Ronan home debut off to a dream start
FRIDAY proved to be a night to remember for local lad Ronan McEnteggart as he marked his home debut for Drogheda United with a goal against Sligo.
The 19-year-old midfielder popped up with a superb header to pull the Boynesiders level at 2-2 – just six minutes after coming on as a half-time substitute.
'It was like a dream,' admitted the modest McEnteggart as he relived the moment this week.
'I'm 5ft 9in and the lads told me they never saw me head a ball ever, but they can't say that now!
'It was a great ball in from Alan McNally, John Flood made a run which dragged the centre-half out of it, and I went to put off the other defender and attacked the ball well.
'It was a great feeling to score on my home debut and just a pity we didn't get a point. Even at half-time we thought the game was there for the taking, we showed good character coming back again and I thought their third goal was offside.'
McEnteggart was substituted straight after that but revealed he'd been suffering with an injury for most of the second half.
'Five minutes after I scored I over-stretched my leg and let me hamstring tighten up and it was hampering me. I couldn't sprint on it properly.
'Darius did ask me was it alright and I said I was happy enough, but then it tightened up a bit more and I had to come off.'
McEnteggart met with Drogheda physio Danny Miller on Sunday and thankfully he has been given the allclear to resume training today ( Wednesday).
Like several other players in the Drogheda squad, Ronan – a nephew of Tony McEnteggart who played in goal for Drogheda back in the 1980s – got his place in the first team after coming through the underage ranks.
Having started out with Drogheda Boys, he first played for United in the Under-17 Milk Cup and was part of their treble-winning side along with the likes of Derek Kierans, Chris Kerr, Darragh McNamara and William Woods.
A place in Sami Ristila's reserve side followed, and he made his first-team debut away to Sporting Fingal last week.
'The aim for this season is to keep on working hard, build up my strength, get a couple of starts under my belt and show people what I can do.
'Also for the team to stay up, which I think we'll do. The training is brilliant, up another level completely from the reserves, and there's a great buzz around the team and a great belief that we can beat anyone.
'Friday's game against Bray is a big one and if we win that one I think they're gone.'
- Marcus CAVAROLI
