Drogheda 2-2 Shelbourne
Sam Bone went from villain to hero in the space of half an hour as he scored at both ends to earn the champs a draw.
The unfortunate deflector of a shot past his own keeper, Bone then arrived in the right place at the right time to nod home Shels’ equaliser midway through the second half.
That was enough to earn a point but the truth is they should have had all three, the vast majority of the game's chances going their way.
Yet these games are decided by the teams who can take them and in this regard, Drogheda’s efficiency was way more impressive.
The first half was packed with incident, a chance arriving as early as Shelbourne’s first attack, when Drogheda keeper, Luke Dennison, stopped Mipo Odubeko’s shot, before James Bolger also intervened to prevent Mipo’s follow-up from creeping over the line.
And when Evan Caffrey’s header also sneaked over the top of the Drogheda crossbar from the subsequent corner, the tone had been set. This, clearly, was going to be a game of many chances, the slippy underfoot conditions playing a part, the identical 3-5-2 formations preventing one side from getting much of a tactical edge over the other.
Despite coming here as champions, fewer than half of the Shels starting X1 were considered regulars through the entirety of last season, the benefit of this change being that they played with hunger and freshness.
The downside is they don’t look quite as defensively solid as they did last year, the two Drogheda goals stemming from errors, a slip on the greasy surface leading to the first goal, a deflection off Bone resulting in the second.
In between all that there was a fine, diving save by Conor Kearns from Ryan Rrennan; Kearns also getting his hands to Thomas Oluwa’s fierce 23rd minute shot, one that rebounded to Warren Davis, who continued his recent run of form with yet another goal.
That put Drogheda ahead, a lead which only lasted eight minutes, after Mark Coyle anticipated where Dennison’s clearance would land on 31 minutes, the Shelbourne skipper then threading the ball through the tiniest of gaps to land in the net.
1-1.
And there should have been a second Shels goal, Mipo Odubeko firing over the crossbar, Dennison making a couple of full-length diving saves to prevent Kameron Ledwidge and Owen Lambe from netting.
Then, out of nowhere, Drogheda reclaimed the lead, helped considerably by Oluwa’s aerial ability to win primary possession, then by Shelbourne’s failure to adequately deal with Conor Kane’s cross, which landed at the feet of Owen Lambe, 25 yards from the Shels goal.
Lambe’s strike was good; too good in fact for Bone to contain or control, the ball spinning off his foot and into the net. 2-1. Half-time.
Onto the second half and Shelbourne absolutely bossed it, threading tidy passes through the central channel, Ellis Chapman impressing the most, Drogheda’s resistance proving to be impressive once again.
It needed to be because the chances kept piling up.
Kerr McInroy went close on 56 minutes.
And then the equaliser came, Evan Caffrey’s corner going right across the six yard area where Bone was waiting to nodd in. 2-2, 66 minutes played.
It should have ended 3-2 to Shels.
McInroy again came close, Chapman even closer.
Drogheda were living dangerously.
But they are calm under pressure, Kevin Doherty’s team and this was another night when a point earned was also a point made. Write this team off at your peril.
Drogheda United: Dennison; Lambe, Quinn, Bolger, Keeley, Kane; Brennan, Farrell (Ahui 86), Markey (Heeney 58); Oluwa (Bawa 86), Davis (Cruise 77)
Shelbourne: Kearns; Caffrey, Ledwidge, Bone, Coyle, Norris (Tulloch 79); Lunney, Chapman, Wood (Coote 70); McInroy, Odubeko (Boyd 79)
Referee: D MacGraith
