The issue was related to the session config in the ini file. As usual with shiro the order mattered and some of my lines were out of place.
Below is the config that worked for me:
sessionDAO = org.apache.shiro.session.mgt.eis.EnterpriseCacheSessionDAO
#sessionDAO.activeSessionsCacheName = dropship-activeSessionCache
sessionManager = org.apache.shiro.web.session.mgt.DefaultWebSessionManager
sessionManager.sessionDAO = $sessionDAO
# cookie for single sign on
cookie = org.apache.shiro.web.servlet.SimpleCookie
cookie.name = www.foo.com.session
cookie.path = /
sessionManager.sessionIdCookie = $cookie
# 1,800,000 milliseconds = 30 mins
sessionManager.globalSessionTimeout = 1800000
sessionValidationScheduler =
org.apache.shiro.session.mgt.ExecutorServiceSessionValidationScheduler
sessionValidationScheduler.interval = 1800000
sessionManager.sessionValidationScheduler = $sessionValidationScheduler
securityManager.sessionManager = $sessionManager
cacheManager = org.apache.shiro.cache.ehcache.EhCacheManager
securityManager.cacheManager = $cacheManager