St Patrick's Athletic ... 1 Drogheda United ... 1: Drogheda United put their financial problems behind them at Richmond Park last night to earn their fourth point in 10 games.

Despite being under pressure from the start, Drogheda took the lead on 19 minutes.Declan O'Brien, who two minutes earlier had forced a save from Shay Kelly, made no mistake with his second chance, heading home Mark Dempsey's cross.

St Patrick's continued to dominate, and Drogheda goalkeeper Gary Rogers made a stunning one-handed save from a Tony Bird header minutes later. They levelled six minutes before the break when Trevor Croly crossed from the right and Ger McCarthy was left unattended to loop a header over Rogers.

The home side were caught napping within a minute when O'Brien latched onto Rogers' clearance but shot wide. O'Brien was also guilty of wasting the best opening of the second half, shooting at the legs of Kelly when played in by Andy Myler.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: S Kelly; Croly, Foley, Harris Marney (L Kelly 67 mins.); McGuinness, Donnelly, Russell (Hughes 87 mins), Bird; McCarthy, Doyle (Mbabazi 67 mins.).

DROGHEDA UNITED: Rogers; O'Connor, Todd, Lynch, Gray; Taylor, Tierney (Dunne, 90), Dempsey (Cronin 65 mins.), Kelly; Myler, O'Brien.

Referee: J McDermott (Dublin).