Derry City ease past Drogheda to continue winning run

Derry City made it four Premier Division wins in a row after a 5-1 win against struggling Drogheda United at the Brandywell.

Cameron Dummigan opened the scoring after six minutes with a stunning strike before Adam Foley equalised for the visitors.

Will Patching converted a penalty after Mark Connolly was fouled in the box to restore their lead.

Daniel Kelly then scored his first goal for the Candystripes with Patrick Hoban netting a fourth and Ciaran Col adding a late fifth to seal the victory which keeps them two points behind leaders Shelbourne.

In their first game back after the mid-season break, Derry started brightly on home soil and went close early through Kelly, whose shot was saved by Andrew Wogan.

They edged in front soon after as Drogheda failed to clear a cross from Ben Doherty and when the ball fell to Dummigan on the edge of the box he rifled home into the top corner.

Patrick Hoban then had a shot tipped over by Wogan before Drogheda drew level against the run of play.

Foley stabbed home from close range after Evan Weir's corner hit Doherty and fell into the midfielder's path.

Derry re-established their lead just three minutes later from the penalty spot when Foley went from hero to zero, hauling down Mark Connolly in an off the ball incident in the box.

Patching stepped up and coolly converted, sending Wogan the wrong way for his sixth goal of the season.

Paul McMullan dragged a low shot wide before Brian Maher was called into action on the stroke of half-time to deny Ryan Brennan.

Ruthless second half display

It was a slow start to the second half from Ruaidhri Higgins' side and Drogheda almost capitalised five minutes after the restart.

Jack Kearney's low strike deflected past Maher, but the goal was disallowed for offside.

That seemed to jolt Derry into life, and they extended their lead on 57 minutes with Kelly racing onto a long ball before finishing well.

Things went from bad to worse for struggling Drogheda as Frantz Pierrot was sent off for a second yellow card just after the hour mark.

Moments later Hoban added a fourth goal after Kelly had headed Doherty's cross into his path.

It was the prolific striker's 12th goal of the season and he soon made way for the returning Colm Whelan, making his first appearance for Derry in over a year after an ACL injury.

It was fellow substitute Ciaran Col who would round off the scoring, heading home with his first touch since coming on to seal Derry's biggest win of the season.

Derry will now look forward to an away trip against Sligo on Thursday night.