Sean Thornton earns a point for ten-man Drogheda against Limerick

Drogheda United 1 Limerick 1

Sean Thornton's first league goal for his hometown club denied Limerick a first league win as ten-man Drogheda came from behind to salvage a point.

Limerick’s opener came on 30 minutes when Paul O’Conor and Alan Byrne tangled in the box. O’Conor went down and referee Matthews brandished a red card to Byrne before pointing to the spot. Ian Turner fired home the resulting penalty.

The visitors were thankful to Connor O’Donnell just before the break as the goalkeeper made two fantastic saves to see his side in ahead at half-time.

Limerick started the second-half much brighter and went close early on through Darragh Rainsford.

Limerick struggled to make their numerical superiority count especially with all the space in midfield and Drogheda had the best chance to equalise when Sean Brennan powered through before pushing the ball wide to Cathal Brady. The winger’s cross was met by Kavanagh at pace but his header flew over. Limerick’s Russell went close with a powerful strike from distance.

With six minutes remaining Brennan was bundled over on the edge of the box and Drogheda native Thornton bent the ball into the top corner to salvage a well-earned point.

DROGHEDA UTD: Schlingermann, Yadolahi (Hughes, 55 mins), Gorman, Byrne, Daly, Brady, Brennan (Walshe, 85 mins), Thornton, Maher, Marks (Duffy, 72 mins), Kavanagh.

LIMERICK: O'Donnell, Costelloe, Williams, Price, Whitehead, Hughes (Faherty, 88 mins), O'Conor, Turner, Rainsford, Russell, Clarke.

Referee: R Matthews (Westmeath)