League Report: Bohemians 2 -1 Derry City

Joshua Lindsay reports from Dalymount Park

Bohemians picked up their first win in three games with a 2-1 win over Derry City at Dalymount Park on Friday night.

The Gypsies secured a victory with Derek Pender and Pat Fenlon taking the reigns after the departure of Declan Devine last weekend. Goals from Dayle Rooney and James Akintunde were enough to grab the three points.

There was a sense of uncertainty at Dalymount Park on Friday evening for Bohemians supporters. The loss of the enigmatic Declan Devine and worrying start to the season, provided worry of embarrassment against an in-form Derry City side. 

The Candystripes would have felt confident of getting a result against the Gypsies with their recent poor form, but the newly led Dublin side would not go down without a fight. 

The first chance of the game came to Bohs as their direct approach down the right flank to get Dylan Connolly on the ball worked as he picked up a lovely through ball from Jordan Flores. Connoly shifted inside and tried to deliver the ball but it was a poor cross that Brian Maher was happy to collect and dispatch of. 

A carbon copy of the previous chance came 13 minutes in when their new acquisition in Jevon Mills played Connolly one on one in which he beat the defender and whipped an inviting cross into the box and Filip Piszczek made minimal contact sending the ball out for a goal kick. 

A few minutes later, the visitors had back-to-back chances through shots from Paul McMullan and Adam O’Reilly. Kacper Chorazka made two good saves to deny Ruaidhri Higgins’ men.  

Poor communication nearly cost the home side 20 minutes in, as a long ball from Derry City caused calamity in the Gypsies box.  

The two central defenders clashed as both went up to win the ball, leading to a flick in behind which it seemed to put the ball on a platter for Derry City’s Daniel Kelly. Chorazka pulled off a magnificent save however and shot down Kelly’s dream of putting the visitors ahead. 

The resulting clash caused an early substitution for Derek Pender’s men as Cian Byrne came off for another new Bohemians defender Aboubacar Keita. 

A dangerous chance for the visitors as great link up <span style="-webkit-user-drag: none;-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; user-select: text;background-image:var(--urlContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2, url(" data:image="" svg+xml;base64,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"='));" border-bottom:transparent;background-position-x:0%;background-position-y:100%'="">play down the left was cut out by Adam McDonnell’s great tackle on Derry’s McMullan.  

Bohs took the lead in the same run of play 30 minutes in, when Sam Todd’s light back pass was intercepted by the oncoming Dayle Rooney who slotted home his first goal since his return to Dalymount Park.  

Shortly after going ahead, Dalymount erupted when Connolly, after receiving the ball down the right-hand side once again after winning a chase for the ball with the Candystripes’ Todd, put the ball past the keeper and dived to the ground claiming Maher tripped him up in the box.  

The referee deemed it no foul to the frustration of the home supporters and booked Connolly for diving.  

An outrageous one-handed reaction <span style="-webkit-user-drag: none;-webkit-tap-highlight-color: transparent; user-select: text;background-image:var(--urlContextualSpellingAndGrammarErrorV2, url(" data:image="" svg+xml;base64,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"='));" border-bottom:transparent;background-position-x:0%;background-position-y:100%'="">save by Maher opened up the second half. Déjà vu as Connolly once again sped down the wing and lofted a beautiful cross into the box which was met by the Polish Piszczek who headed the ball downwards and was nearly certain to meet the bottom corner.  

If it wasn’t for Maher who got down to his left and made a brilliant left-handed save which denied the Polish target man, his first goal for the club.  

Derry looked to reply through Kelly, when O’Reilly carefully slipped a precise through ball to the Derry City man, who was then denied by an acrobatic save from Chorazka.  

McMullan’s trickery nearly put the visitors level, when he glided in and out of two Bohemians defenders 67 minutes in. McMullan then struck a tame shot at Chorazka who easily saved.  

O’Reilly was denied moments later. He picked up the ball in the centre of the field advancing through the Bohemians half, space opened for the playmaker to strike at goal, which he did, forcing yet another Chorazka save.  

With fourteen minutes to go, Rooney’s low cross from a corner was flicked on by Adam McDonnell at the near post. The resulting flick was met by James Akintunde the late substitution, who tapped the ball in and doubled their lead.  

The visitors responded within two minutes, when the ball came out to Ronan Boyce on the edge of the Dublin side’s box after a weak clearance from Michael Lilander. Boyce drilled his shot into the bottom corner and really turned up the heat in Dublin 7. 

Ruadhri Higgins men chased the game with five minutes to go and applied heavy pressure on the Bohemians side. 

Bohemians closed the game out and picked up the win at Dalymount Park, which I’m sure has restored some confidence for the Dublin side to go and pick up a result against Shamrock Rovers. 

Bohemians

Kacper Chorazka, Patrick Kirk, Michael Lilander, Cian Byrne (Aboubacar Keita, 25), Jevon Mills, Adam McDonnell, Jordan Flores (c) (James McManus, 71), James Clarke (Daniel Grant, 87), Dylan Connolly, Dayle Rooney (Brian McManus, 87), Filip Piszczek (James Akintunde, 50) 

Subs not used:James Talbot, Bartlomiej Kukulowicz, Sten Reinkort, Billy Gilmore 

Booked: Dylan Connolly (38), Jordan Flores (46).

Derry City

Brian Maher, Ronan Boyce, Mark Connolly, Sam Todd (Ciaran Coll, 55), Daniel Kelly (William Patching, 74), Jordan McEneff (Patrick McEleney, 55), Adam O’Reilly, Cameron McJannet, Danny Mullen (Sean Patton, 74), Paul McMullan, Patrick Hoban 

Subs not used:Tadhg Ryan, Shane McEleney, Tiernan McGinty, Luke O’Donnell 

Booked:Ciaran Coll (81)

extratime.com Player of the Match: Aboubacar Keita

Referee: Rob Hennessy 

Attendance: 4,256 

League Report: Galway United 0 - 1 Shamrock Rovers https://t.co/36Ixk9En7mpic.twitter.com/J7NSliaCtM

— extratime.com (@ExtratimeNews) March 15, 2024