League Report: Bohemians 2 - 0 Longford Town

Goals from Dean Kelly and Adam Evans sealed victory and three points for Bohemians over Longford Town on Friday night. The Gypsies have kept six clean sheets in seven games in the Airtricity League Premier Division. Bohs now sit in second place behind Dundalk, the only team to have scored against them.

Longford Town started the game well but struggled to make any meaningful impact in the final third. Bohemians defence was solid, leaving only a few gaps for the visitors. Pat Sullivan tested Delany early on but his free kick into the bottom right corner did not have enough power to beat Delany. A few minutes later, David O'Sullivan almost found a gap to thread the ball to Gary Shaw in a goal scoring position. Roberto Lopes positioned himself well to get between Shaw and the ball and cleared his lines.

Midway through the first half it was Lorcan Fitzgerald and Dean Kelly who were to demonstrate some moves from the training ground. Their first set piece a Fitzgerald free kick from the left wing landed at Kelly's feet near the back post, but his shot was blocked for a corner. Fitzgerald ran across the field to take the corner on the right hand side. His beautifully weighted cross met Kelly who headed home from close range near the back post.

Longford were still in the game coming up to half time. But two incidents prior to the break were to break up their good first half form. Stephen Rice was substituted a few minutes after acquiring a head injury and was later taken to hospital. Gary Shaw was in the Bohs penalty area with a couple of defenders near him. He ended up on the deck but referee Sean Grant deemed it to be simulation and booked Shaw.

At the end of the half, Kealon Dillon slotted the ball in behind the Longford defence on the right wing for Dean Kelly to run on to. As Kelly made his way in towards the goal the defence had repositioned and he could only pass the ball backwards to Dillon. In the second half Kelly was given the ball in a similar position by Keith Buckley. This time instead of running towards the goal he ran straight down the line and squared the ball to Adam Evans. With his first touch of the match, Evans side footed it to the left of the keeper at the back post to score his third goal of the season.

Town did have a few chances, the best of which fell to David O'Sullivan inside the Bohs penalty area. Kaleem Simon passed the ball from the left wing in to O'Sullivan but his shot destined to end up inside the right post, was met by Delany's fingertips. Not even last year’s First Division top scorer was going to take a clean-sheet away from Delany.  Longford also have a few set pieces but Rhys Gorman's deliveries were not up to his usual standard on the night.

With just over ten minutes left to play Dean Kelly chased down a back pass. Paul Hunt was on the right side of his box near the end line. Hunt's attempted clearance hit Kelly and deflected in the direction of his goal. The Longford defence were back in numbers to clear the ball to safety. A few minutes later it would be Kelly who had the last real chance of the game. A Fitzgerald corner found him in the middle of the box but his free header was not strong enough to make its way into the net.

Next Friday Bohs will host St Patrick's Athletic in what will be another tough test for Keith Long's men. Long might even start believing that the Gypsies are realistic contenders for a European spot if the result goes their way. On Saturday night Longford will hope to pick up some points against Sligo Rovers at Flancare Park. A win for Town would go a long way to distance them from the relegation battle and likely push Rovers down into it.

Bohemian FC: Dean Delany; Derek Pender, Anto Murphy, Lorcan Fitzgerald; Roberto Lopes; Patrick Kavanagh, Keith Buckley (James O'Brien 78), Karl Moore (Adam Evans 72), Kealan Dillon, Robbie Creevy; Dean Kelly (Marc Griffin 86).
Subs not used: Lee Steacy (gk), Jake Hyland, Stephen Best, Jason Byrne.

Bookings: Dillon (54), Buckley (55).

Longford Town: Paul Hunt; William Tyrrell, Pat Sullivan, Jamie Mulhall, Conor Powell; Ayman Ben Mohamed, Stephen Rice (Mark Salmon 37), Kevin O'Connor (Kalem Simon 57), Rhys Gorman; Gary Shaw, David O'Sullivan.
Subs not used: Paul Skinner (gk), Tom Morris, Martin Deady, Lorcan Shannon, Conor Dunne.

Bookings: Mulhall (22), Shaw (40), P Sullivan (81) Powell (90+1).

Referee: Sean Grant

Attendance: 1,510.

Extratime Man of the Match: Dean Kelly (Bohemian FC).