Drogheda United 0-0 Shelbourne.

Drogheda United 0-0 Shelbourne (7-7-13)

By Aidan Geraghty @1895Aidan.

Shelbourne were held to a 0-0 draw by a tired looking Drogheda United this afternoon.

The Reds will feel hard done by, though, as some questionable calls went against them; most notably in the first minute as Lee Murtagh was called offside from a Seán Brennan squared pass even though he appeared to be behind the ball.

Mark Leech had a difficult afternoon as he was marked tightly by Drogs acting-captain Derek Prendergast and the next opportunity showed this ; Robert Bayly capitalized on a Brian Gannon mistake and "Bocker" played a through ball to the former Drogheda striker but Prendergast timed his tackle perfectly to clear the danger. The visitors nearly opened the scoring again on 18 minutes when Glenn Cronin's shot from distance wasn't far away from finding the net.

The men in Claret and Blue started to come into the game as Ryan Brennan and "Fabio" O'Brien both had chances on either side of the half-hour mark; first, Brennan had two shots that went close and, then, O'Brien tried to lob the ball over Shels' new keeper (Murphy) but it dropped wide. In the last notable action of the first half, Gannon thought he had put United 1-0 up but the linesman on the far side of the pitch to this reporter flagged for his second disallowed goal of the game.

Lee Murphy was called into action again when he saved Gannon's volley which game from a Jason Marks cross and he kept it scoreless again with a strong save from Declan O'Brien's 1-on-1 shot. Shels started to dominate again after the hour mark as Adam Hanlon delivered the ball for Lee Murtagh but the former Firhouse Clover frontman was beaten to the ball by Michael Schlingermann in the Drogs' net.

A second questionable call went against Shels soon after; Seán Brennan gave a low ball to Mark Leech that was tapped in at the far post but the linesman signalled for a goal kick, even though a Drogheda player last touched the ball before it supposedly ran out of play. The decision was met with anger from the travelling crowd which was in the majority but the worst was yet to come for the Reds fans.

Shelbourne controlled the closing stages as Seán Brennan and Adam Hanlon delivered some dangerous crosses from both wings but Murtagh and Leech struggled to get a decisive touch. Murtagh, who seemed to struggle with the pace of the professional game, pulled up with a hamstring strain while clean through on goal.

In injury time, Shels had a penalty shout when Drogheda native Seán Brennan was pulled down by his arm in the box but Dave McKeon ignored the appeals from the Shelbourne players and fans alike.

At the end of the day, Shelbourne will feel hard done by but it was a valuable point that sees them pull one closer to Bohemians, who now sit 4 points ahead of the Reds. Next up for Drogheda is Malmö on Thursday evening while Shels host Cork City where they will expect to collect at least another point.

Drogheda United: Schlingermann; Daly, McNally, Prendergast (c), Grimes; Brady (G. Brennan), Gannon, R. Brennan, Marks (Cassidy); Rusk (Hynes), O'Brien.

Shelbourne: Murphy; Shortall, Ryan, Gartland, Flynn; Brennan, Bayly (Hurley), Cronin (c), Tinnelly (Hanlon); Murtagh (Mooney), Leech.

Attendance: 700 (estimate)

OnTheSidelines' Man of the Match: Glenn Cronin: The Shelbourne captain put in his usual stellar defensive performance and also contributed to the attack with some diagonal balls and one long shot that almost hit the target.