Bohs resolve pleases Callaghan

Aaron Callaghan commended his side’s resilience after their 0-0 draw with rivals Shamrock Rovers on Monday afternoon.

Speaking to the assembled press the manager said “It was probably a good point in the end. They would have had a bit of momentum after the start of the season they’ve had and the result they had the other night as well. They would have been coming over here confident so I’m delighted with our lads there were a few fantastic performances, probably should have got more down in Cork but in the end I’m happy with the point.”

A major talking point from the game was the state of the Dalymount pitch. The bumpy surface limited both side’s passing abilities and Callaghan believes its something that will improve as summer approaches

“It’s in a bad state, there was a couple of games that were played on it that shouldn’t have been played, I think the club know that going forward and it cut up really bad. I mean the weather hasn’t helped either we’re in the growth season of March so hopefully… We don’t play now on it for ten days.”

With Bohs playing against ten men for the majority of the game Callaghan said the pitch restricted how creative they could be in trying to gain an advantage.

“It doesn’t suit the way we play. It’s hard to move the ball quick because one of the emphasis (particularly when they went a man down) was to try to keep moving the ball through midfield and moving it quickly but the pitch just doesn’t allow that and sometimes you have to bypass it a little bit.”

On the performance itself Callaghan was impressed with the fitness shown against a physically strong Rovers side, taking into account that the home side were playing their fourth game in nine days.

“Our lads are very fit to be fair and that showed at times, they probably had a little bit of an edge with physical fitness. We dug in and I just think tiredness prevailed in the end, particularly for our players having that trip to Cork on Friday.”

Two bright notes for Bohs in an uneventful game were Luke Byrne and Chris Lyons. The latter was substituted with an injury after 35 minutes but had looked lively up to that point. Byrne has been very impressive this season and was a constant threat up the left hand side.

“I think he’s got the potential to play at a higher level along with 3 or 4 other young lads at the club.”