourth goal of the campaign.
Harps doubled their tally a minute before the break. Conor Tourish did well to keep the ball in play on the touch line and found Gary Boylan, whose ball on to Mihaljevic was deftly touched on into the path of the McWoods who fired past Colin McCabe with aplomb.
Harps wrapped it up on 58 minutes when Regan Donelon sent in a cross from the left and McWoods rose to head home at the far post.
James McKeown, who retained his place in goals despite having a nightmare of a debut last week for the Donegal club last week in their FAI Cup exit against Bohemians, also played his part, making a number of good saves to deny Darragh Markey, Chris Lyons and substitute Ryan Brennan.
FINN HARPS: McKeown; Boylan, Tourish, Slevin; Boyle (Carrillo, 88 mins), N’zeyi, Connolly, Donelon; McNamee (Timlin, 90 mins); Mihaljevic (Rainey, 70 mins), McWoods.
DROGHEDA UNITED: McCabe; Poynton; Quinn, Massey, Weir; Foley (Williams, 60 mins), Deegan, Nugent (Brennan, h-t), Rooney; Markey (Grimes, 64 mins), Lyons (Arong, 75 mins).
Referee: D McGraith (Mayo)
