Shelbourne’s six-year stint in the First Division finally came to an end at United Park last night.
They netted twice in the last 10 minutes through Oscar Brennan and Luke Fitzgerald after Luke McNally had levelled the game for 10-man Drogheda.
Rookie Reds boss Ian Morris was handed the reigns at the club just 10 months ago, his first management job. He made promotion his aim and achieved that with a game to spare.
Shels had bossed things in the opening stages but had little in the way of clearcut chances to show for their superiority.
Aidan Friel gave the visitors the lead eight minutes after Sean
Brennan’s 56th minute dismissal for two yellow card and that looked to have taken the game out of the home side’s reach.
However, a bold switch by United boss Tim Clancy saw him push imposing centre-back McNally into the centre-forward position and it paid instant dividends.
He finished off a lightning quick counter attack to bring Drogheda level. But the numerical advantage proved too much when Brennan restored their lead.
He had ample space in midfield to volley past Luca Gratzer from 20 yards out with just nine minutes left.
And Fitzgerald scored Shels’ third in the final minute as he outpaced the flagging Kevin Farragher and beat the onrushing Gratzer to the ball and poked into the net.
Meanwhile, Drogheda took the opportunity to parade some of their legends from the past at half-time.
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