By:
Conor Martin
When it rains, it pours. You don’t need to tell Drogheda United manager Kevin Doherty that twice.
On Monday night, they went down to a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Shamrock Rovers. George Cooper had given the home side the lead in the fourth minute. But the runaway league leaders Rovers found themselves level at the break.
Andy Quinn was penalised for an apparent handball spotted by assistant referee Emmett Dynan. Before Graham Burke drove the set-piece low to the corner in the 42nd minute.
Things would get worse for Drogheda, as the visitors would take maximum points back to the capital when Aaron Greene found the net in the 74th minute.
Kevin Doherty reflects on a frustrating evening for Drogheda
In a post-match interview with RTÉ Sport, Doherty’s frustration at the manner of the defeat was clear for all to see:
“You’re playing the best team in the country by a mile. And you’re coming out and playing like that after the day that we’ve had. Such pride and balls and everything that our lads had, and for that to happen.
“That result was taken away from us tonight. Let the whole country and social media and everyone else look at it because they will be the judge, jury and executioner for these things that happen because nothing else seems to happen in these games.”
European dream dead
Of course, Monday night’s defeat is the least of Drogheda’s worries. Before the game, they found out their Court of Arbitration for Sport appeal against their UEFA Conference League expulsion was unsuccessful. The ruling has ended their European ambitions for the 2025-2026 season.
At the end of last week, Doherty remained positive that his side would get the result they wanted from their appeal. News that their appeal had failed was relayed to Doherty while he was on his way to Monday night’s game.
Doherty spoke of his disappointment before taking a defiant stance, saying his group of players would recover from this major setback and that Europe was still the target for the Louth club.
“I wasn’t bull****ing, everything I said on Friday still applies today, every single word I said in that interview on Friday still applies today. “There’s no doubt it’s disappointing… a tough day, yeah.
Doherty remains defiant
“One thing you can certainly say is we’re going for Europe again next year. You can see that it’s something we want to push on.
“It’s something you want to do, you want to progress year on year and I think the jump we’ve made this year, without going mad as well, it’s evident that we haven’t been going mad. We haven’t gone out and brought in ten lads.
“We’ve done it the right way, we’ve done it with the players that it means so much to.
“The calibre of player coming into us, hungry and they want to play, want to win.”
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