Sligo Rovers 1

Drogheda United 1

David Goulden reports from The Showgrounds

Drogheda United and Sligo Rovers remained tied on points in the Premier Division table after the former came away from The Showgrounds with a point following a drab affair.

Veteran Ryan Brennan fired the Louth side into the lead on 52 minutes, but that advantage lasted little more than 10 minutes until Max Mata returned to the top of the league’s scoring charts, the New Zealander heading home for his seventh of the season.

The visitors were the form team coming into this clash, with two wins in their last five compared to Rovers’ single victory over the same number of games.

Played out on a sodden Showgrounds surface, the first half offered very little in terms of entertainment.

The inclement weather may have played its part early on, when United goalkeeper Colin McCabe had to scramble to palm Reece Hutchinson’s swerving cross over his crossbar six minutes in. While Drogs had their first effort in anger on 29 minutes when Ryan Brennan picked out Dylan Grimes at the front post.

The former Longford Town attacker beat his marker to the ball, but could only head over Luke McNicholas’ goal from close range.

Defences remained on top until the break. An awkward bounce from John Mahon’s clearance from well inside his own half, which almost caught McCabe out just shy of the interval, the closest the first half came to an opener.

Rovers have failed to keep a clean sheet this season and that record was destined to roll on for another week when Brennan made the most of slack defensive work from the home side on 52 minutes. The veteran midfielder finishing impressively from close range, with a static Sligo rearguard unable to clear their lines.

The lead lasted just ten minutes. Mata running on to Hutchinson’s squared ball from the end line to head past McCabe for goal number seven of 2023.

This game could have gone either way as it wore on. Both Kailin Barlow and Brennan had chances for Sligo and Drogheda respectively but both keepers found the going easy.

Sligo Rovers: Luke McNicholas; Frank Liivak (Johan Brannefalk 78), John Mahon, Nando Pijnaker, Reece Hutchinson; Greg Bolger, Lukas Browning (Niall Morahan 58); Fabrice Hartmann, Will Fitzgerald; Stefan Radosavljevic (Kailin Barlow 58); Max Mata.

Drogheda United: Colin McCabe; Elicha Ahui, Emmanuel Adegboyega, Conor Keeley, Jarlath Jones; Ryan Brennan, Gary Deegan; Dayle Rooney, Darragh Markey (Luke Heeney 80); Dylan Grimes; Fred Draper (Michael Leddy 79).

Referee: Arnold Hunter