‘We’re going to win the league’ was the early chant from the home
crowd before ever a ball was kicked. Who would back against it now? If
the club has been undergoing a rebirth since their last league
title back in 1994, then there would seem no better setting than a packed Tallaght Stadium to see that re-emergence bear its full fruit. One-nil it finished, with Shamrock Rovers taking everything from a game that looked, for the most part, like ending all square against Bohemians in
west Dublin.
It was Bohs who enjoyed the better of the early exchanges and in the
seventh minute Conor Powell showed quick feet on the left after Joseph
Ndo had fed him. Stephen Rice was equal to the challenge and showed
some early assurance for the Hoops, blocking at Powell’s feet to send
it out for the corner.
Gary Twigg got the loudest cheer from the home crowd when the names
were read out pre-match and after a quarter of an hour the Scot showed
why he’s the subject of such appreciation in D24 right now. Chasing
his 23rd league goal of the season, he raced onto a hit and hope ball down
the middle. As Brian Murphy dashed from goal, Twigg checked his run
before lobbing the former Swansea 'keeper. It sailed just wide.
The momentum, albeit at a snail's pace, ebbed and flowed between the
sides and in the 20th minute Joe Ndo showed fine awareness to spot
Jason Byrne's diagonal run. The one-on-one was on for Byrne had Aidan
Price not made up the ground to clear with an outstretched leg.
That was to be the last of the significant chances in the half and it
played out to a catalogue of errors summed up by a weary kick into
touch in the 32nd minute by the characteristically classy Twigg when
he had an ocean of space to play with.
The energy rising off both bands of supporters, giving the game a
distinct air of the partisan, seemed on the night to mirror scenes from
the great footballing rivalries in the likes of Istanbul and Belgrade.
The collective spirit in the crowd did little to shake up the players
and the game carried on in the second half with little to stir the
emotions save for a few half chances.
In the 61st minute Ndo, a nuisance at times for the Rovers' defence,
skipped around Stephen Rice and drove a shot towards goal before Price intervened with a sliding block. Two minutes later the Cameroon
international swung in a corner from the right and Ken Oman rose
unmarked. The free header was glanced wide when a goal bound effort
would have seemed easier. How he might rue it now.
With the decibel levels decreasing, if not quite falling to mute, it
looked like both sets of supporters were settling for the draw. Until
ten minutes from time.
Sean O’Connor’s looping free from the left
looked hopeful initially until Craig Sives challenged at the back post. Padraig Amond reacted quickest as the ball dropped, volleyed with his left foot, and the net rippled via Brian Shelley's arm. The deadlock was broken and the swell of emotion seemed to burst its’
banks as the Hoops faithful let loose with thunderous cheer.
Such celebratory mood is seldom without the threat of a gatecrasher
and seven minutes later Paddy Madden struck a speculative high ball
into the Rovers' box. Glen Crowe, looking up over his shoulder for the
balls arrival, was clumsily challenged by Pat Sullivan and Alan Kelly
immediately pointed to the spot. Sullivans’ remonstrations earned him
a yellow card but truthfully, he can have little to argue about.
Jason Byrne stepped up but was delayed when an unsavoury incident
stopped play. The linesman had allegedly been hit by a flying bottle.
When Byrne finally got his cue, we were ready for silence to descend
and the party to end. What followed was a rapture as loud as the
Rovers' goal, for Byrne struck a penalty that perhaps Ronan O’Gara would
be proud, such was the height it reached as it ballooned over.
That would have seemed to conclude matters but in the aftermath of the
missed penalty, Sullivan had felt cause to pursue his exchange
with the referee. He got his marching orders at the death but that
won’t have even the slightest bearing on Hoops' fans going into the
Tallaght night. Six games to go, “Bring it on,” is what they may well
now be thinking.
