Bohemians 0 Derry City 0:FOR MUCH of the 90 minutes this proved an interesting example of the great chasm that can sometimes exist between footballing theory and practice: the former being that when two attack-minded sides like these get together a belter should result, the latter being that sometimes, no matter how lofty the respective aspirations, two good teams can do no more than cancel each other out.

True, as the second half wore on the spectacle improved but there were disappointingly few chances produced by teams that boast, between them, a fair proportion of the league's leading strikers.

With just one win to show for their three previous league games at Dalymount, Bohemians went into this game looking to start putting together the sort of home form that provides the foundation for a serious crack at the title.

Under Stephen Kenny, though, Derry City have proven quite a handful for the Dubliners - both at home and away - and the northerners scarcely looked overawed by their task during the opening stages of this latest contest.

The visitors started with just Mark Farren up front but the striker didn't want for support early on with Owen Morrison and Kevin McHugh providing it from the flanks while Gareth McGlynn pressed forward through the centre at every opportunity.

For a while the approach worked to the extent that City looked the more likely to score even if the closest they actually came was 13 minutes in when Morrison's cross was headed goalward by McGlynn but without anything like the power required to trouble goalkeeper Brian Murphy.

Thereafter, the packed midfield largely served to make life difficult for the teams whose attempts to build attacking moves from the back generally came unstuck before the ball reached the final third of the pitch.

On the couple of occasions chances did come the way of the home side's strikers neither could manage to hit the target, Glen Crowe heading narrowly over from a Killian Brennan corner while Jason Byrne shot well wide after Crowe had nodded a long kick-out into his path.

Byrne, in fact, looked a little off the pace of the game and was eventually replaced having failed to make much of an impact even after things had opened up significantly in the second half.

By then the hosts were actively pressing forward in search of a goal but still they found clearcut chances hard to come by. The best of the lot for the locals probably came when Killian Brennan sent in low angled ball from the left and Crowe narrowly failed to make contact at the far post and visiting goalkeeper Ger Doherty never really had to make a save of note.

Worse from the striker's point of view, however, was when John Paul Kelly split the City defence with a perfectly-weighted through-ball only for Crowe, when he looked set to race clear towards Doherty, to make a terrible mess of his first touch.

Somewhat inevitably, as Bohemians pressed at one end they left gaps at the other and for much of the second half City's counter-attacking looked at least as likely to produce a goal. During their side's best period of the second half, the travelling supporters got excited about a weak penalty claim when a cross struck Conor Powell's arm but without the left back knowing much about it while Morrison clipped the outside of the post 15 minutes from time after Farren had lined up the shot.

In the end, though, the two sides just seemed to settle for not losing and Kenny, at least, won't complain about extending his run against his former employers to eight games unbeaten.

BOHEMIANS: Murphy; O Heary, Oman, Burns (McGuinness, 88 mins), Powell; Kelly (Turner, 80 mins), Cronin, Rossiter, Brennan; Byrne (Fenn, 72 mins), Crowe.

DERRY CITY: Doherty; McCallion, Hutton, Gray, Callaghan; McHugh (Sammon, 90 mins), Higgins, McGlynn, Molloy, Morrison (McGinn, 80 mins); Farren.

Referee: Declan Hannigan (Dublin).