SETANTA SPORTS CUP/ Drogheda United 3 Cliftonville 2: CHAMPIONS FOR the past two seasons, Drogheda United took a lively first step towards a hat-trick of all-Ireland titles last night with two goals from Eamon Zayed helping them to an entertaining win over Cliftonville in the Setanta Cup.
The northerners were making their debut in the competition and showed over the course of the 90 minutes that they will not be brushed aside in anything like the manner that a couple of the other Irish League outfits have been in recent years.
More than once they looked well beaten by a Drogheda side containing six of the starters from last May's final at Windsor Park but they threatened to take a point back with them right up until the dying seconds of injury-time when Paul Keegan cleared a David McAlinden shot off the line and, moments later, Cliftonville had a penalty appeal waved away.
The early part of the game was played at a surprisingly brisk tempo and the question, over the opening 20 minutes or so, seemed to be who would be better able to sustain the pace: the team fresh from a hard-fought league win at Institute over the weekend or the one without a competitive game to speak of since last November.
The visiting side had their chances, most notably when John Martin was sent racing clear only to fire straight into the approaching Mikko Vilmunen and later, when the Finn was forced to save well from Francis Murphy.
Steadily, though, it was the home side who became dominant over the latter part of the first half with United coming to dominate midfield completely from where they generated a succession of scoring opportunities.
Before Zayed made the breakthrough, the pick of the bunch fell to Shane Robinson who had a lot of goal to aim at as he looked to turn Richie Baker's low cross home but managed only to fire low in the direction of John Connolly.
It wasn't the first time the locals had been guilty of poor finishing but at that point it was the most comprehensively that the visiting defence had been opened up and in the minutes that followed there was air of inevitability about United finding the net.
They did so five minutes from half-time when Baker played a corner short into the path of Brian Shelley whose cross was turned home off the inside of the post by Zayed's glancing header.
It might quickly have been worse for the Belfast outfit with Francis Murphy having to clear a Paul Keegan shot off the line in order to keep the deficit to one but Eddie Patterson's men then had half-time in which to regroup.
By using both wings to stretch their opponents with their first attack of the second half, the home side suggested that they were about to drive home their advantage but they then managed to throw away their lead when Shelley fouled Martin on the edge of the area and Murphy curled a fine free-kick around the wall and past Vilmunen to the top right-hand corner.
United set about getting back on top and almost managed it within a couple of minutes when a diving header by Baker was turned on to the post by Connolly.
Well-supported by Shelley, Baker was the home side's key figure and the Dubliner rounded off a strong performance with his side's second goal - a close-range drive - after the Irish League side had failed to properly clear the ball from deep inside their area.
Zayed then looked to have made things safe four minutes from time with a fine headed finish to Joe Kendrick's cross but Mark Holland's left footed volley a minute later inspired a spirited late fightback by the northerners.
DROGHEDA UNITED: Vilmunen; Shelley, Tambouras, Gartland, Kendrick; Baker, Robinson, Keegan, Cahill (Byrne, 73 mins); Zayed, Grant (Bates, 62 mins).
CLIFTONVILLE: Connolly; Fleming, McAlinden, B Holland (O'Hara, 77 mins), R Scannell; McMullan (M Holland, 66 mins), Catney (O'Connor, 66 mins), Johnston, Murphy; C Scannell, Martin.
Referee: D Malcolm(Bangor).
