Report: Ryan McMullen

Shamrock Rovers and Drogheda had to settle for a point apiece as both sides fail to score in Weavers Park.

Ahead of the game Hoops boss Stephen Bradley made 4 changes from last week’s loss in Dundalk, Conan Noonan (making his first start of the season) and Darragh Nugent came into the team in addition to Rory Gaffney and Graham Burke replacing Sean Gannon, Richie Towell, Johnny Kenny and Aaron Greene.

The first chance of the game fell to Hoops forward Graham Burke when he received the ball outside the box, Burke took a shot on goal which Drogheda goalkeeper Andrew Wogan managed to save although couldn’t hold on to, the ball was then crucially cleared by centre half Conor Keeley.

Shortly after Drogheda carved out an opportunity of their own. Dayle Rooney managed to break forward and looked to have found himself in a one-on-one situation with Leon Pohls however Markus Poom managed to make it back in time to defend and ultimately clear the ball well.

Overall in the first half, both teams didn’t have many chances. It was Rovers who controlled possession but couldn’t find a breakthrough as both teams were going in level at the break.

At the start of the second half Rovers had their best chance of the game when a Dylan Watts shot from the edge of the box rattled the crossbar.

In the 59th minute, Drogheda also found their best chance when Luke Heeney found the ball a long way outside the box and took a shot that looked to be reaching the top right corner but Leon Pohls made a very impressive save to keep it out.

At the other end, Rovers kept pushing and looked to have found an opener when a Dylan Watts corner was met by Sean Hoare whose goal-bound header resulted in a Sean Hoare header was cleared just in front of the goal line by the Drogheda rearguard.

Rovers brought on Aaron Greene and Ronan Finn as they looked to find a winner in the closing stages however they struggled to break down Drogheda and in the end, had to settle for a point in Louth.

Next up for Rovers is a Champions League 1st qualifying round tie against Icelandic side Breidablik on Tuesday with kick-off set for 7:45 pm at Tallaght Stadium.

Drogheda United: Wogan, Weir, Keeley, Adegboyega, Markey, Deegan, Foley, Rooney (McNally 74), Brennan, Heeney, Noone.

Drogheda United unused substitutes: McCabe, Grimes, O’Brien, Egan, Topcu, Davis, Moore.

Shamrock Rovers: Pohls, Hoare, Lopes, Cleary, Watts, Burke (Greene 78), Kavanagh, Nugent (Finn 78), Poom, Gaffney, Noonan (Kenny 62).

Shamrock Rovers unused substitutes: Mannus, Towell, Tetteh, Cruise, Orazi, Razi.