Derry City produced a five-star performance to easily see off bottom side Drogheda United at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium.
After Cameron Dummigan's early goal, which was cancelled out by Adam Foley, Derry never looked back after Will Patching's penalty, before Daniel Kelly, Pat Hoban and Ciaran Coll all netted in the second half.
FULL MATCH DETAILS
The victory was Derry's fourth in a row and their fine night was capped off when substitute Colm Whelan came off the bench to get his first taste of action in just over a year.
For Kevin Doherty, he has to become more worried as his side suffered yet another defeat and their awful night was summed up when striker Frantz Pierrot was red-carded in the second half.
The home side should have taken the lead on four minutes as Hoban played in Kelly, but the right winger's close range shot was kept out by United goalkeeper Andrew Wogan.
Two minutes later the Brandywell men went in front in outstanding style as Dummigan let fly from 25 yards to find the top right hand corner, giving Wogan no chance.
The bottom side should have equalised soon after as Warren Davis found space inside the six yard box, but his close range shot was cleared off the line by Kelly.
Hoban went close to adding a second on 21 minutes but his right footed shot from the left hand angle of the six box was parried away by Wogan.
United levelled things on five minutes later as Evan Weir's inswinging corner from the right fell to Foley after a goal-mouth scramble and the former Finn Harps man blasted home the loose ball.
Derry were awarded a penalty 29 minutes as Foley seemed to drag Mark Connolly down inside the box, referee Robert Harvey pointed to the spot and after the visitor's protests were waved away Patching made no mistake from 12 yards, slotting the ball low into Wogan's bottom right hand corner.
A clever flick by Kelly released Paul McMullan on 41 minutes, but the winger's 20 yard strike failed to trouble Wogan and flew well wide.
Drogheda went close to equalising for a second time just before the break as Ryan Brennan's snap-shot was well kept out by Brian Maher.
Derry deservedly added a third on 57 minutes as Kelly netted his first goal for the club when he got in behind Davis and raced into the Drogs penalty box, before firing home past Wogan.
The woodwork came to City's rescue moments later as Pierrot's looping header from just inside the box, which had Maher scrambling, clipped the crossbar.
United were rightfully reduced to 10 men on 64 minutes as Pierrot was shown a second yellow card followed by red from Harvey, after he seemed to catch Connolly with a flailing arm.
City netted a fourth a minute later following a superb flowing move which started with Sadou Diallo's cross field pass finding Ben Doherty, his left wing centre was nodded down by Kelly and Hoban blasted home from close range.
Derry were inches away from firing home their fifth goal as Patching's sublime pass found Hoban, but the striker's powerfully hit volley, which had Wogan beaten, whistled just wide.
The home side scored a fifth on 88 minutes as substitute Coll rose well to head home Kelly's corner, to seal City's ninth home win in 13 league games this campaign.
Derry City: Brian Maher, Cameron Dummigan (Ronan Boyce 85), Mark Connolly, Shane McEleney (Sam Todd 85), Ben Doherty (Ciaran Coll 85); Sadou Diallo, Adam O'Reilly, Will Patching (Colm Whelan 76); Paul McMullan, Pat Hoban (Daniel Mullen 70), Daniel Kelly.
Drogheda United: Andrew Wogan, Evan Weir (Evan Haddock 86), Andrew Quinn, Jack Keaney, Franta Pierrot, Adam Foley (Emre Topcu 75), Matthew O'Brien, Ryan Brennan (James Byrne 70), Luke Heeney, Conor Kane, Warren Davis.
Referee: Robert Harvey (Dublin).
Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.
