Sligo Rovers 1

Drogheda United 1

Jessica Farry reports from The Showgrounds

DROGHEDA UNITED came from behind to draw with Sligo Rovers at The Showgrounds on Friday night.

Ryan O’Kane had Sligo Rovers ahead in the first half, with Paul Doyle scoring a penalty against his former team to level the score in a dull second half.

Last week’s shock FAI Cup quarter-final defeat to Kerry will go down as one of the worst results in Sligo Rovers’ history, and John Russell challenged his side to use their disappointment as fuel coming into Friday night’s game.

Earlier on Friday, the Bit O’Red were level on points with Galway, knowing that if results went their way, they could move off second bottom.

Drogheda were also knocked out of the cup last week, losing on penalties to the league leaders Shamrock Rovers, and travelled to The Showgrounds knowing that a win could see them close in on Bohemians.

It was the hosts who enjoyed the better start to this tie, although the early stages were far from a classic.

They almost went ahead after 11 minutes when Owen Elding’s clean header smacked the post, and the 19-year-old had another chance moments later when he was one-on-one with Luke Dennison, but the American made himself big to block the shot.

Dennison, who signed a new Drogheda deal this week, blocked an awkward shot from Seb Quirk that bounced up just in front of him.

Despite Sligo’s strong start, Kevin Doherty’s side grew into the tie and had the home side under pressure in the latter stages of the half.

Darragh Markey ran onto a mistimed backpass from John Mahon, but Sargeant got his body in the way to make the save, doing the same from the follow-up as Ryan Brennan had a go.

Conor Keeley’s strike from distance just skimmed the post as Drogheda heaped the pressure on.

But just before half-time, the breakthrough arrived.

On the counter-attack, Elding played in O’Kane on the left, and the Shels loanee cut inside before firing past Dennison, who was stretching to make the save.

With three half-time changes, Drogheda looked a lot more dangerous after the restart, and were back level five minutes into the half when Patrick McClean handled the ball in the box.

Doyle stepped up against his former team, sending Sargeant the wrong way to bring the sides level.

In a scrappy second half, neither side created too many chances — Jad Hakiki’s effort hitting the crossbar was as close as either team would come to finding a winner.

Sligo Rovers: Sam Sargeant; Edwin Agbaje (Matty Wolfe 78), John Mahon, Paddy McClean, Sean Stewart (Cian Kavangh 62); James McManus (Conor Reynolds 88), Seb Quirke; Will Fitzgerald, Jad Hakiki, Ryan O’Kane; Owen Elding.

Drogheda United: Luke Dennison; James Bolger (Frank Cooper 66), Andrew Quinn, Conor Keeley; Conor Kane (Kieran Cruise HT), Owen Lambe; Warren Davis (Shane Farrell HT), Paul Doyle (Thomas Oluwa 76), Darragh Markey (Fuhad Kareem HT), Luke Heeney; Josh Thomas (Ryan Brennan 34).

Referee: Marc Lynch.