Igiehon double helps Dergview claim derby bragging right over Ducks

TWO first half goals by Benny Igiehon earned Dergview the derby bragging rights over Ballinamallard United in front of a bumper Bank Holiday Boxing Day crowd at Darragh Park this afternoon.

Igiehon headed home a corner with just five minutes on the clock and struck again around the half hour mark by turning home a Pat Loughery cross.

That was all which ultimately separated the teams at the final whistle but it doesn’t tell the whole story of an incident-packed encounter.

Traditionally games between the Derg and the Ducks are decided by the finest of margins but not today. The hosts were superior in every department and if home manager Tommy Canning had a gripe it was that his team hadn’t won with more to spare.

The Mallards felt aggrieved by the sending off Lee Warnock seven minutes into the second half for a second yellow card although Dergview will point to the fact that the defender should have walked early doors for arguably denying Igiehon a clear run on goal.

The home side, too, claimed that Mallards defender Colm McLaughlin handled in the area as the visitors struggled to clear their lines.

But for all the ifs and buts what isn’t up for debate is the fact Dergview were deserved winners.

The visitors were rocked by Igiehon’s early goal. Mattie Kirk whipped a corner kick into the near post and Igiehon rose highest to head home.

Either side of that Kirk had a shot and a free kick saved by Rory Brown, who also saved from Garth Falconer.

Brown, too, denied Niall McGinley, in the wake of good play by Pat Loughery and again thwarted Igiehon before the hand ball incident involving McLaughlin.

A second goal was on the cards and following a sweeping attack involving Falconer, Kirk and McGinley, Loughery whipped in an inviting low cross for Igiehon to sweep home.

Early in the second half Sean McEvoy hammered goalwards for the Mallards but Graeme Crown’s head got in the way and shortly afterwards Warnock saw red.

Despite the setback the visitors strived to gain a foothold with McEvoy hooking over the crossbar before Derg netminder Alan Buchanan, at full stretch, pushed a Josh McIlwaine rasper around his right upright.

Thereafter the Ducks challenge wilted after struggling to breach the home side’s back four of Kieran Farren, Matthew Buchanan, Crown and Falconer.

Dergview, led superbly by skipper Bliane Burns, meanwhile sought a third goal. Loughery galloped clear but failed to pick out Kirk, who was also brilliantly denied by Brown shortly afterwards.

Late on McGinley and substitute Mikhail Kennedy both flashed efforts inches wide but it mattered not – from the home side’s perspective the job was already done.