Drogs ⚽ Waterford ⚽ On A Roll

Anthony McIntyre ⚽ It is strange territory to be in.

Drogs still top of the table with fifteen points from eight games played. Considered relegation material, close season, Drogheda have surged their way to the top. The stadium is packed for each home game and there is a real buzz around the ground. Few expect them to maintain their current dominance, but for as long as they do every game has a cup final feel to it. Had I been told on day one of the 2025 season to expect this I would have rushed out to buy an oxygen mask to ensure I could breath at such rarified heights.

Yesterday morning Paddy came over to give me a hand dismantle a tree house in the back garden. It has been there the seventeen years we have been in the house and probably for a considerable time longer prior to our arrival. With the children now adults, it was no longer used for anything other than holding junk. In the end we concluded that it was just clutter storing clutter. Both it and all its contents ended up in the skip.

The last big storm caused it to wobble a bit so my wife, wary of it collapsing on me while I was hanging up washing, opted to sign its deportation orders. To say that Paddy gave me a hand is a massive understatement. He wielded the wrecking ball, helped by Ronan, whereas I just carried the debris to the skip. Initially our plan was to get a lot of cider in and go at it leisurely. That was a non-starter yesterday as Paddy would be driving us to the game so was determined not to touch the stuff. I expressed my solidarity with him up to a point, taking only a non-alcoholic beer during the work but by the time he arrived to collect me for the game, I had a hip flask of Jack Daniels ready to keep me warm in Sullivan-Lambe Park. I needed it because despite it being a sunny day evening the temperature dropped very quickly leaving me to rue that I had brought only a light jacket.

Ronan, tired from the half a day's exertions, opted to do something else so didn't make the game. On the way over Jay made a 2-0 prediction in favour of the Drogs. For once, all of us agreed that the Drogs would come away with all three points. We were not to be proved wrong.

Drogheda dominated the first half without making the breakthrough until the 45th minute. Warren Davis, who showed what he can do with a spectacular strike last month against Shelbourne followed by an accomplished finish last week in Cork, latched onto a headed ball from Ryan Brennan. The Waterford defenders behaved more like spectators, looking on hapless and hopeless as Davis struck home.

In the second half it was all Drogheda who sealed their win with a cross from Darragh Markey which curved its way past attackers and defenders alike and into the corner of the net. A minute before Paddy had expressed concerns that one goal is never enough to settle the nerves. Markey certainly settled ours.

A solid performance from the Drogs without being spectacular, it is the ability to slog it out and win ugly if need be that makes league champions.

The heartbeat of this team is its wily captain, the ever vigilant Ryan Brennan. Directing play while reading the game he thundered a shot off the cross bar from outside the box, denying him the goal of the game accolade. Warren Davis scooped the man of the match award but the difference between his performance and the captain, twelve years his senior, was marginal.

While we watched the game I noticed a young kid beside me furtively glancing at my beanie, covered in a myriad of badges. After a while I handed it to him so he could amuse himself to his heart's content going through the badges. Had he have asked for one, I would have parted with it. In any event he left the ground as happy as ourselves.

The Waterford fans, not so much. After a good start to the season their star has waned and the thought has probable crossed the mind of their coach that if they don't stop the decline they could make it all the way to the bottom by the time the business end of the season is about to shut up shop.

Despite a disappointing defeat to Shamrock Rovers on the last outing at Sullivan & Lambe the Drogs are on a roll. Performance wise they have the best defence in the league. If they are able to add a bit more bite up front, this season could yet prove even more pulsating than the last.

⏩Follow on Twitter @AnthonyMcIntyre.