Shamrock Rovers -v- Bohemians

• John Robert Dunne
• Sat, May 16 2009


Saturday night sees Bohemians make their first appearance at Tallaght Stadium to take on Shamrock Rovers in a vital clash between the Dublin heavy weight rivals. The recent excellent form of Rovers sees them only five points behind Bohs. Since losing to Derry City at the end of March, Rovers have only lost one of their last nine games. Throughout this run their away form has been excellent including wins away to Sligo, Galway and Dundalk. However the new Stadium at Tallaght has not been turned in to the fortress it was hoped and they will be looking to redress that against the champions.

Rovers’ manager Michael O’Neill will have to plan without the long term injured Ian Bermingham (Calf) and Sean O’Connor (bruised bone) while there are also doubts regarding Dessie Baker (hamstring) and Sean Webb (Back). “We’re slowly reducing the lengthy injury list we had,” says O’Neill. “We were down to 16 players last week but it’s a bit better this time round.” This makes the 3-0 victory away to Sligo all the more impressive. “Fortunately Sean O’Connor suffered no damage when he was hurt against St Pat’s, but he does have bone bruising which causes a lot of discomfort. He should be back in action pretty soon.”

The Sligo victory was extremely pleasing for O’Neill although he acknowledges that playing against the champions will be a step up. “We played well against Sligo Rovers and we were pretty solid throughout the game. We always looked threatening going forward and it was good for Padraig Amond to get two goals. I watched them last week up in the Bradywell and saw how Derry City celebrated their win. It shows that Bohemians are the benchmark team in the Premier Division. We’ll be able to see what progress we’ve made since the last time we played them, which was very early on in the season. Although we lost 2-0 I felt we played quite well.”

For Bohemians it is a match of critical importance coming a week after their 3-2 reverse at the Brandywell. That win for Derry saw them join Bohs at the top of the league on 23 points and was the first away defeat of the season for the champions. Their once formidable defence is beginning to look shaky with 6 goals conceded in their last two matches having scrapped past Shelbourne 4-3 in the EA sports cup. Bohemians manager Pat Fenlon is confident his players will respond, “We’re disappointed that we lost, we’ve got to put it behind us and move on. We need to play as good as we did in he first half against Derry and continue that for a bit longer. I am really looking forward to this game, I think every body is. It’s our first trip to Tallaght, it’s going to be an interesting night.”

Extratime.ie prediction: Matches involving these two heated rivals are never easy to predict. Bohemians won all three of their clashes last season on the way to the title but there is a feeling that they are not as strong this year. Rovers have been in excellent form of late but their home results have been disappointing. This will be a hard fought match that could turn on a piece of individual excellence but I am going for a score draw. 1-1