League Report: Shelbourne 0 - 1 Drogheda United

Andrew Dempsey reports from Tolka Park

Shelbourne’s unbeaten home record came to an abrupt halt on Friday evening as they fell to a last-gasp defeat against a determined Drogheda United side at Tolka Park.

Sean Brennan popped up with an 89^th minute free-kick winner to send the small travelling army of Drogheda supporters into a state of delirium on the far side of the age-old Drumcondra ground.

The Reds really should have taken the lead as early as the first minute, if it wasn’t for lady luck going the way of the Drogs and Paul Skinner in the Boynesiders goal.

Skinner failed to deal with an elementary back pass and David O’Sullivan pounced on his former teammate's mistake, but the ball squirmed wide for a corner kick, much to the relief of the visitors.

Buoyed by that early pressure, Shels, whilst being roared on by an expectant home crowd, threatened with no real end product for the minutes proceeding their early attack.

Drogheda went close in the 12^th minute, when all Brennan's delivery needed was a touch to turn it intoa goal, but Dean Delany claimed the ball, much to his defender’s relief.

The rest of the half was played out in a quite scrappy manner, interrupted by a series of yellow cards and free kicks which eventually came to nothing in a lacklustre opening 45 minutes.

There was no real change to the impetus in the second half as both sides looked rather fearful of losing rather than being tempted into taking risks in search of all three points.

Adam Evans’ early sighter, which was turned away Skinner, was the only real chance of a quiet opening first 15 in the second half.

Just past the hour, O’Sullivan saw his good chance charged down by a committed Drogheda defender who was defending with his life to protect his sides clean sheet.

Colm Deasy and Conor Kane’s presence grew into the game as the half progressed, and the full-backs proved to be a real thorn in the side of the Shelbourne defence as Tim Clancy’s side began to up the ante.

While Deasy and Kane looked impressive, Greg Moorhouse, who came on for the young Shane Farrell also impressed with his strength and skill following his introduction 25 minutes from the end.

With time beginning to run out, the long-awaited glut of chances finally arrived as Owen Heary’s side began to take the game to their Louth opposition in the final ten minutes.

In their only real chance of the second half, an unmarked Dayle Rooney blazed over what looked to be his side's best chance of grabbing all three points after a fantastic ball in from Adam Evans.

With that seeming to be the ultimate opportunity for Shels to take the lead, Drogheda began creating more and more chances as we went into the dying embers of the game.

Firstly, Chris Lyons and Jake Hyland got their laces tangled up with one another as the Drogs saw a huge chance go to waste, and the Reds breathed a huge sigh of relief.

That was not to be their final chance as Hyland clashed with a Shelbourne player to win a free kick in a rather innocuous challenge in the 89^th minute.

Brennan stepped up to score a fantastic free kick to send the Drogheda supporters into raptures, and there wasn't enough time for Shelbourne to salvage a point.

Shelbourne: Dean Delany; Aidan Collins, Reece McEnteer, Derek Prendergast, John Ross Wilson; Alan Byrne, Adam Evans, Mark Hughes; James English (Dayle Rooney 28), Shane Farrell (Greg Moorhouse 65), David O’Sullivan.

Subs not used: Dylan Grimes, Cian Kavanagh, Dave Mulcahy, James O’Brien, Lee Steacy (gk).

Booked: Derek Prendergast (37), Alan Byrne (39), Dayle Rooney (56).

Drogheda United: Paul Skinner; Kevin Farragher, Luke Gallagher, Conor Kane, Ciaran Kelly; Sean Brennan, Jake Hyland; Mark Doyle, Chris Lyons, Gareth McCaffrey.

Subs not used: Lloyd Buckley, Kealan Dillon, Lee Duffy, Viktor Ekanem, Luca Gratzer (gk), William Hondermarck, Rob Manley.

Booked: Sean Brennan (14), Colm Deasy (59,) Jake Hyland (79)

Referee: Robert Harvey.

Attendance: 726 (Official).

Extratime.ie Player of the Match: Conor Kane (Drogheda United).