Tide turning for ShelbourneA point in Drogheda is never a bad thing, particularly when it extends your unbeaten run to nine games and constitutes a level of League of Ireland consistency bordering on quixotic. Speaking after Friday night’s 2-2 draw, Joey O’Brien still expressed some frustration – Shelbourne took the lead and conceded, in his mind, two soft goals – but he acknowledged the character and quality that has seen them avoid any recent defeats. It helps having a player like Harry Wood, who scored both of Shelbourne’s goals in Drogheda to take his total for the season to eight. Always effective along the perimeter of an attack, Wood has developed his box game this year, getting into decisive positions and showing off a range of smooth and scrappy finishes. Just above him in the scoring charts, and now out all on his own, is Drogheda’s Mark Doyle, who converted the home side’s second after some dogged wing play from Jason Bucknor. The American’s cross was low and compelled Doyle to dart across his man, meeting the ball at pace but deftly steering it into the bottom corner. Shelbourne will fear for Mipo Odubeko, who had to be withdrawn early in the second half and whose return from a previous injury has been a welcome boost in recent weeks. O’Brien will be hoping to call upon Odhrán Casey in the very near future too, having been without the new signing for the majority of the campaign. If fitness can improve, and draws can become wins, it could be an exciting second half of the season for Shels.Galway United embrace new homeAfter a bastardised home fixture in Cork last week, Galway United lined up against Derry City in Pearse Stadium on Friday night, finally fulfilling the first of four fixtures at their temporary GAA residence. The sun sets differently in Salthill. This was news to Derry goalkeeper Eddie Beach, who may have regretted his decision not to wear a cap as he faced into the light during the first half. Twenty-three minutes in, with long shadows all pointing towards him like brushstrokes across the green, Beach seemed to lose sight of a clipped ball towards the back post. Stephen Walsh’s header was on target and towards the ground, which was all it needed to be. Galway dominated much of the game, with Walsh adding a deserved second shortly after half-time. It was fitting for the day to belong to the 35-year-old, the Tribesmen’s record appearance holder and the ultimate embodiment of their attitude and work-rate under John Caulfield. Derry pushed late on, but Michael Duffy’s penalty arrived too close to full time. Off the back of their best performance of the season, a 4-1 win over Bohemians in their own temporary GAA ground, Celtic Park, this was a return to incongruity as Tiernan Lynch’s side struggled to shape any meaningful patterns of play. Lynch may have felt frustrated during the week by player-turned-pundit James McClean, whose brief account of his discontented return to the League of Ireland felt laced with veiled criticism of the club. Lynch’s reign at Derry has always been marred by the feeling that crisis is just around the corner. Just a point ahead of Galway now, with a game more played, the goodwill of last week is fast forgotten. Dundalk’s John Ross Wilson celebrates after his side's victory over Bohemians. Photograph: INPHO/Ryan Byrne Kenny fires Dundalk into European placesAnother manager that never seems to escape intense scrutiny is Alan Reynolds, whose Bohemians side made it three defeats in four with a 2-1 loss to Dundalk at Dalymount on Friday.Bohs started brilliantly, racing into an early lead through Cian Byrne, but failing to hold on to it. Speaking afterwards, Reynolds said he had talked all week about needing to match Dundalk’s intensity, withholding the true extent of his frustration as he admitted that in the second half, he felt they were outworked.Such is the nature of things for Dundalk, who continue to defy the odds, picking up points all around the league and earning plaudits for their style of play as they do it. Whatever about intensity, there was real class in the performance of Eoin Kenny, whose ceiling seems to be growing higher as the season goes on. With 15 minutes to go, after good work from Bobby Burns, the ball found itself rolling in Kenny’s direction on the edge of the Bohemians penalty area. He spun as he received it, dragging it through the centre of a pack of Bohs defenders and earning himself half a yard. Falling away from goal, the 20-year-old swung his left boot, looping a strike above Paul Walters and in off the underside of the bar. Dundalk leapfrogged their opponents to move to a dizzying third place. Bohs, meanwhile, have failed to keep a clean sheet in 13 games, and any lingering thoughts of a title challenge are all but gone. It remains to be seen whether Kacper Chorazka, who missed last week’s game to attend his own wedding in Poland, will return to the line-up. Shamrock Rovers' Dylan Watts turns away after scoring his side’s first goal. Photograph: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo No Pico, no problem for Shamrock RoversHaving spent the week watching their captain mark Spanish stars out of their World Cup opener and rub shoulders with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and James Corden, Shamrock Rovers took care of business with a routine win in Waterford on Friday. If Pico Lopes brought fresh international eyes to the RSC, they will have taken in a game emblematic of the Hoops’ dominance over the past decade. Waterford have been in good form of late and they competed admirably, but Rovers always looked comfortable and certain of themselves. Goals from Dylan Watts and Michael Noonan ensured the champions maintain their five-point lead at the top. Elsewhere, a very late show from St Pat’s turned a frustrating draw into a morale-boosting victory. They stay in second place, with a trip to Bohemians up next.