Leaders Bohemians and 3rd placed Drogheda United played out a thrilling 4-4 draw over the weekend as Sligo Rovers joined Bohs at the top of the table after a 3-0 win over Finn Harps at the Showgrounds.
Bohs had led 3-1 at the break after goals from Brandon Kavanagh, Jamie Wilson and Cian Fay, but the Drogs fought back with three second half goals themselves. First-teamed Stephen Meaney scoring twice for Derek Boyle’s side.
Bohs boss Graham Lawlor said afterwards, “This game had everything, 8 goals, a penalty, a red card and some really good attacking play and at times some poor defending.”
“We only shaded the first half in terms of team performance and we found Drogheda a difficult opponent. Drogheda were well organised and their attacking players caused us problems. It was easy to see why Drogheda are having a good season as well. The difference was that we took our chances and going in at 3-1 I feel the players thought it was job done.”
“Our scorers were Jr Wilson, Brandon Kavanagh & Cian Fay in the first half. At halftime we spoke about starting the second half at our tempo and to manage the game and defend properly. This didn’t happen, and although we went 4-2 (Jamie Hamilton) we conceded two quick goals that were really preventable.”
“We spoke after the game about the basics of defending. Marking from set plays, decision making and communication is what let us down.”
“After the game the players were hurting because of the result, but thats ok. It shows how much it means to them and we will get a reaction during the week on the training pitch. I don’t want to be too critical of my players because we are top of a strong Northern Division and have only lost one game all season and look forward to a quarter-final at home in the cup against Cobh. So far this season these players have applied themselves really well and have done everything Bohs ask of them on/off the pitch.”
Drogheda manager Derek Boyle said, “Great result for us yesterday. Bohs started the better and got 2 up before we got one back through a penalty. But bohs got another on the stroke of half time to make 3-1 at the break.”
“It was always going to be tough to come back from that, but we got an early goal in the 2nd half by Karl Fitzsimon to make it 3-2 but bohs went and got a fourth. We pulled it back to 4-3 with a header from Stephen Meaney, before Mark Doyle got the equaliser in the 65th minute.”
“I thought we might get the winner at this stage as I felt we were on top then. Stephen meaney was sent off on 67 minutes which I felt was a bit harsh. That meant we played the last 23 minutes plus 4 minutes of injury time with 10 men. We defended very well and the players showed great attitude and determination to grind out the result. Overall we are happy with the result but I’d say bohs will probably see it as 2 points dropped.”
Sligo Rovers had a good 3-0 win over Shelbourne to join Bohs at the top of the table.
Here’s Sligo’s opening goal;
🎥🎥 And here's Iarla Connor opening the scoring in today's 3-0 win for @DinkyD69 's side #loi19 well done boys 👌👌 🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/10pTlRogBU
— Sligo Rovers (@sligorovers) July 8, 2017
Sligo’s Brian Dorrian said, “The game started with a high pace from both sides. Shels pressed us all over the park trying to stop us from playing. It took almost 15 minutes for the game to settle down, and to be fair both teams tried to play.”
“With Shels pressing us we had to be more direct in our play which is not like us, but sometimes that’s another part of the game for our lads to learn.”
“We took the lead after 25 minutes when Iarlaith Connor latched onto a defensive mistake and shot past the keeper. Five later John Mahon scored a header from a set piece. Shels had a couple of half chances but I thought our keeper dealt well with those.”
Sligo’s second goal;
John Mahon rises highest in the box to score in today's u19 victory ⚽️⚽️👏👏(credit: Brian Morihan) pic.twitter.com/OCSx8Vbjku
— Sligo Rovers (@sligorovers) July 8, 2017
“In the second half Shels came at us from the kick off, and nearly scored twice only for our keeper Edward McGinty to save twice. As the game progressed it got stretched and the game flowed from end to end. Our third goal came from a set piece that came across the six yard line and Ruadhan Feeney scored from that. We created far more chances as did Shels.”
On a sad note Dorrian said, “We at the club would like to wish a speedy recovery to the Shels player who sustained a serious injury during the game.”
Sligo’s third goal;
🎥🎥 WATCH: Ruadan Feeney scores the third goal for #bitored u19 today against @shelsfc (credit Brian Morihan) ⚽️⚽️ pic.twitter.com/EW6j3trJzW
— Sligo Rovers (@sligorovers) July 8, 2017
Shelbourne’s Wayne Groves, “We started quite well we couldn’t deal with Sligo’s movement, but they didn’t really open us up.”
“We’ve a lot of U-17s stepping up so it’ll take time for them to bed in. The game was lost in a five minute period, a simple ball over the top our two defenders got sucked towards the ball, collided together and the ball dropped to their centre forward and he put it away. Their other two goals were set pieces. We had a bad injury on the day to Jordan Kelly and we wish him well.”
Dundalk and Derry City drew 2-2 to remain just behind the leaders.
Derry manager John Quigg said, “Two each in Dundalk was a good point. We were very poor in the first half and went in two one up. We should probably have been four nil down!”
“Two goals in three first half minutes from Sean McBride and Adrian Delap had us in front at the break.”
“We were a bit better in the second half but fair play to Dundalk as they scored scored with a great free kick so all on all v lucky to get a point.”
Finn Harps and Monaghan/Cavan drew 1-1.
Monaghan/Cavan partnerships Robert McQuillan told us, “I am thrilled for the lads after picking up a point away to Finn Harps today, its our first point of the season and it comes after a busy period of rebuilding since the break in June.”
“We’ve had to make a lot of changes to the squad following a tough first half of the season.Since June we have managed to bring in some younger players who have added some quality in key areas of the pitch. Cianan Kelly, who scored the equaliser today, has given us some much needed stability in midfield. Tristan Knowles who is still under 17 has also done very well since coming in giving us more options in attacking areas.”
“Defensively we have added Shane Kierans who had a great game in the heart of our defence today, and Michael McCann who came on as a second half substitute against Finn Harps, two good lads who will thrive as they gain experience.”
“Goalkeeper Thomas Marron made his debut for us today and had an excellent game, he made some crucial saves and interceptions during the match and will be a valuable asset for the team.”
“We played very well today, we had a good shape and defended well against the well organised Harps frontline. We got off to a bright start but found ourselves a goal down on 8 minutes against the run of play after a fine Harps move down the left created an opportunity for Gareth Doherty to dispatch a shot giving our keeper no chance.”
“I was delighted at how we responded to going a goal behind, the boys dug deep and showed real character throughout the game, we created a number of clear chances before halftime which we failed to convert so we were dissappointed to go in at the break a goal down.”
“Deservedly we got our equaliser midway through the second half after a well worked set piece gave Cianan Kelly a chance to flick the ball past the Harps keeper.”
“We were delighted to get Tautvydas Semelevicius back on the pitch today after a lengthy injury had him sidelined for 12 weeks, he really impressed for the last 30 mins of the game today and we hope to have him fully fit over the coming weeks.”