Shamrock Rovers boss, Damien Richardson, could find himself in hot water with league officials for his criticism of referee, John McDermott, following the Hoops' scoreless draw with bottom-of-the-table Drogheda at United Park yesterday.

Richardson had no complaints about the red card shown to striker, Graham Lawlor, for an apparent kick at home keeper, Gareth Byrne, 17 minutes from time. However, he was scathing of McDermott's failure to take action against Byrne, whom he saw as the aggressor.

"There can be no excuse for Graham Lawlor's action " said Richardson afterwards. "It was a very petulant act, the type that will not be tolerated by Shamrock Rovers football club. But I was very disappointed by the reaction of the referee because it was plain to see that the Drogheda keeper threw a punch first.

"There is no place in this game for anyone who raises their hands and I felt that we should have had a penalty and the keeper should have been sent off along with our centre forward."

Richardson, though, still felt his side should have left United Park with all three points. "I was highly delighted by the performance, particularly in the second half, which was a wonderful display against the breeze. The element of luck needed for the goal that would have clinched the game was all that was missing.

"I think we controlled the second half totally and until the sending off Drogheda didn't have a shot on goal. From that time on, I would have been happy with a point, but, over the 90 minutes, I felt we had the edge."

Richardson's assessment, though, was a little disingenuous towards a Drogheda side, which, although still bottom of the premier division, have also held Shelbourne and Cork City scoreless in successive home league matches.

The home side undoubtedly had the edge before the break with a solid defence and lively attack linked superbly by Greg O'Dowd. But to be fair to Richardson, the visitors looked the side most likely in the second half until Lawlor's dismissal with Sean Francis their most dangerous attacker.

United keeper, Byrne, saved well from the Rovers' striker on three occasions before the pair tangled in the incident leading to the sending off.

After that its was all Drogheda, Damien Maher pushed up as the home side went for broke. And the former Shelbourne and Home Farm player looked every inch a defender as the best chance of the match came in the 89th minute. Completely unmarked on the edge of the Rovers penalty area, Maher mis-hit his shot with the goal at his mercy after Harris had won an aerial tussle with Horgan.

Drogheda United: Byrne, Murphy, Boyle, McDonald, Maher, Foley, Wallace, Butler, Thomas, O'Dowd, Roberts. Sub: McCann for Butler (80 mins).

Shamrock Rovers: Horgan, Britton, Dunne, Brazil, Purdy, Colwell, Woods, Francis, Lawlor, Kenny, Byrne. Sub: Crowley for Kenny (90 mins).

Referee: J McDermott (Dublin).