Shamrock Rovers 1-1 Drogheda United

• John Robert Dunne
• Sun, Jun 14 2009


Shamrock Rovers and Drogheda face a replay on Tuesday night having played out their second 1-1 draw in two weeks at Tallaght Stadium. Captain Connor Kenna inspired an excellent second half performance from the Louth men, while also winning the Man of the Match award. Despite taking the lead in a strong opening 20 minutes, Rovers were poor, even holding on at the end having been reduced to 10 men following Pat Flynn’s sending off.

Despite this game finishing with the same score line as the recent league encounter the contrast between the two matches was huge. Rovers dominated two weeks ago and should have won easily but will be grateful to have escaped with a draw tonight as they were second best for long periods in this, the first cup game to be played at Tallaght Stadium. The Hoops made four changes to their team that drew 0-0 away to Cork City last week, with some top names being rested and perhaps this was a sign of where manager Michael O’Neill has his priorities. Scottish centre half Craig Sives made his full debut and looked accomplished throughout.

But this was still a strong Rovers side and they started like the cup champions that have been so often in years past. Sean O’Connor opened the scoring after only 7 minutes by taking advantage of Drogheda goalkeeper Paul Skinner rushing off his line. Following Greg Cameron’s cross field pass he calmly lifted the ball into the empty net to send the home fans wild. Gary Twigg went close with a curled shot that went just over and the Scottish striker was instrumental again as the Droogs defence was carved open after 31 minutes. He was played through by left back Ian Bermingham but instead of shooting he chose to square the ball to Tadhg Purcell who saw his shot brilliantly blocked by Kenna.

Having started the match very slowly Drogheda gradually began to establish a foothold in midfield. The influence of tough tackling midfield Paul Shields grew and with ex-Rovers striker Jamie Duffy looking dangerous they entered the break confident of getting a result. They began the second half as they had ended the first. Duffy came closest with a spectacular bicycle kick from close range that was inches over.

Therefore when they managed to equalise in the 60th minute it was no surprise. A long hopeful free kick from the centre circle by Robbie Clarke was misjudged by Sives which allowed Kenna to stoop and direct his header brilliantly into the far corner. It was no more than they deserved but they could have fallen behind soon after. A slip by Kenna saw Purcell through on goal but his hesitation allowed the Skinner to block. Drogheda had most of the ball but Rovers came closest to winning it at the end. Twigg forced a save from Skinner and from the resulting corner Sives looked to have scored but his header was brilliantly cleared off his own line by Clarke.

As the game petered out towards a draw the game exploded with a violent fracas that resulted in substitute Pat Flynn being sent off for an elbow on Paul Shields. As Flynn left the field with blood on his forehead the Rovers fans displayed their displeasure but he may well have broken the nose of the Drogheda midfielder and could face a lengthy ban.

Alan Mathews’ side are massively improved from their early season woes. They had look a certainty for relegation but here they competed well all night and will go into the replay with renewed belief. Rovers have to very disappointed with a poor display that lacked any spark in midfield it will interesting to see how they approach the replay. If they really want to go further in this competition they might consider recalling some experienced heads, namely Baker, Robinson and Price. The fans of the most successful club in cup history will certainly demand a better performance that they saw tonight.

Shamrock Rovers: Duggan; Treacy, Maguire (Flynn 75), Sives, Bermingham; Bradley(Robinson 70, Rice, Cameron, O’Connor; Twigg, Purcell. Subs not used: Murphy, Cahill, Baker, Amond.

Drogheda United: Skinner; Ryan, Kenna, King, Robbie Clarke; Crowley, Sheils, Whelan, Chambers; Duffy, O’Connor. Subs not used: Flanagan (gk), Sammon, Foley, Woods, Osbourne, Clarke.