Captain Declan O'Brien headed a priceless winner for Drogheda as they beat Waterford 1-0 and overhauled Cork City in the league table on the final night of the season to secure European football for the second consecutive season.
Paul Doolin's side had to win and hope the Leesiders wouldn’t snatch a victory over Derry at the Brandywell to overhaul last year’s league champions, and that’s exactly the way the results panned out.
The unconvincing manner in which Drogheda completed their league campaign will not concern Doolin in the slightest as his side leapfrogged Cork to finish third, just four points behind champions Shelbourne.
The South East side, who face a two-legged relegation play-off next week, showed they hadn’t arrived to make up the numbers by testing goalkeeper Dan Connor early on, Alan Cawley seeing his 30-yard wind-assisted effort tipped over the bar before curling another free kick narrowly wide of the target.
However, it was no surprise to see Drogheda enjoying the lion's share of possession and the away side survived a number of near misses in the opening half-hour, notably when Shane Barrett's out-swinging cross struck the bar and then Declan O'Brien chipped narrowly wide after spotting Ben Spicer off his line.
Still, it was Connor called into action once more to push a stinging drive from Cawley to safety and Drogheda seemed to run out of ideas for a half-hour spell either side of half time.
However, their patience was finally rewarded in the 59th minute when O’Brien rose in the box to head Barrett’s cross decisively past Spicer.
That should have been the signal for a nervy-looking Drogheda to settle down, but play became increasingly ragged and Waterford gave the freezing home supporters a few palpitations in the closing stages as the Boynesiders failed to close the game out in the manner their manager would have hoped.
