23-05-2025
Bohemians pay the penalty as Drogheda United get back to winning ways
Douglas James-Taylor is finally back in the goals for Drogheda United and that prompted a return to winning ways for the team who were in danger of seeing their stunning start to the season peter out.
This victory over in-form Bohemians, who arrived at Sullivan and Lambe Park with six wins in seven matches, sends them back up to second in the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division table, climbing above Derry City, St Patrick's Athletic and Bohs in the process.
For a player who only arrived at the club last July, a wait of 265 days for a league goal will come as surprise to many. James-Taylor hit six goals in his first two months as a Premier Division player before his league goals dried up.
They continued to flow in the FAI Cup but then a major thigh injury has denied Drogheda of his services for the majority of the season. He is back now though and United will hope he can thrive again.
With one victory in their last eight games, the Drogs had dropped to fifth in the standings which stands in stark contrast to Bohemians who have overcome an inconsistent start to the campaign to emerge as one of the Premier Division's form teams.
Six wins from seven games have transformed the mood around Alan Reynolds side and the expectations around what they might achieve this season. They arrived at Sullivan and Lambe Park in third, having won as many games as leaders Shamrock Rovers.
Bohs had yet to draw in their 16 outings but United were specialists in the form. Eight draws so far was a tally only matched by Shelbourne.
In Dawson Devoy, the visitors had a player capable of identifying gaps in the United rearguard and with the quality of pass in his arsenal to split it upon.
It was the Bohs captain who delivered a cross onto Dayle Rooney's head in the 12th minute. His effort beat Luke Dennison but not the upright. The same combination again caused problems when Devoy's diagonal pass gave Rooney a sight of goal but Conor Keeley's block denied him.
James-Taylor had United's best opportunities in the first half, twice testing Kacper Chorazka with fiercely struck efforts – first from range and then much closer to goal.
He would not be denied when scoring the winning goal from the penalty spot. Sean Grehan clumsily fouled Conor Keeley in the area on the hour mark and the on-loan Walsall striker scored from 12 yards.
The visitors had ample opportunity to level but a combination of misfortunate and missed chances proved their undoing. Colm Whelan saw a shot from the edge of the area cannon off the crossbar.
Then substitutes Hugh Smith and Archie Meekison were denied twice in a matter of seconds. Both their efforts were too close to Dennison and he preserved the points.
Drogheda United: Luke Dennison; Elicha Ahui, Conor Keeley, Andrew Quinn; Owen Lambe, Ryan Brennan (Darragh Markey, 55), Luke Heeney, Conor Kane; Shane Farrell; Douglas James-Taylor (Kieran Cruise, 87), Warren Davis (Thomas Oluwa, 69).
Bohemians: Kacper Chorazka; Niall Morahan (Archie Meekison, 83), Sean Grehan, Rob Cornwall (Rhys Brennan, 71), Jordan Flores; Adam McDonnell (Keith Buckley, 71), Dawson Devoy; Ross Tierney, James Clarke (Hugh Smith, 83), Dayle Rooney; Colm Whelan.
