The 150th Louth derby turned out to be a classic as Dundalk hit two goals in the space of two minutes to earn a draw against Drogheda United at Oriel Park last night.

Goals from Graham Rusk and Ryan Brennan looked to have given Mick Cooke’s side the bragging rights but Dundalk struck back with a Keith Ward free-kick and a John Dillon penalty hauling Stephen Kenny’s men level. Drogheda played the final 14 minutes with 10 men following Alan Byrne’s dismissal.

United opened the scoring after 20 minutes when Rusk was the quickest to react in the box.

Kenny’s side lacked a cutting edge and it was no surprise when he introduced Ward in the 67th minute. He was just getting into the swing of things when United doubled their lead five minutes later. O’Brien nicked the ball out to David Cassidy on the right and Ryan Brennan got in ahead of Peter Cherrie to seemingly put the game to bed.

The drama was only beginning to unfold and Ward finally gave the home crowd something to cheer about when he left Gabriel Sava with no chance with a great free-kick in the 75th minute. Dundalk, buoyed by the majority of the 2,198 in attendance, sensed a way back and they were sensationally level within 60 seconds.

John Dillon’s ball sent Eamon Mulvenna through on goal, his touch took the ball inside Byrne with the defender taking the striker down with an outstretched leg.

Referee Padraic Sutton was quick to point to the spot before sending Byrne off and Dillon dispatched the penalty, despite the best efforts of Sava, to rescue the home side.