Derry City came away with the points after a grim struggle at a rainswept Oriel Park last night. Dundalk gave one of their poorest displays in some time when conceding victory to a skilful, but not overly impressive Derry side.
In a dull first half, one of the best chances fell to Dundalk's Peter Withnell after 14 minutes but, instead of shooting himself, he passed to David Hoey who delayed too long in front of an empty goal and allowed Sean Hargan to get back and clear. In the second half the game had all the hallmarks of a scoreless draw; but Derry got a deserved winner as a result of one of the few sustained periods of pressure in the game.
The goal was created by some clever off-the-ball running by Coyle who made an opening for Garry Taggart. Taggart shot strongly against the Dundalk crossbar and Eamonn Doherty then crossed the ball back into the Dundalk area before Taggart headed in from six yards. For a while it looked as if referee John Stacey was going to disallow the score for offside but, after consulting with his assistant, allowed the score to stand.
After that Derry concentrated on defending and Dundalk rarely looked scoring; but goalkeeper Tony O'Dowd did make one good save from Dundalk's Brian Byrne.
Paul Hegarty had an outstanding game in midfield for Derry, while Taggart and Coyle always looked as if they could prise open a shaky Dundalk defence.
Derry started with Paul Curran on the bench, but he came on after 35 minutes when Gavin Dykes limped off with a re-occurring injury.
Dundalk: Williams; Reddish, Crawley, Doohan, Brady, Melvin, McNulty, Hoey, Withnall, McCoy, Byrne. Sub: Carlyle for McCoy (68 mins).
Derry City: O'Dowd; Doherty, Hargan, Taggart, Kelly, Dykes, Beckett, Gallagher, Coyle, Hegarty, Keddy. Sub: Curran for Dykes (35 mins).
Referee: J Stacey (Athlone).
Former Aberdeen striker Scott Booth is set to quit European champions Borussia Dortmund, with Duisburg leading the chase for his signature. The 26year-old Scotland international has struggled to hold down a regular place under coach Nevio Scala and is concerned that without first-team football he will miss out on Scotland's World Cup squad.
