FAI CUP SEMI FINALS/Bohemians...2 Derry City...1: Derry City left for home yesterday convinced they had once again been the victims of injustice but if Kevin Mahon saw a television last night he may have come around to the view that his side were beaten fair and square in this Carlsberg FAI Cup semi-final.

Immediately after the game Mahon was as sure as the fans who jeered referee Hugh Byrne that the visitors had been on the wrong end of a larceny. "We were heading for a replay," he said "and then the referee made a decision as a result of which Bohemians are going to a cup final and we're not."

He had, he said, an assurance that the challenge had been a clean one from Eddie McCallion who Byrne reckoned had taken down Glen Crowe while appearing to be heading harmlessly towards the right-hand side of the box.

And the five minutes of play that remained after Crowe picked himself up to belt the penalty beyond Russell Payne were certainly emotional. The sizeable travelling support desperately willed their men on to save a game they had led at the break and it was hard not to feel some sympathy for them.

On balance, though, the game was won by the better side and so Stephen Kenny will end the season leading Bohemians out for the club's third consecutive cup decider after being in charge of losing finalists Longford when the Dalymount club completed its double last May.

"It's been quite a run," beamed Kenny afterwards, "when we went to Longford the week I took over the committee here said they'd be more than happy to get away with a draw . . . and then going to the Carlisle Grounds an awful lot of people were tipping us to lose.

"Today was fantastic. At 1-0 down I always felt that we would score but I was concerned that they might nick a second. We said at half-time that we had to keep being patient, to probe and probe and I think that once we got our passing game going we got what we deserved."

It might easily have gone the other way, though, for while Bohemians had the better of a first period in which Payne had to make a couple of decent saves, a wonderful back heeled flick from Liam Coyle had given City the lead six minutes before the break. Then, just seconds before it the striker had a much easier chance to double the advantage but this time took a great deal of time to produce a side-footed effort that Michael Dempsey saved easily.

Two nil then and the suspicion is that the league's tightest defence might have done the rest.

McCallion and Darren Kelly had both been outstanding for the bulk of the game, repeatedly chasing back to curtail the progress of Crowe and Trevor Molloy. Where City struggled to contain their hosts, though, was when faced with a run from deep and Tony O'Connor and Dave Morrison, in particular, caused them a problem or two over the course of the 90 minutes.

Molloy's equaliser was the product of a neat piece of work, initially by Colin Hawkins and Fergal Harkin and then by the striker himself who shot into the bottom right corner.

For the few minutes that followed City had their work cut out to prevent a quick follow up but when required they defended with resolve and gradually they steadied themselves and got back into the contest.

Bohemians, though, generally played the better football and always looked the more likely to get a winner. The visiting side's determination to keep them at bay was typified shortly before the end when Mark Rutherford, while on a run, quickly found himself surrounded by seven opposition players.

Likewise McCallion's poorly timed challenge on Crowe was probably the product of nothing more than determination but the defender is unlikely to take any comfort from seeing replays of an incident that has reduced City's promising season to an outside chance of an InterToto Cup place.

BOHEMIANS: Dempsey; O'Connor, Hawkins, Hill, Webb; Harkin, Caffrey, Hunt, Morrison (Rutherford, 66 mins); Molloy (O'Neill, 82 mins), Crowe.

DERRY CITY: Payne; E McCallion, Kelly, McLaughlin; Doherty, McGlynn, Hughes (Beckett, 56 mins), T McCallion, Hargan; Philips (Gilmour, 87 mins), Coyle.

Referee: H Byrne (Dublin).