Rovers 0 Drogheda Utd 2

************* Eircom League *************
Shamrock Rovers 0

Drogheda Utd. 2
Zayed 17' 62'
Tolka Park - Friday 12th Oct 2007

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A big crowd was present in Tolka Park, including a sizeable number of German football fans, to see if Rovers could put a temporary stop to Drogheda's march to the title but unfortunately the Hoops never really rose to the challenge and the visitors went away with a fairly comfortable win.

There was an early scare for Rovers when Murphy had to palm away a good shot from the edge of the area after only 3 minutes. Drogheda continued to apply the early pressure and Gartland headed over the bar on 12 minutes. Zayed opened the scoring five minutes later when he won possession easily and fired in a low shot that bounced in front of Murphy and ended up in the corner of the net.

On 20 minutes Zayed again shot from outside the box but this time Murphy saved. Rovers at last had an effort on goal a minute later when Cassidy's cross saw Rowe head just wide. On 23 minutes Cassidy again was involved firing in two crosses the second of which Rowe headed across goal. A good move on 36 minutes involving Mulhall and Rowe ended with O'Briens shot blocked at the edge of the box.

The Hoops were enjoying their best spell now and when a Cassidy free-kick was cleared to McGill his shot saw Rowe flick the ball wide of Drogheda's goal. Drogheda finished the half with Murphy saving a shot from outside the box and then Cahill dragged his shot wide when well placed.

Rovers started the second half well and a good move ended with the impressive O'Brien shooting straight at O'Connor in the Drogheda goal. Ger Rowe couldn't keep his header down from Cassidys cross on 54 minutes and a minute later Ref. Kelly blew for a free out when Zayed clearly pushed Lawrence who then knocked the ball past Murphy and into the net.

On 57 minutes Rowe ran onto a throw-in and fired a shot across goal that Purcell almost connected with at the back post. Robbie Clarke then tried his luck from 20 yards out but his shot went just over. The game was ended as a contest when Shelly pushed forward in the 62nd minute and his ball into the box fell to Zayed and his shot seemed to take a deflection before hitting the back of the net.

Dan O'Connor had a chance on 67 minutes but he sliced his shot from the edge of the area. Drogheda were content to see out the game and Rovers just couldn't make the breakthrough with sub Dave Tyrell dragging his shot wide on 83 minutes. A decent move in the 87th minute saw O'Brien find Danny O'Connor and his header almost put Myler in on goal. This was the Hoops third successive defeat and moved them back to fourth place in the league.

Line-Out

1 Barry Murphy
2 Ger O’Brien
3 Robbie Clarke
4 Paul Shields
5 Dean Lawrence
6 Danny O'Connor
7 Chris Mulhall
8 Eric McGill
9 Tadhg Purcell
10 Ger Rowe
11 David Cassidy


Substitutes :

13 David Vickery
14 David Tyrell for McGill 75'
15 Andy Myler for Cassidy 59'
16 Karl Coleman
17 Eoin Doyle