League Report: Bohemians 3 - 2 St. Patrick's Athletic

From Sam McKeever at Dalymount Park

A brace from Dinny Corcoran and a goal from Ishmahil Akinade put another dent in St. Patrick’s Athletic survival chances as Bohs beat the Saints 3-2 in the Dublin Derby at Dalymount Park on Friday night.

The opening goal came in just the second minute as good work by Paddy Kavanagh down the left, found Ismahil Akinade at the back post. He headed down to score past Lukasz Skowron giving Keith Long’s side a fantastic start to the game.

The Saints were level almost straight away though as a long ball from Michael Barker down the right was latched onto by Christy Fagan. His effort went under the body of Supple to find the back of the net.

The Gypsies almost had the lead again soon after as a good through ball found Akinade but his effort just went past the right hand post of the Saint’s goal.

The next real effort came from Keith Ward from 25 yards out with a free kick but his curling effort just went over Skowron’s crossbar.

Pat’s had the next real chance as a ball over the top found Fagan once again but his effort from a tight angle was easily saved by Supple who pushed it out for a corner around the near post.

It was a hectic opening 15 minutes as the home side next earned a penalty as Gavin Peers was shown a straight red card for bringing down Akinade. Dinny Corcoran stepped up from 12 yards and made no mistake with the spot kick.

Paddy Kavanagh was involved again soon after. His trickery down the left hand side saw him put in a cross with his right foot to find Dinny Corcoran at the back post but his header was weak and was gathered comfortably by the ‘keeper.

Keith Ward then picked up the ball on the edge of the box before hitting a fantastic curling effort with his right foot which looked destined for the top corner. However Saint’s goalkeeper Skowron fantastically denied him with a finger-tip save to leave Bohs with a 2-1 half time lead.

At the start of the second-half the ball fell to Keith Ward on the edge of the box but his effort was poor. He mis-hit it and Dutch defender Jordi Balk was able to head the ball back to keeper Lukasz Skowron with no problems.

Seven minutes into the second periodm, Bohs extended their lead. Corcoran picked up the loose ball before storming through towards goal, he composed himself before confidently putting it past Skowron for his 15^th league goal of the season.

Liam Buckely’s side had a lifeline back into the game on 65 minutes as Conan Byrne latched onto the ball on the right hand side. He drove towards the goal, cut inside onto his left foot into the 18 yard box before hitting a powerful shot into the bottom corner past Supple.

The Saints almost shot themselves in the foot as sloppy defending allowed Ward in on goal but he could not take the chance as he rushed his shot hitting the side netting.

Six minutes from the end the Saint’s had a golden opportunity to level the game. A dangerous low cross into the six yard box found a stretching Conan Byrne and a goal seemed certain. However to the disbelief of the travelling support his shot bounced off the crossbar; subsititute Kurtis Byrne had his follow up effort blocked down by Bohemians skipper Derek Pender.

The Saints now have it all to do if they are going to survive this season with just five games left to save their season. They could really do with getting all three points in another Dublin derby on Monday night when they take on in-form Shamrock Rovers.

Bohemains: Shane Supple; Derek Pender, Rob Cornwall, Dan Byrne, Dinny Corcoran; Keith Ward(Philip Gannon 90), Paddy Kavanagh, Fuad Sule, Ian Morris (Dan Casey 85); Warren O’Hora, Ishmahil Akinade.

Subs not used: Colin McCabe, Ciaran O’Connor,Eoghan Morgan, Dylan Hayes

Booked: Paddy Kavanagh (19), Derek Pender (58), Daniel Byrne (75)

St. Patrick’s Athletic: Lukasz Skowron; Michael Barker (Josh O’Hanlon 87), Gavin Peers, Owen Garvan (JJ Lunney 80), Conan Byrne; Graham Kelly, Christy Fagan, Killian Brennan, Lee Desmond; Jordi Balk, Billy Dennehy (Curtis Byrne 72)

Subs not used: Pat Jennings, Darragh Markey, Paul O’Conor, Ian Turner

Booked: Killian Brennan (92)

Sent Off: Gavin Peers (15)

Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Dinny Corcoran (Bohemains)

Referee: Ben Connolly

Attendance:  2,543