Even the usually optimistic Jay predicted a win for the Rovers: 1-2 was how he saw it working out. Given their reputation for having become this season's draw specialists, and on the back of a goalless result away to Pat's last Friday, I thought it possible honours even might be as much as the Drogs would get from this one.
To make matters worse, Drogheda had to take to the field a few short hours after finding out that despite their Herculean efforts in securing the FAI Cup last season, they will not get to play in Europe. Their attempt to overturn the EUFA decision to bar them was thwarted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
As we sat in our seats, despondent at that news, Laura lifted our spirits when she took a quick snap. I love her photos. Miraculously, they tend to make me look younger and less grumpy than I am!
Shamrock Rovers are the in-form team. Runaway leaders, defending champions Shelbourne are twelve points off their lead. The threatened challenge from Pat's has failed to materialise. Those who still retain hopes, no matter how slender, of competing with Rovers must have been hoping Drogheda could put a brake on the advance of the Tallaght men. It wasn't to be. After a fine start which saw the Claret and Blue snatch an early goal the signs were ominous. Rovers attacked and within the space of seconds had three attempts on goal blocked. The power and precision of their efforts were foiled only by some fine goalkeeping and a timely defensive block. Right in front of out seats, it was like watching the frenetic activity of a pin ball machine.
Paddy has more of a tactical and strategic understanding of the game than I do. He quickly spots patterns and the lay out of a formation. He has long maintained that Drogheda are set up much too conservatively. That leaves little room for wonder when the draws begin to accumulate. For me, the problem lies in the front line. It simply does not produce. In Douglas James Taylor and Thomas Oluwa there is little that resembles a serious attacking threat. Because of the ineffectual nature of the forward line the midfield is integrated into the defence, operating more as a shield for the back than a conduit to the front. Midfielders are reduced to playing in a echelonic defence and are grounded there because there is no echelonic attack that they are an integral part of. The odds are that the most likely outcome is a draw. As a winning formula it is not fit for purpose.
Rovers sensing that there was no attacking threat from the Drogs midfield claimed the terrain as their own. Comfortable on the ball they passed from side to side, probing at the wall of claret and blue in front of them. They only needed to penetrate twice, and they did. First, around the forty minute mark when a silly foul on the edge of the box led to a sweet free kick making its way past Luke Dennison in goal. He seemed furious, probably at the free kick being needlessly conceded in such a dangerous area, and secondly because the wall did not do what it was supposed to. Irate, he gesticulated to the away fans who returned it in spades.
Even when Drogheda broke out of defence, there seemed to be nobody they could play the ball too, so defensively minded has this Kevin Doherty side become. Conor Kane, when he did get the better of the Rovers' backs, placed his crosses much too close to the keeper. Even if the expected target men managed to get into position, of which there was little sign, the ball has to be played well out of reach of the keeper.
In the second half Rovers waltzed their way through the Drogs' defence to net a fine finish. It was a blow that kept the Drogs on the canvas until the end of the game. While there were five minutes time added on for stoppages it could have been fifty. There was no sense that the Drogs could salvage anything from the contest.
This Friday the Drogs take on Sligo at Sullivan and Lambe. On Monday they travel to Cork. I will be at both having secured a ticket for the Cork clash. The journey by train is long enough but as there are people in the city I want to hook up with for social reasons, the match is not my sole - even main reason - for going. The most I am expecting from both games is two points.
On the way out of the ground I stopped briefly to chat with Tony, the ever present steward. Not a happy chappie, he felt the Drogs first offered up one testicle to be kicked and then the other. The end result a huge kick in the balls. I walked out of the ground a bit gingerly after that painful but accurate description. The balls that matter ultimately did not reach the net in sufficient quantity.
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