Two clubs who had recently parted company with their respective managers met at United Park last night, with Sligo Rovers condemning Drogheda United to their 12th loss in 13 league games.

Darius Kierans was the man entrusted with ending Drogheda’s losing run following Robbie Horgan’s departure, but his tenure got off to a miserable start as Danny North headed in a Raffaele Cretaro cross after 14 minutes. North had hit the bar from an almost identical chance just two minutes earlier, but Drogheda hadn’t heeded the warning.

Things got worse for the home side soon after as Sligo broke quickly from a Drogheda corner, with Kieran Djilali feeding Danny North, who jinked into the box before laying a square return pass to Djilali, and he drilled his shot to the bottom corner.

The Drogs were thrown a lifeline five minutes before the break when Gavin Brennan converted a penalty after Kalen Spillane fouled Declan O’Brien in the box.

However, the lift given by that goal was soon negated, as Paul Andrews saw red for a petulant kick on Danny North just before the half-time whistle.

The second-half was an even affair, with the best chance falling to Sligo on 75 minutes when they again broke at pace from a Drogheda corner, but somehow managed to butcher a three-on-one opportunity. Paul O’Conor then had a chance to seal the win in the 89th minute but he took too long over his chance and shot straight at Micheál Schlingermann.