- Brendan Graham
- Sat, Sep 15 2018
Brendan Graham reports from Dalymount Park
Cork City’s title hopes took an almighty dent on Friday evening in Dalymount Park as Bohemians recorded a well-deserved 4-2 victory to continue their fantastic end of season form.
Bohs began the game with electrifying pace right from the off and gave Cork absolutely nothing from the first whistle.
The enthusiastic fans in the Jodi stand could sense that the Gypsies were in the mood and with the side coming into this game as the form team in the league and looking for their seventh straight win in all competitions the atmosphere was fantastic from the start.
City took quite a while to settle themselves down and a Keith Ward chance just ten minutes into the game should have been enough of a warning that the home side were up for this and ready to pounce on any slight slip at all.
That warning wasn’t heeded and just a minute later the home side had the lead thanks to a Damien Delaney own goal. The fans in the Jodi stand rose to their feet in rapturous applause as the pass from Delaney back to Cherrie in the goal was far too heavy and was nestled in the net by the time the scrambling goalkeeper could recover the ball.
Daniel Kelly was wreaking all sorts of havoc with his blistering pace and he used it to his advantage scoring two goals in the space of eight minutes to give Bohs a deserved 3-0 lead.
Chances were few and far between for Cork in the opening half and they were finding it hard to create anything outside of their own half as they focussed all of their efforts on dealing with the pace and urgency the home side were showing.
They did pull a goal back after 36 minutes with Graham Cummins scoring his 14th of the season and City’s first of the night taking advantage of a rare lapse in concentration in the Bohs defence.
The deficit reduced to two but only for a total of nine minutes as Derek Pender restored Bohemians three goal lead just before the break. The Bohs captain went a fantastic individual run through the middle. He played a one-two with Kevin Devaney before firing the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
The Leesiders came out fighting in the second half and began to enjoy a lot more possession as they tried to battle their way back into the game.
As you would expect from the league champions they weren’t going to give up without a fight and had their second of the night twelve minutes into the second half from a close range Jimmy Keohane header.
Karl Sheppard took the ball down the left wing and did very well to beat Derek Pender and swing a cross right onto the head of Keohane to head past Shane Supple to make the game 4-2.
Bohs to their credit weathered the storm extremely well for the remainder of the half once they conceded their second and seemed happy enough to sit back and try and catch Cork on the counter with any chance they got.
Dan Casey and Ian Morris never looked overly exerted with the chances that City created in the final stages with Morrissey, Cummins and Sheppard taking their turns to test Supple but Bohs saw the game out to record a memorable victory over the current champions who trail Dundalk by six points having played one more game than the Lilywhites.
Bohemians:Shane Supple; Derek Pender, Dan Casey, Paddy Kirk, Ian Morris; JJ Lunney (Dan Byrne 89), Kevin Devaney, Keith Buckley, Keith Ward (Oscar Brennan 75); Daniel Kelly (Eoghan Stokes 90), Dinny Corcoran
Subs not Used: Colin McCabe, Rob Cornwall, Robbie McCourt, Andy Lyons
Booked:Shane Supple, Derek Pender
Cork City: Peter Cherrie; Aaron Barry, Shane Griffin, Damien Delaney (Conor McCarthy 46), Steven Beattie; Barry McNamee (Josh O’Hanlon 70), Conor McCormack (Shane Daly-Butz 85), Jimmy Keohane, Gearoid Morrissey, Jimmy Keohane; Graham Cummins, Karl Sheppard
Subs not Used: Mark McNulty, Ronan Coughlan, Pierce Phillips, Ronan Hurley
Booked:Karl Sheppard, Steven Beattie
Referee:Paul McLoughlin
Extratime.ie Man of the Match: Daniel Kelly (Bohemians)
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