Drogheda Independent

Wasteful Drogs miss t

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SOMETIMES the margins between success and failure are wafer thin and Drogheda United were given a painful reminder by Bohemians on Saturday evening.

This was a match that was on a knife-edge throughout, but yet again the Boynesider­s’ failure to take their chances proved costly as they slumped to a fourth consecutiv­e defeat.

Of those four games, perhaps this was the most frustratin­g, for Drogheda were undoubtedl­y a match for Keith Long’s charges and probably created the better scoring opportunit­ies, while a couple of controvers­ial decisions also went against them.

Once more there were significan­t changes in personnel for various reasons, with Gareth McCaffrey, Sean Brennan, Luke Gallagher and Stephen Dunne all coming back into the starting line-up, while Bohs striker Dinny Corcoran didn’t face his former club owing to injury.

After a minute’s silence in tribute to Derry City’s Ryan McBride - Drogheda’s players wore training tops bearing his name and the number 5 for the warm-up - the visitors began brightly enough in strong sunshine and Drogs keeper Stephen McGuinness turned a Paddy Kavanagh shot around the post on three minutes.

But that lively start proved to be something of a false dawn in terms of the first-half action, which was largely subdued, and consequent­ly the atmosphere was more akin to a Sunday afternoon friendly despite a large travelling support from Phibsboro.

However, the noise cranked up a notch when Bohs had Rob Cornwall booked for grabbing Stephen Elliott round the waist as the ex-internatio­nal tried to turn past him.

Remarkably, Cornwall was guilty of the same offence just two minutes later, with Elliott again the victim, but referee Paul Tuite ignored Drogheda’s appeals when another yellow card surely would have been in order.

The home side had an escape on 26 minutes when Ian Morris launched a long throw into the box and the ball somehow evaded a clutch of players at the near post and rolled across the six-yard box before being scrambled clear.

Drogheda finally came to life at this point and Luke Gallagher and Sean Brennan combined to release McCaffrey down the right flank. The former Rovers man skipped past Lorcan Fitzgerald and delivered a sumptuous centre which fizzed across the six-yard box at pace, just out of Gavin Brennan’s reach.

On 35 minutes Sean Thornton rolled a free kick square to McCaffrey whose long-range shot was comfortabl­y held by Shane Supple in the Bohemians goal.

But in terms of first-half opportunit­ies, the one for Thornton in the 39th minute resulted in the most glaring miss. The build-up was terrific as Sean Brennan released Thornton who played a one-two with Elliott and drove into the box.

The Brookville native was on his weaker left foot but still looked odds-on to score. However, he hesitated for a moment and then went with his right, and his deft touch past keeper Shane Supple carried the ball inches wide.

At the end of the half Drogheda found themselves pinned back once more, though, and it took an excellent challenge by Ciaran McGuigan to deny Jamie Doyle a clear shooting opportunit­y in the final seconds.

On the restart it was the Boynesider­s who threatened first, and a superb move in the 47th minute should have earned them the opening goal. Stephen Dunne started it deep in his own half with a pass up the line to Gavin Brennan. He played a one-two with Thornton and Sean Brennan then got involved before putting Elliott clean through on goal. However, Supple sprang from his goal to narrow the angle and made an excellent block to deny the veteran striker.

As the minutes ticked on, however, Bohemians seemed to commit more men to attack and the entertainm­ent level improved dramatical­ly as a result.

Coming up to the hour mark the visitors’ greater sense of adventure almost paid dividends. Laytown native Georgie Poynton released Kavanagh and he teed

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