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

Luke Jordan reports from Dalymount Park  

St. Patrick’s Athletic made it four wins in a row after defeating league leaders Bohemians 3-2 in Dalymount Park on Friday night. A full house, five goals, two red cards and plenty of talking points made this Dublin Derby an enthralling encounter. 

Injuries forced the Saints into changes with Jake Mulraney and Joe Redmond missing for The Athletic. They were two of four swaps in total with Eoin Doyle, Mark Doyle, Noah Lewis, and Adam Murphy coming in, the latter making his first start of the season.

Bohemians made three changes in total from Easter Monday with Jonathan Afolabi, David McDaid, and Jordan Flores coming in for Kris Twardek, Dean Williams, and James Clarke. Ali Coote, the March Player of the Month, was missing again for the Gypsies. 

The game started frantically with both teams winning set pieces and having half chances.

Bohs had the first good chance from a free kick. After good play down the right-hand side by Jay Benn, Adam McDonnell was fouled on the edge of the box. Jordan Flores stepped up, but his effort was saved by Dean Lyness in the Pat's goal, despite the sun making it difficult for the keeper to see. 

A mix up in the Pat's defence almost gifted Bohs the opener in the 11th minute, Dylan Connolly was awake to the mistake as he drove into the Pats penalty area, but Lyness again was equal to the effort. 

However, the breakthrough came two minutes later through the boot of Adam McDonnell. The ball broke to McDonnell after a touch from Afolabi hit a Saints player, and the former Sligo man hit a sweet strike on his left to make it 1-0 to the home side. 

Within five minutes of the Gypsies scoring, the Saints were level.

A Chris Forrester corner managed to squeeze past James Talbot in the Bohemians goal. Eoin Doyle claimed to have got a touch, but the goal was given to Forrester who bagged his sixth of the season, already beating his tally from last season after just ten games. 

It was quickly two for the visitors, after good work down the left hand side again by Pats. The Saints skipper on the night,  Anto Breslin, delivered a cracking ball to the back post and the in-form Jay McClelland was on hand to convert and Pats took the lead.  

Bohemians looked to reply quickly with the industrious Connolly looking to force the issue, causing problems for the Pat's defenders with his raw pace. A Flores long pass set Connolly away who cut back and squared the ball to the on-rushing McDaid, but his effort went harmlessly wide. 

The Pat's fans were in dreamland in the 30th minute when Jamie Lennon cut open the Bohs defence with a fantastic pass in behind which found Eoin Doyle in space. The striker’s effort was saved by Talbot, but the ball rebounded to Mark Doyle, and he made no mistake to make it 3-1 to the Athletic. The Bohs fans were stunned. 

Lyness in the visitors' goal was called into action once more, making two important saves, first from Keith Buckley and a minute later from Afolabi, who received the ball from McDonnell in Pats box, swivelled and shot but was unable to beat Lyness. The Englishman is proving to be a shrewd signing for the Saints. 

Just before half time, the Gypsies were reduced to ten men. With Pat's on the counterattack, Flores’s tackle was late on Lennon, but referee Paul McLaughlin allowed advantage for the attack to develop. When the ball went out of play, the referee had a long think but eventually produced a red card to Flores. 

The second half begun with Bohemians trying to push for a goal to get them back into the tie. An early cheer for the home side was not a goal but rather hearing the score over the PA from the Shamrock Rovers game as they were trailing to Shelbourne at the time. 

Declan Devine made a treble change on the 60th minute mark with Williams, Twardek and Clarke coming on for Benn, McDonnell, and McDaid.

His decision was justified immediately when James Clarke picked up the ball and ran at the heart of the Athletic defence. He slipped the ball through to fellow substitute Williams whose low shot managed to beat Lyness to make it game on with just over an hour gone. 

Connolly moments later had a huge opportunity to equalise after a cross found his way to him at the back post, but Lyness once again was on hand to keep his side in the lead. 

St. Pat's didn’t create much in terms of chances in the second half, but Eoin Doyle could have killed the game when Forrester found him in the box, but he missed the target. 

Bohs kept pushing for an equaliser late on, creating half chances and putting the balls into the box but not really causing many problems for Lynass

Noah Lewis was lucky not to receive his marching orders. After being carded in the first half, he was late again with a tackle, but referee McLaughlin allowed him to continue.

The match officials were not popular in the Jodi Stand this evening. Although, St. Patrick's were reduced to ten men late on when substitute Tommy Lonergan was sent off after receiving two yellow cards in two minutes. 

A medical emergency in the crowd during additional time in the second half delayed proceedings but after 15 minutes of added time, the referee blew his whistle and the Saints keep marching on as they go second, four points behind Bohemians in first place. 

Bohemians: James Talbot; Jay Benn (Kris Twardek 59), Grant Horton, Patrick Kirk, Kacper Radkowski; Keith Buckley, Dylan Connolly, Jordan Flores, Declan McDaid (James Clarke 59), Adam McDonnell (Dean Williams 59); Jonathan Afolabi.

Subs not used: Luke Dennison, Krystian Nowak, Drew Baker, James McManus, John O'Sullivan, Chris Lotefa. 

Booked: Dylan Connolly (68). 

Sent off: Jordan Flores (44). 

St. Patrick's Athletic: Dean Lyness; Anto Breslin, Sam Curtis, Noah Lewis, Jay McGrath; Mark Doyle (Serge Atakayi 81), Chris Forrester, Jamie Lennon, Jason McClelland (Vladislav Kreida 66), Adam Murphy (Thijs Timmermans 66); Eoin Doyle (Thomas Lonergan 81).

Subs not used: David Odumosu, Ben McCormack, Mason Melia, Conor Carty, Carl Axel Sjoberg. 

Booked: Jason McClelland (38), Noah Lewis (45), Thomas Lonergan (90 and 90+2), Vladislav Kreida (90). 

Sent off: Thomas Lonergan (90+2). 

Referee: Paul McLaughlin

Attendance: 4428 

extratime.com Player of the Match: Dean Lyness 

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