Bohemians 0 Drogheda Utd 0:Dramatically increased television exposure was always seen by the FAI's top brass as one of the major selling points for last year's merger between the association and the league.

If the new league's much celebrated marriage contract with the nation's broadcasters contained anything even loosely resembling a "pre-nup", however, don't be surprised after last night's game at Dalymount Park prompts a suggestion from Montrose that the whole thing be put down to a momentary bout of madness after which both parties should now be allowed to go their separate ways.

In the circumstances there is, of course, the consolation that it can only get better but with both teams harbouring ambitions for the year ahead it would have been nice to get even an occasional reminder that what we were supposed to be watching here was a clash between two title contenders.

There was little evidence of any real cohesion through an opening half in which Bohemians struggled to string more than a couple of passes together and never once managed a decent shot on goal.

Of more immediate concern was the performance of the side's back four, something that may just have strengthened Sean Connor's resolve to win the race for Stephen Paisley.

Three times before the break slack defending allowed Drogheda's Shane Robinson the opportunity to test Brian Murphy in the Bohemians goal although the midfielder only managed to hit the target once, with a close range header, and on that occasion he directed the ball straight at the former Swansea goalkeeper.

If Murphy was a little fortunate then, he was utterly blessed early in the second half when Glen Fitzpatrick was sent clear but blasted the ball at the keeper's chest when there was plenty of time to choose his spot.

Worse still, the striker had already started to turn away as the ball slipped out of his opponents grasp and so another chance was passed up.

Such profligacy often proves costly at this level but in what was a poor game throughout it was hard to see where a Bohemians goal was going to come from.

In midfield the two sides were battling each other to a standstill and while Neale Fenn occasionally threatened to create something, Glen Crowe was largely anonymous with only one wildly hooked long range effort to show for the first hour of his return to competitive action for the club where he made his reputation.

As the game moved towards its end Connor sought to address his side's lack of attacking bite by introducing Darren Mansaram for Fenn and, briefly at least, the switch did seem to pay some dividends. The home side's best move of the game followed shortly afterwards when the Englishman won possession in midfield, John Paul Kelly beat Damien Lynch to the ball down the right and then fed Dessie Byrne whose curling cross Mansaram now narrowly failed to connect with from the edge of the six yard area.

United looked a little rattled but Paul Doolin's men had chances of their own through the closing stages to grab the extra two points. There were two penalty claims - neither of which actually appeared to merit a spot kick before Declan O'Brien went close five minutes from time with a long range effort that forced Murphy into the night's best save.

It was a solid rather than spectacular effort but one suspects that given the overall quality of the contest it merited quite a few reruns as the television panellists tried to draw even the slightest of positives from their first of many outing during the new campaign.

BOHEMIANS: Murphy; O Heary, Burns, McGuinness, Byrne; Kelly, Hunt, Pooley (Rice 85 mins), Harkin (Rossiter 61 mins); Fenn (Mansaram 72 mins), Crowe.

DROGHEDA UNITED: Connor; Lynch, Shelley, Gartland, Webb; Robinson, Keegan, Byrne, Cahill; Fitzpatrick (Grant 72 mins), O'Brien.

Referee: I Stokes (Dublin).