Byrne fumes over Brandywell penalty drama

RTÉ Sport pundit Conan Byrne has expressed his rage at the controversial penalty decision that saw Derry City claim a crucial 1-1 draw at home to fellow title challengers Shamrock Rovers.

As the clock ticked into injury-time at the Ryan McBride Brandywell Stadium, the Candystripes were handed a lifeline when referee Damien MacGraith judged that Patrick McEleney was brought down in the box by Josh Honohan.

Replays suggested that it was a highly-contentious decision, and while Rovers boss Stephen Bradley directed his ire towards MacGraith in his post-match interview, Byrne chose to point the finger at McEleney for what he saw as unsportsmanlike behaviour from the midfielder.

"We'll all be talking about Damien MacGraith but I'm going to focus on Patrick McEleney," said Byrne during the post-match analysis.

"It's an absolute disgrace, a player of his calibre going down like that in the box to gain an advantage is absolutely disgraceful.

"My blood is boiling here as a former player, as a competitor, as a sportsperson, to see somebody go down like that in the box is just not on.

"We don't have VAR but we have great sportsmanship in this league, a great atmosphere, a great buzz and that's why people come to these games."

We need your consent to load this comcast-player content We use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preferences

The result denied the Tallaght club the chance to move to within five points of leaders Shelbourne, who fell to a 1-0 defeat at Galway United on Friday night.

The draw also moves Derry City one point closer to Damien Duff's leaders and they are now just three