Drogheda United's day goes from bad to worse after suffering another tough call

Irish Daily Mirror

6 hours ago

The night began with a Doc saying he felt 'sick and devastated' over one decision and ended without a remedy for Drogheda United.
Instead of a cure, they were prescribed a further dose of injustice in a game-changing incident just before half-time.
After advice from his linesman, ref Neil Doyle opted to penalise defender Andrew Quinn for a handball on the edge of the area, booking the Drogheda No4 for his infringement.
That no appeal came from any Shamrock Rovers player is worth noting; that a stormy protest followed from Drogheda is even more relevant.
Still, Doyle was convinced he had made the right call, freeing up the game's best player, Graham Burke, to line up a free kick from a favourable angle.
The Rovers No10 didn't blink, striking his shot low and precisely to the right of Luke Dennison and into the corner of the Drogheda net.
Cue bedlam from the Drogheda bench. Boss Kevin 'Doc' Doherty was booked for his protests, his assistant, Daire Doyle, continuing the debate after the half-time whistle sounded.
And if all this sounds like a conspiracy of misfortune is affecting Drogheda then bear in mind what happened earlier in the day.
Having qualified for the Europa Conference League, Drogheda are now set to be idle in July, UEFA kicking them out of Europe because their owners are also in charge of a Danish club who have entered the competition.
Then yesterday, the Court of Arbitration and Sport upheld that decision.
"Sick and devastated," said Doherty about the news.
So Drogheda are out of Europe. This is their Drexit. All that was missing from an ugly day for football was the even deeper unpleasant sight of Nigel Farage or Boris Johnson laughing over their demise.
By half-time no one was smiling in Sullivan and Lambe Park. By full-time they were wondering what was the point in even turning up.
Because Drogheda were wronged yesterday. The UEFA decision is desperate ; the Doyle decision irritating in a different way.
If there was a handball by Quinn it was barely noticeable.
Still, the call was made, the goal was scored, and the game changed.
Until then Drogheda were ahead, courtesy of a third minute goal from Frank George Cooper who headed home Shane Farrell's corner.
With that, it was a case of what-we-have-we-hold from Drogheda. Rovers pinned them back. Drogheda didn't care.
Their set-up was solid, shaped around a 5-3-2 format, one where forwards Douglas James Taylor and Thomas Oluwa sacrificed their egos for the good of the team.
And it worked. Yes, Rovers had a couple of chances - Trevor Clarke, Burke and Dylan Watts all firing in efforts in a 20-second blitz on the Drogheda goal - but they survived.
Everything about their structure was impressive. Narrow in their shape, comfortable defending deep, they then launched the occasional counter-attack, Conor Keeley curling a shot over after another Farrell corner created chaos in the Rovers defence.
But all this became irrelevant after 41 minutes when Quinn got that booking and Burke got that goal.
Suddenly the confidence levels changed.
Rovers now knew that if they continued to press and probe that eventually they'd find a way through.
And they did, subs Jack Byrne and Danny Mandriou involved in the build up to their winner, Aaron Greene supplying the shot that Dennison was unable to stop.
And that was that. There was no way back for Drogheda, not against this quality outfit. It's hard to see anyone stopping Rovers from winning the League at this stage.
You could say Drogheda are a good bet for a European spot. But finishing in the top three or retaining the FAI Cup may not be enough to get them there.
L Dennison 7; L Cruise 7, C Keeley 8, A Quinn 9, C Kane 7, F Cooper 8 (A Harper Bailey 72); S Farrell 8, D Markey 7 (Brennan 56) Heeney 7; T Oluwa 7, D James-Taylor 7 (Davis 66)
E McGinty 7; J Honohan 8, R Lopes 8, L Grace 7; C O'Sullivan 6 (Byrne 67), D Watts (Noonan 67), M Healy 8, D Nugent 6 (D Mandriou 46), T Clarke 7 (Grant 76); G Burke 9 (Cleary 80); A Greene 8
Referee: Neil Doyle