THERE was incident aplenty in this eagerly-awaited Louth derby played in front of the live TV cameras – but in terms of quality it was poor fare. While it's too early to pass any sort of valid judgement, the signs were not too promising, with spectators having every right to expect a lot better from the respective teams and indeed from the officials.

In a strange way they added to the low entertainment value by awarding two highly questionable spot-kicks, one for either side, where the ball was played against the player rather than hand to ball. How intent could be interpreted is guesswork.

It was also difficult to imagine how the referee waved eight yellow cards, including two that marred Michael Daly's league return to Oriel Park, resulting in his dismissal after 61 minutes.

That provided a welcome helping hand to his former club when it looked a forlorn hope that they would earn something from the game, having fallen 2-0 in arrears after 20 minutes to goals by Glen Fitzpatrick and Joe Kendrick from the penalty spot after Tom Miller was adjudged to have handled Brendan McGill's cross.

Ironically, Dundalk could have gone on to snatch an improbable win when assistant manager Wayne Hatswell's thundering shot from wide on the left rattled the crossbar in the 82nd minute.

Sendings-off have become a bad habit for Drogheda at Oriel Park. It cost them last season when they had a player dismissed and lost both league encounters at the ground.

Within two minutes of Daly's departure Neale Fenn cut the deficit. The referee adjudged that Brian King deliberately handled his cross, and like Kendrick, Fenn shot low into the left-hand corner just beyond the keeper's outstretched right hand.

Both penalties were at the same end and resulted from crosses near enough the same point on the endline on the right.

The sides' other goals were almost identical too, tap-ins after the 'keeper spilled the ball, but it would be hard to blame Dundalk's Peter Cherrie as he saved a header from point-blank range from John Flood, only for Fitzpatrick to give the visitors the lead after eight minutes.

Paul Skinner might reflect that he could have done better as Fenn's shot from outside the 18yard box eluded his grasp and Faz Kuduzovic steered the loose ball into the gaping net in the 80th minute.

There was another unfortunate parallel between the teams, each losing a player to serious injury in the early stages, with Corey Treacy carried off on a stretcher after a frightening collision of heads involving teammate Daly and Dundalk's JJ Melligan in the first five minutes. The game was held up as all three received attention.

Treacy was taken to hospital in an ambulance shared with Dundalk's Alan Cawley, who suffered a suspected broken jaw in a separate incident.

Both clubs are in a state of transition and building new teams, and in Dundalk's case adapting to a different system of 3-5-2.

From the evidence of the first half the Dundalk players are not readily coping with their change in approach, for Drogheda were allowed alarming freedom in the home penalty box, with a succession of free headers that resulted in the opening goal, among other unchallenged attempts at the target.

Really, Drogheda should then have killed off the game, although they certainly restored some pride following that opening-day mauling by UCD.

Likewise, Dundalk will be boosted by gaining a point and have now garnered four that they scarcely merited. Nevertheless, it could be a good omen for how they do this season.