Ahead of kick-off, Graham Coughlan made two changes to his side from last week’s narrow defeat away to Shelbourne at Tolka Park, with Conan Noonan & Sam Glenfield returning to the starting-eleven in place of the injured Jordan Houston & suspended Luke Heeney.
Fresh from scoring a last minute winner against Drogheda last week at the RSC, it was Tommy Lonergan who continued his form in that front against Kevin Doherty’s side by giving the Blues an instant lead at Sullivan & Lambe Park after just 15 seconds.
Straight from kick-off, the ball fell to Lonergan inside the Drogheda area who found the bottom right corner of Fynn Talley’s goal to give us a first minute lead in the blasting sun.
Looking to build on our lead, Sam Glenfield broke the Drogheda defence with an inch-perfect through ball to Pádraig Amond, who saw his effort evade Talley’s goal as the Blues continued their strong start to the action in Drogheda.
Glenfield was next to test the Drogheda goal, picking up the ball 25-yards out before firing just to the left of Talley’s goal as the Blues’ dominance continued.
And just after the 20 minute-mark, the Blues got their second goal through Kevin Long – emphatically heading home from close-range from Conan Noonan’s corner kick to give us a deserved two-nil lead.
Out of nowhere just minutes later, Brandon Kavanagh’s long-ranged effort from all of 30 yards rattled the Waterford crossbar, an effort that inspired the Drogheda support as just thirty seconds later they halved the deficit through Mark Doyle as the experienced forward headed home Kavanagh’s set piece delivery beyond Stephen McMullan to get the hosts back in the game.
With just over ten minutes remaining in the half, Lonergan thought he had his second only to see his lobbed effort over the incoming diving Talley headed away by Edwin Agbaje at the back-post as the hosts survived another scare from the Blues.
Amond tested the hands of Talley on 39′, as the Blues captain got on the end of Lonergan’s flick-on before seeing his low effort saved by the Drogheda shot stopper, in what proved to be the final effort of the first-half.
Just three minutes into the second-half, it was again Lonergan who was causing the home side trouble as he found himself through on goal after Dean McMenamy’s clever through ball over the Drogheda defence, as Lonergan saw his goal bound effort cleared inside the six yard area from Andrew Quinn.
Drogheda made it 2-2 twelve minutes into the second-half through Shan Farrell after the Drogheda midfielder got on the end of a cleared header from Conor Kane’s throw-in, as Farrell’s volley flew through a host of bodies before finding the bottom corner to level proceedings before the hour-mark.
As we entered the final 25 minutes of action, Dean McMenamy fired an effort off his weaker left-foot that flew narrowly over Talley’s crossbar, as the Blues continued to look for the lead once again.
And that miss proved costly for the Blues as on 69′ the hosts took the lead for the first time in the game through captain Ryan Brennan, who headed into the far bottom corner from Shane Farrell’s delivery to net just his second of the season.
The Blues looked for an instant response, with Benny Couto rattling the Drogheda crossbar from the edge of the hosts area on 76′, before Lonergan dragged his latest effort wide.
On 86′, the Blues found their deserved equaliser in stunning fashion from Benny Couto, as the wing-back’s first-timed effort narrowed straight into Talley’s top corner giving the hosts keeper no chance to get us back level late on.
The Blues pressed late on from long-throws, but had to settle for a share of points on the road in our final clash before the midseason break.
Drogheda United FC: Talley (GK), Agbaje, Kane, Quinn, Burney, O’Brien (83′ Kareem), Kavanagh, Oluwa (67′ Godden), Doyle, Farrell, Brennan (C).
Waterford FC: McMullan (GK), Couto, Johnson, Mahon, Amond (C), Noonan (83′ Barrett), Long, Cann, Lonergan, Glenfield (83′ Coyle), McMenamy.
Attendance: 1,932.
