Neither side was able to gain ground this evening as promotion hopefuls Drogheda United and Cabinteely played out a scoreless draw at United Park. Drogheda came close to taking an early lead as Sean Brennan’s deflected free kick fell to Mark Doyle
Neither side was able to gain ground this evening as promotion hopefuls Drogheda United and Cabinteely played out a scoreless draw at United Park.
Drogheda came close to taking an early lead as Sean Brennan’s deflected free kick fell to Mark Doyle but the forward’s powerful drive was beaten away by Stephen McGuinness in goal.
Cabinteely’s direct approach caused plenty of problems in the Drogheda defence as a long throw was only cleared as far as the edge of the box though Jack Tuite dragged his strike wide.
Doyle, who was a threat for Drogheda throughout, came within inches of scoring as his first-time strike from 25 yards came crashing back off the crossbar with McGuinness beaten.
There was almost a sting in the tale on the stroke of half-time as Paul Fox connected with Daniel Blackbyrne’s cross but a fine reflex save from Luca Gratzer denied him as he collected the ball at the second attempt.
Drogheda started the second half in the ascendancy and they cut through the Cabo defence on 47 minutes when Chris Lyons played Doyle through on goal and while his shot had McGuinness beaten, Fox recovered with a spectacular goal line clearance.
The host were denied by the frame of the goal once again midway through the second-half as Conor Kane cut inside onto his weaker foot and curled a fine effort against the corner of crossbar and post much to Drogheda’s frustration.
Cabinteely missed a glorious chance to win the game as a slip in the Drogheda defence presented substitute Yuta Sasaki with a clear run on goal but his low strike was somehow diverted over the bar by the outstretched foot of Gratzer.
In a dramatic finish, Jordan Adeyemo missed a glorious chance for the Boynesiders as he fired wide instead of squaring the ball to Doyle before Jack Hudson was shown a second yellow for fouling Lyons on the edge of the box.
