![\"Ben](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6db23cc8-d088-46f5-91cd-308640d2b6c5.jpg\")
<\/p>\nWhile there was a drama around the country, Rovers had the firepower to drain suspense from proceedings in front of their lowest crowd of the season, with a 4,011 turnout quite disappointing given the quality of players on show.<\/p>\n
Stephen Bradley was critical of his side\u2019s performance levels against Waterford on Friday and was much happier here; the bottom line outcome is that even if there\u2019s a variance in performance, they get the job done more often than everybody else in a league riddled with inconsistency.<\/p>\n
Bradley said the difficult conversations that were required over the weekend are a big part of their longevity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been together a long time, a lot of us, and we don\u2019t do that by lying to each other and pretending we\u2019ve hit our standards when we haven\u2019t,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn’t be doing my job if we didn’t have those tough conversations, and I think they’re important. The players understand when we haven\u2019t been good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mondays in Tallaght can be strangely subdued, even though there is always quality on show.<\/p>\n
Drogheda\u2019s liberated away support, allowed to attend a road fixture for the first time since their infamous trip to Oriel Park in February, brought energy to proceedings but their team couldn\u2019t match that in the opening half.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Ben Mahon of Shamrock Rovers (17) up against Drogheda United’s James Bolger. Photo: Ben McShane\/Sportsfile<\/p>\n
Rovers were dominant without being exceptional. What they got right was the execution of the big moments with a pair of corners giving them a two-goal lead into the break.<\/p>\n
The first had a degree of controversy about it as John McGovern looked to be offside as he raced onto a Victor Ozhianvuna through ball and forced a stop from Fynn Talley that created the dead-ball situation.<\/p>\n
Drogs switched off from Jack Byrne\u2019s delivery and McGovern atoned for his miss with a right-footer that found a way beyond Talley. The second goal was a more conventional set-piece effort with Byrne\u2019s floater dispatched by the head of Matt Healy.<\/p>\n
“Rovers will say they were two good set pieces,\u201d said frustrated Drogs boss Kevin Doherty, a former centre-half. \u201cBut they just weren\u2019t marked. I was literally in the middle of the training pitch yesterday, showing people how to mark. We didn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Drogheda, who started with regular defender James Bolger in midfield, just couldn\u2019t put enough pressure on Rovers in their own half and they sought to address it after half-time.<\/p>\n
There was a let-off when Talley denied Aaron Greene before the Boynesiders temporarily made things interesting as Mark Doyle picked up the afters of a long throw to halve the deficit. He turned home a speculative Jago Godden shot with the Kiwi lively in a spell where Brandon Kavanagh threatened to level it up.<\/p>\n
But it was short-lived with Rovers always able to find another gear. Ozhianvuna has become a very important player and is banking minutes for his pre-Arsenal education with another clever long-range pass after he skipped away from Godden exposing a yawning gap that allowed McGovern to restore the two-goal cushion.<\/p>\n
Doherty was furious that Andrew Quinn, his centre-half, didn\u2019t go down to force a stoppage because he had a setback that meant he was about to be immediately replaced.<\/p>\n
That tied in with his general concerns about a void in leadership and game management with the unavailability of Ryan Brennan a blow.<\/p>\n
Drogheda were wide open again as McGovern released Maleace Asamoah for the fourth and after that it was time for both benches to make changes with a busy month ahead in mind. Rovers should be in control of their destiny by the end of it.<\/p>\n
Shamrock Rovers: McGinty, Cleary (Mulraney 72), Grace, Matthews (Stevens 72); Sobowale, Healy (Razi 72), Ozhianvuna, Asamoah; Byrne (J O\u2019Sullivan 72); Greene (Mahon 72), McGovern.<\/p>\n
Drogheda United: Talley, Agbaje, Keeley (Burney 72), Quinn (Davis 59), Kane; Bolger, Godden; Bucknor, Kavanagh, Cruise (Kareem 72); Doyle (Oluwa 67).<\/p>\n
Referee: Aaron O\u2019Dowd.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While there was a drama around the country, Rovers had the firepower to drain suspense from proceedings in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3264,14640,61,60,43,11113],"class_list":["post-432341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-daniel-mcdonnell","tag-drogheda-united-fc","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-shamrock-rovers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}