Bohemians 0 Cork City 1
A week in which the roar threatened to return to Dalymount Park ended in defeat and disappointment as Bohemians missed out on what would have been a remarkable return to Europe.
The combination of results required had always been a long shot, not least because Cork City needed a win themselves to be sure of second place but after seeing their side make up so much ground on St Patrick’s Athletic in recent weeks, there was a sense around the place beforehand that Keith Long and his men just might deliver.
City, in the end, had other ideas and after a shaky start they won a good game thanks to a late Billy Dennehy penalty.
Despite the disappointment, Bohs fans will see this season as having been a good one for their club. Under Keith Long, the team has a renewed sense of energy and purpose that was evident again here for long spells while the resolution of the long running saga over Dalymount is worth far more than the trophies for which it was almost traded.
Long will look forward to next season with considerable cause for confidence for there is real talent in this group and everything so far suggests he can help his players to deliver on it.
For John Caulfield, there is the more pressing concern of next week’s cup final when City will be looking to lay down a marker while taking something more tangible from a season in which, as the table suggests, they were a distant enough second best.
They were that here too for a bit with Bohemians making much the brighter start and winning a succession of set pieces at which Ismahil Akinade might have caused Mark McNulty some very real problems had Dan Murray not generally set out to wrestle the striker into submission.
Gradually, City got going themselves and for a while they created better chances than their hosts had early on. Bohemians scraped by when they had to, however, and got the luck they required on occasion too with Karl Sheppard firing just wide after John Dunleavy’s had brilliantly put him in behind the Bohemians back four on the stroke of half time.
If Akinade was being well looked after, those providing support came more into their own after the break when the game recovered its early spark and McNulty provided its outstanding moment, a save a full stretch from Keith Buckley who clearly could not believe that his looping shot had not reached the back of the next.
Not to be wildly outdone, Delaney did very well to stop a close range effort from John Dunleavy, and Buckley then did brilliantly to clear a Mark O’Sullivan header off the line while Derek Predergast looked lucky not to be penalised as he clattered into the City striker well inside the box.
It was, in short, entertaining stuff which would have been made more memorable had Jason Byrne, making what might prove to be the last appearance of a glorious career, somehow managed to bag a late winner after coming on from the bench. Instead, the goal came at the other end where Anto Murphy handled a Colin Healy cross, Neil Doyle finally pointed to the spot and Dennehy coolly converted.
Bohemians: Delany; Hayes (Byrne, 78 mins), Mulcahy (Predergast, 11 mins), Murphy, Fitzgerald; Lopes, Wearen; Buckley, Kavanagh, Kelly (Evans, 84 mins); Akinade.
Cork City: McNulty; McSweeney, Dunleavy, Murray, Gaynor; Miller (D Dennehy, 35 mins), O'Connor; B Dennehy (Ogbene, 88 mins), Beattie, Sheppard (Healy, 74 mins); O'Sullivan.
Referee: N Doyle (Dublin).
