Shamrock Rovers miss glorious chance to join title race after Drogheda draw
Shamrock Rovers and Drogheda played out a 1-1 draw on Sunday evening.
Shamrock Rovers 1-1 Drogheda United
A day after the door opened for Shamrock Rovers to join the title race, Drogheda slammed it in their face.
The Hoops could have been home and hosed long before Douglas James-Taylor scored his - brilliant - fourth goal in five games with 16 minutes to go.
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With leaders Shelbourne losing on Saturday and Derry City drawing at home on Friday, Rovers knew victory was a ticket for the raffle.
To stand any chance of a fifth crown in-a-row, the Hoops knew there was no margin for error. But it’s mishaps like this that had them off the pace in the first place.
Boss Stephen Bradley said: “We had chances to win it but were we good enough? No. We were sloppy and slow in everything we did from the first minute to last.
“It’s like we were waiting for something to happen, rather than going and making it happen. It was really poor from us. We didn’t deserve to win the game.”
And asked if it was a big opportunity missed in the title race, Bradley added: “Yes, there’s no other way of saying it.
“When other teams lose, you have to be in a position to do it but some of the stuff we did was very naive.”
Former Ireland international Keiren Westwood was an interested spectator in the Tallaght Stadium crowd, as Rovers tried to sign the veteran goalkeeper last summer.
But despite taking an early lead through Darragh Burns and seeing Ryan Brennan clear another effort off the line, Rovers failed to capitalise..
Yes, they gained a point on Shels and still have a game in hand but they are 10 points adrift and the Rovers fans didn’t know how to react on the final whistle.
A handful of them booed, but most were just indifferent, unsure if their side was ever in this race at all.
But the Drogheda supporters milked their deserved draw for everything it was worth, as the bottom side - unbeaten in four - moved within two points of Dundalk.
Rovers took the lead after six minutes and should have been out of sight by half-time.
Drogheda defender James Bolger failed to deal with Gary O’Neill’s pass down the line, making a hash of things and allowed the ball to bounce in behind him.
He was in big trouble but Burns was cool as ice and slotted home past Luke Dennison.
With Jack Byrne and Graham Burke pulling strings, Rovers were a threat in that opening half and Burke peppered Dennison with two quick-fire shots.
Then when Dave Webster misjudged the bounce on a big Pico Lopes header, Rovers might have been in again had Aaron Greene been able to find Burke racing through.
And Rovers turned up the dial again when Byrne and Burke combined to leave Bolger in another spin.
This time Burke cut inside him, only to quickly switch back outside to get his shot away, but Brennan cleared off the line.
But Rovers failed to build and Drogheda were a different beast after the break and were unlucky not to win.
Under no great pressure, Pohls spilled a Farrell free and James-Taylor almost steered home at the near post.
But the Walsall loan star was only warming up and made Rovers pay for failing to take their title lifeline.
The Englishman fired Drogheda level with a remarkable finish off a brilliant Conor Kane cross.
It was weighted to perfection and James-Taylor acrobatically hooked the ball high into Pohls net to fuel their survival mission and almost certainly snuff out Rovers’ chances..
Drogheda boss Kevin Doherty beamed: “I think we deserved to win when you look at the chances created. ‘Dougie’ is a breath of fresh air for us.”
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