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Drogheda lose their first League game Shelbourne 2 Drogheda Utd 1 By GER MCNALLY GARY O’Neill scored for the fourth successive game as Shelbourne inflicted the first defeat of the season on league leaders, Drogheda United. O’Neill scored halfway through the second half to add to Stuart Byrne’s first half header as Shelbourne closed the gap between themselves and Drogheda to three points. Drogheda went into this game without a conceding a goal in their opening seven games but from the opening minutes, they looked uncomfortable in defence and Liam Kearney and Colin Hawkins went close in the early stages. Paul Doolin’s men failed to heed these warnings and they fell behind for the first time this season in the 12th minute. Alan Moore’s delivered a free kick into the heart of the Drogheda defence and Stuart Byrne timed his run to perfection to thump a header past Dan Connor. Shelbourne seemed to be really fired up and they pushed forward at every opportunity and Byrne almost got his second goal of the game five minutes later. Gary O’Neill broke down the left before finding Jason Byrne inside the Drogheda box. Byrne picked out his namesake, Stuart, with a very clever pass but the Shels midfielder’s shot was inches too high. Normally Drogheda look to Stephen Bradley and Paul Keegan for inspiration but with the midfield duo continually struggling to find one of their own players, Shelbourne were able to keep the Boynesiders pinned into their own half for much of the first period. Surprisingly for a Drogheda side with Graham Gartland and Jason Gavin at the heart of the defence, they struggled all night with crosses and Jason Byrne was inches away from doubling their lead when he volleyed a Dave Rogers cross just wide after 35 minutes. Drogheda went into the half time break without troubling Dean Delaney so it was no surprise to see Paul Doolin bring on Glen Fitzpatrick and Keith Fahey within the opening 15 minutes of the second half. These changes had the desired effect and Drogheda almost levelled the game on 54 minutes. Shelbourne failed to deal with a Stephen Bradley free kick and the ball fell nicely for James Keddy on the edge of the box but his well struck shot was well tipped over by Delaney. If that was close to scoring, Drogheda came even closer in the 69th minute. Declan O’Brien released Fahey down the right wing with an excellent pass. Fahey skipped past the challenge of Rogers and his low cross was begging to be tapped into the net but Delaney got a hand to it before the onrushing Bradley could reach the ball and Kearney completed the clearance. Against a side of Shelbourne’s quality, it is vitally important to take your chances because if you don’t, they will punish you – and so it proved. Just two minutes after Fahey’s scintillating run, Drogheda found themselves two goals behind. Liam Kearney crossed from the right and Gary O’Neill beat Gavin to the ball to glance a header past Delaney. It was the least that O’Neill deserved for a tremendous individual performance. It is rare to see Jason Gavin rattled but O’Neill’s non stop running gave him a torrid time. Shelbourne thought they had wrapped the game up in the 76th minute. Ollie Cahill found Jason Byrne with an excellent crossfield pass and Byrne played a perfectly weighted pass into the path of Stuart Byrne and he hit a superb shot from 25 yards but it came crashing back off the crossbar and bounced away to safety. In the closing stages Drogheda threw men forward and they were rewarded when Glen Fitzpatrick disposed Sean Dillon and picked out Declan O’Brien for a simple tap in with just two minutes remaining. Drogheda almost snatched an unlikely point in injury time when Damian Lynch’s long ball fell for Keith Fahey, his powerful shot looked destined for the bottom corner but Delaney palmed the ball away and Gartland put the rebound over the bar. It would have been rough on Shelbourne had that gone in as they were comfortably the better team for the majority of the match with Stuart Byrne and Gary O’Neill in particular shining. Man of the Match: Gary O’Neill (Shelbourne). Capped a terrific performance with a superb headed goal and gave Jason Gavin as tough a match as he will face all season. Glen Crowe will have to get used to a seat on the bench for the foreseeable future if O’Neill repeats these kind of performances. Shelbourne: Delaney, Heary, Rogers, Dillon, Hawkins; Kearney, S Byrne, Moore (Reynolds 90), Cahill; O’Neill, J Byrne (Crowe 86). Drogheda Utd: Connor, Shelly, Webb (Lynch 78), Gartland, Gavin; Robinson, Keegan (Fahey 57), Bradley, Keddy; Leech (Fitzpatrick 50), O’Brien. Referee: I. Stokes (Dublin). |
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