Bohemians 1 Shelbourne 0
High stakes. Ten-man Bohemians survived a late scare to climb to fifth in the Premier Division, clinging to the coattails of St Patrick’s Athletic, while Shelbourne slip below mid-table.
Shels landed into this latest instalment of the north Dublin derby a point clear of their old rivals but Bohs quickly won the eye test. That it took Dawson Devoy 13 minutes to fizz a shot under Brendan Clarke was the only surprise as Scottish terriers Liam Burt and Ali Coote tied the visitors’ defence in knots whenever Promise Omochere was not wreaking havoc down the left flank.
Devoy’s sixth goal of the campaign was signalled well in advance. Burt forced a low save from Clarke in the 10th minute, after Omochere and Junior Ogendi-Uzokwe outmuscled Damien Duff’s usually aligned back five.
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Panic set in whenever Omochere turned towards the Phibsboro end of Dalymount Park. Looking unplayable, especially when he delicately scooped the ball over Aodh Dervin and dashed 40 yards downfield, the winger showed his inexperience in full flow. The moment called for an early pass to Ogendi-Uzokwe but instead Omochere accepted the straight channel offered by Aaron O’Driscoll. Shels’ wily centre half relieved the 21-year-old of possession and the crisis seemed to have been averted.
Actually, Devoy was seconds away from unleashing a low drive from 25 yards that ricocheted in off the butt of the post. It was a sublime finish but Jonathan Lunney was criminally pick-pocketed by Ogendi-Uzokwe before Burt teed up the Ireland under-21 midfielder.
Shels showed flashes of the form that yielded four wins from their previous five matches with Shane Farrell almost finding Jack Moylan on a rapid counterattack. During the string of corners that followed, when a Shels fan behind the goal threw a plastic bottle on to the pitch, the neighbours failed to trouble Tadhg Ryan on debut.
Ryan can expect a sustained run in Keith Long’s starting XI as James Talbot suffered a shoulder injury last week while training with the Republic of Ireland senior squad. The 28-year-old had a comfortable opening 45 minutes mainly because he barely had to use his gloves.
Bohs relinquished control of the game nine minutes into the second half when Ciarán Kelly took a straight red card for denying Farrell a run on goal. Farrell almost swung the resulting free-kick into the top corner but the momentum instantly swung Shels’ way as Long was forced to shore up the defence by replacing Burt with James Finnerty.
The emphasis was heaped on Omochere and Ogendi-Uzokwe to find the energy levels needed to sustain a high press and neither attacker was found wanting for industry. In stark contrast, Shels’ inability to utilise the numerical advantage was none more apparent than Gavin Hodgins spinning a Farrell cross over a gaping goal in the 90th minute.
Both sets of fans were united in joy on hearing the result from Oriel Park as Dundalk beat Shamrock Rovers 1-0 to keep the title race alive.
BOHEMIANS: Ryan; Murphy, Doherty, Kelly, Flores; Coote, Levingston, Devoy, Omochere (Mallon 90+4 mins); Burt (Finnerty, 56 mins); Ogedi-Uzokwe (Feely, 88 mins).
SHELBOURNE: Clarke; O’Driscoll, Byrne, Griffin (McManus, 86 mins); Wilson (Ledwidge, 73 mins), Dervin (Carr, 73 mins), Lunney (Hodgins, 86 mins), Kane; Hakiki, Moylan; Farrell.
Referee: Seán Grant (Wexford).
