Drogheda Untited v Derry City: Match Preview (September 2025)

Drogheda United FC v Derry City FC, League of Ireland Premier Division Round 32, Sullivan & Lambe Park, Friday 26^th September 2025 kick-off 7.45pm

Celebrating forty years since their first League of Ireland match, Derry City held champions Shelbourne to a 1-1 draw in the Brandywell last Friday. The points maintain Derry’s status in the European places, despite slipping to third after Bohemians’ victory over Waterford. It’s a tricky trip to Drogheda next for the Candystripes, who face another direct rival in the European places with five games to go.

Derry City:

As the autumn sun set over the Brandywell last Friday, Derry City hosted Shelbourne for the second time since the Dublin side won the league there last November. Holding a seven point buffer on the champions, despite Joey O’Brien’s side having two games in hand, this game was more of a must-not-lose than must-win for Tiernan Lynch’s men.

In that sense, the 1-1 draw wasn’t too bad of a result. Not ideal, but by no means a disaster. For the most part, the game was fairly uneventful. Both sides had possession of the ball in the opening stages and sussed each other out. Jamie Stott nodded a Brandon Fleming cross over the bar on 25 minutes, while Dan Kelly blasted over the bar from close range with the first of two big chances in the first half for the visitors.

The deadlock was broken by the home side on the 40^th minute mark, when a brilliant ball from Carl Winchester was brought down by Dipo Akinyemi. The English striker jinked inside and saw his pass take a favourable, bouncing deflection into the path of Adam O’Reilly, who expertly lobbed Wessel Speel to fire the Candystripes ahead. That’s a fourth goal in as many games for the midfielder, who has come into his own playing further forward.

There was a cheer louder than that for the goal right on the half-time mark, when Ali Coote managed to wriggle past Brian Maher and see the open goal at his mercy. The onrushing Sam Todd chased back to get a foot in front of the Scottish winger and clear the ball away from just a yard or two from the net. A clearance as good as goal, as Sam Todd had yet another stellar performance. What looks to be a quad injury picked up by Dipo Akinyemi just seconds before the half ended put a dampener on proceedings, as City’s new number ten looks to have known that his season was over when walking off.

It took less than ten minutes after the restart for Shelbourne to equalise. A brilliant passing move saw Kerr McInroy’s shot saved by Brian Maher, before the rebound fell for Mipo Odubeko to prod home for his seventh league of the campaign. From then on in, there wasn’t much to write home about. Despite introducing Danny Mullen, Gavin Whyte, Cameron Dummigan and Mark Connolly, City failed to threaten Speel’s goal. The away side dominated the ball for spells of the second period but left Brian Maher untested as the shares were spoiled in the Brandywell.

With Friday night’s point under the belt, Derry City are four points clear of St Pat’s and Drogheda in fourth and fifth. With just five games to go, and only two those at home, a win against Drogheda United would be vital in consolidating a European finish. That’s certainly easier said than done, and with Tiernan Lynch struck with two more injury concerns in the last week, City’s thin squad will need to give it their all for the next month.

Dipo Akinyemi has joined Liam Boyce and Ben Doherty on the treatment table. All three are out for the season, leaving the forward areas particularly short. With Sean Patton departing for Reading during the summer, Danny Mullen is City’s only fit senior striker. A quality player who is often utilised off the bench, Lynch will be relying on the 30 year old Scotsman to lead the line in five huge games between now and November. His energy was noticeable off the bench against Shelbourne, but he was well marshalled by Paddy Barrett and Sam Bone. Not the tallest of strikers, he has a task on his hands to get the better of 6 foot 7 Conor Keeley, and 6 foot 2 duo Conor Bolger and Andrew Quinn. Best with the ball at his feet, the ownness will be on the likes of Michael Duffy and Gavin Whyte to feed Mullen opportunities in behind the centre backs. Friday will mark a milestone for the aforementioned Duffy, who will make his 200^th appearance in a Derry City shirt.

Robbie Benson started at right back against Shelbourne. It was the experienced midfielder’s sixth start of the campaign, but he slotted in well in the absence of the suspended Ronan Boyce. Cameron Dummigan made his first Brandywell appearance since the 9^th of August 2024 when he replaced Alex Bannon on the 76^th minute. Speaking of Bannon, he, Jamie Stott and Sam Todd marshalled Shelbourne’s Mipo Odubeko well and looked progressive in their passing.

The City faithful will be hoping for an increase in intensity from their side in Drogheda on Friday night. In the second half against Shelbourne, it looked like the previous week’s hectic game against Bohemians had taken its toll. Despite looking slightly leggy later on, and sitting off Shelbourne, allowing them to hold onto possession, City’s defending players sat tight and absorbed pressure. That’s likely the approach that Drogheda will take on Friday, while looking to hit on the counter as they’re so effective in doing. With just fifteen points left to play for, and without sounding like a broken record, this is another crucial game in the run-in.

Drogheda United:

In the last twelve months, fans of Drogheda United have gone through every football-related emotion imaginable. Threatened by relegation all season, they won the relegation play-off to stay in the Premier Division, a week after winning the FAI Cup for the first time in nineteen years, qualifying for Europe for the first time in eleven years in doing so. Finishing second from bottom but winning the cup for only the second time would’ve been quite the fortnight for the Drogheda faithful.

Fast forward to September 2025 and Drogheda United never had their European day out in the sun after being expelled due to UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules in June. After beating Crumlin United and Derry City in the first two rounds of their FAI Cup defence, they fell on penalties to Shamrock Rovers in the quarterfinal, despite a 95^th minute Andrew Quinn overhead kick equaliser. Grateful to be without the relegation worry of last few years, Drogheda United face five huge games to earn another crack at European football.

Top of the league after fourteen matches, Kevin Doherty’s men find themselves in fifth, just four points off the European places. Qualifying for Europe on league merit would be a huge achievement for Doherty and his men, who only went full time after last year’s cup triumph. With the margins so tight, and the games remaining so few, it becomes clear why Friday’s tie with Derry City could be season defining.

Fifth in the home form table and fourth in the away, Drogheda United are a notoriously hard team to beat. Their thirteen draws is the joint most in the league, and when you consider that they’ve beaten Derry City, Shelbourne and Bohemians this year, they mean business fighting in the upper reaches of the table.

Strong and athletic yet experienced and well-drilled, Kevin Doherty’s plan of attack is to start from the defence. Holding the second best defensive record in the league, conceding just 30 goals, they’ve conceded six fewer than Derry City and only four more than table toppers Shamrock Rovers. When you consider that they conceded 58 and 54 in the previous two campaigns, it shows that going full time has paid off. Beating champions Shelbourne 2-1 on Monday night despite having just 23% possession speaks volumes about how tough this side are to crack.

American goalkeeper Luke Dennison is a fans favourite in Louth, often coming up trumps and making himself the hero. He’s behind only St Patrick’s Athletic’s Ghanian international Joey Anang in terms of clean sheets, with 13 in 30 games. Dennison saved two of Derry City’s three penalties in August’s FAI Cup third round penalty shootout, and watched Adam Frizzell’s fly over the bar. Going from Bohemians’ bench to one of the best keepers in the league in two years has been some rise for the 29 year old.

In front of Dennison, centre backs Conor Keeley and Andrew Quinn have developed a solid partnership and aren’t shy in front of goal either. Keeley has scored seven goals in league and cup action this season, including a brace in the Brandywell in April - the highest goal return of any defender in the league. Quinn’s stoppage time overhead kick equaliser against Shamrock Rovers in the cup quarter final was a goal of the season contender. He’s bagged twice in cup action against Derry City in the past year, once after just two minutes in this season’s third round and the opener in the 2024 final.

Providing the width to United’s defence are Owen Lambe and Conor Kane. Elicha Ahui has struggled this season with injuries, but was a standout performer at right back last year and won Man of the Match in the cup final. Californian fullback Owen Lambe has assisted four goals this season and settled into Irish football swiftly after a move from Orange County SC. Conor Kane is an established left back at this level, having experienced League of Ireland football and Premier and First Division level.

Darragh Markey is Drogheda’s creative fulcrum in midfield. A player who is one of the league’s most underrated, he’s a consistent performer who’s popped up with six goals and assists in 2025. The experience of Ryan Brennan and tenacity of Shane Farrell, Paul Doyle or Luke Heeney alongside him provide a well rounded midfield. With star player and Ireland U21 international Warren Davis on the wing, and Josh Thomas or Thomas Oluwa through the middle, Drogheda’s forward line isn’t bad either. Their goals scored tally of 34 is the third lowest in the division, but Kevin Doherty will be glad to hold on to Warren Davis after interest from Preston North End, Cardiff City and Reading in the summer. He did, however, go off injured on Monday night.

Ending a four game winless run by drawing with Sligo Rovers on Friday, before beating Shelbourne on Monday, United will be gunning to keep the momentum going into the most crucial part of the season. With sole focus on finishing in Europe, they’ll be right up for this match. This one might not be pretty, but the team who dig deepest will claim the points on Friday.

Round-up:

Unbeaten in four, Derry City will be desperate for a first victory in Drogheda since May 2023. Adam O’Reilly scored his first goal for the club that night, and it’s the 24 year old who is Derry’s form player with four goals in as many games heading into Friday’s fixture. Derry City have won just three of their eleven ties with Drogheda since that last win in Sullivan & Lambe Park, with Drogheda winning four.

The Candystripes needed a stoppage time equaliser from the now departed Dom Thomas to rescue a point on their last visit to Drogheda, but the third round FAI Cup defeat in August should spark that extra want for revenge in the minds of the City players. Last year’s FAI Cup final defeat hasn’t gone forgotten either. Both Derry City and Drogheda United have scored three against each other on separate occasions this year, with City running out 3-0 winners in June and United 3-1 winners back in April.

A tie which has seen something of rivalry form between Derry and Drogheda in recent times, Tiernan Lynch’s side travel to a team they’ve struggled to consistently get the better of in the past couple of seasons. Drogheda’s 2-1 win in this fixture one year ago on Saturday proved mightily costly in Derry’s title hopes last year – Tiernan Lynch will hope his side can have a similar effect on Drogheda’s European dreams this year. This is a big one.

Pól O’Hare – 24^th September 2025