- Donal Greene
- Fri, Mar 28 2014
Bohemians managed to weather the storm for the best part of 90 minutes, taking a hard-fought point back to Dalymount Park following this entertaining encounter at Oriel Park.
Dundalk dominated from the off, retaining possession well and getting in behind the Gypsies’ defence on a number of occasions with Towell and O’Donnell dictating the tempo of the game from midfield. Bohemians did manage a half chance through veteran striker Jason Byrne but he failed to trouble Peter Cherrie.
Tactically, Dundalk manager Stephen Kenny lined his team up with a four-man diamond midfield, encouraging the full backs to get forward as much as possible, while Owen Heary’s side adopted a 4-4-1-1 shape with two banks of four, with Craig Walsh sitting in behind Jason Byrne who laboured up front on his own.
The first chance of note came on 17 minutes when good work from Dundalk’s Pat Hoban resulted in Kurtis Byrne’s snap shot being brilliantly tipped over the bar by Bohs’ stopper Dean Delaney.
The breakthrough for Dundalk came on 28 minutes when Brian Gartland met Darren Meenan’s corner kick and expertly nodded the ball into the far corner of Delaney’s net. However, Dundalk’s joy was to be short-lived.
Barely three minutes later, Bohemians drew level through Aidan Price’s header from a Darragh Raynor free-kick which caught the Lilywhites’defence napping.
On the back of their equaliser, the Gypsies grew in confidence and enjoyed a spell of dominance, penning the home side in their own half for the best part of five minutes. As the game approached half-time, the Lilywhites began to regain their earlier foothold on the game but found the Gypsies increasingly difficult to break down.
Jason Byrne could have given Bohs the lead just before the half-time break; he spotted Cherrie off his line and attempted an audacious lob, but the Dundalk ‘keeper just about managed to scramble back and tip the ball over the bar.
Paul Tuite’s whistle signalled the end of an entertaining first half as the sides left the pitch all square.
The second half began in frantic fashion and Bohs’ Dan Byrne was perhaps lucky to stay on the field, with the ref opting for leniency and showing him a yellow following a poorly timed tackle on Richie Towell.
On 55 minutes, Dundalk almost took the lead. Richie Towell curled a 30-yard effort in the direction of Delaney’s top right-hand corner but the Bohemians stopper pulled off a world-class save, getting a hand to the ball and palming what looked like a certain goal behind for a corner.
Towell’s influence on the game continued and two minutes later, he drilled another 30-yard screamer just wide of Delaney’s left-hand post.
Referee Paul Tuite was reluctant to issue bookings all evening, tolerating a number of aggressive fouls by Bohs’ players. This resulted the Gypsies becoming more physical as the game wore on, at times preventing Dundalk from dictating the pace of the game.
The home side’s next chance came on 74 minutes when Kurtis Byrne engineered space on the edge of the box , flicking the ball up and volleying it, but his attempt flashed just over the bar. Byrne was replaced by David McMillan immediately after that effort.
As the game entered the final stages, Dundalk had all of the play but couldn’t break down Bohemians’ defence, Dean Delaney being particularly outstanding, marshalling his defence well and using all of his experience to command his penalty area.
Despite several gilt-edged chances, Dundalk couldn’t find a way past Delaney, with the former Shelbourne ‘keeper putting in a heroic man of the match display. Right at the death, Derek Pender headed yet another goal bound Dundalk effort off the line, underlining Bohemians’ defensive stubbornness.
Shortly after, Paul Tuite blew the whistle for full-time. A hard fought point for Bohemians and an attractive, yet ultimately fruitless display from Dundalk. All square at Oriel Park.
Dundalk: Peter Cherrie; Sean Gannon (Ruaidhri Higgins 82), Andy Boyle, Brian Gartland, Dane Massey; Darren Meenan (John Mountney 66), Stephen O’Donnell (c), Richie Towell, Daryl Horgan; Kurtis Byrne, Pat Hoban.
Subs not used: Chris Shields, Marc Griffin, Manuel Kaguako, Gabriel Sava (GK).
Booked: None
Bohemians: Dean Delaney; Derek Pender (c), Roberto Lopes, Aidan Price, Darragh Raynor; Keith Buckley, Dan Byrne (Ryan McEvoy 86), Karl Moore, Craig Walsh; Patrick Kavanagh (Stephen Beattie 66), Jason Byrne (Dinny Corcoran 90+2).
Subs not used: Philly McCabe, Stephen Traynor, Kevin Devaney, Lee Murphy (GK).
Booked: Dan Byrne (52), Darragh Raynor (70).
Referee: Paul Tuite
Attendance: 2,114
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Dean Delaney (Bohemians)
