Sporting Fingal 1 Shamrock Rovers 1:James Chambers rescued a point for Shamrock Rovers from the penalty spot at Morton Stadium, avoiding a third defeat of the new season for Michael O'Neill by a mere four minutes.
With just six points now from eight games, Rovers are worse off than they were at this stage last year, a period their manager bemoaned as one which could have cost them the league title.
Had Chambers’ free-kick not been handled by Gary O’Neill it could have been even worse after Conan Byrne drove past Danny Murphy and Craig Sives deep inside the area before driving beyond Alan Mannus to open the scoring in the 78th minute.
O’Neill won’t panic just yet and was looking at it as a point gained, rather than two dropped, after his depleted side went behind so late.
“Look, we went 22 games last season without losing and there’s no doubt that it becomes a habit,” he said afterwards. “But we’ve gone three now and we were without six players out there today so I’ve no doubt that we’ll only get better and stronger as we get bodies back.”