Bohemians might have blown it

Galway United 3 Bohemians 2:A FORTNIGHT after they stole control of this championship race from under the noses of their cross-city rivals, Bohemians handed the initiative straight back to Shamrock Rovers here last night.

Sean Connor and his players might just feel they have done more than their fair share to help to shape things at the top of the table, with last night’s win bringing their tally for the season against the United manager’s old club to 10 points from four games.

By the end of a remarkable game the Bohemians fans could do little but look on in dismay. They’d started the night taunting Rovers again with a chant of “can you feel it slip away?” When Jason Molloy grabbed the home side’s winner in the 90th minute, though, they, like their players, already looked resigned to the fact it is they who look to have thrown a golden opportunity away.

It must have been difficult for them to fathom quite how their side had lost a game they had been well on top of for long spells, and Bohemians had looked the more likely to score a third through the closing stages with Jason Byrne and Paddy Madden going close.

Their finishing wasn’t what it should have been, though, and defensively they were consistently poor, something Connor exploited late on by throwing on a striker for a full back to put yet another one over on his former employers.

That it was going to be an interesting night had been apparent from early on with Galway, having won two and drawn the other of their meetings with the Dubliners this season, clearly intent on making a game of this encounter without their most prominent players.

The absence of Stephen O’Donnell and Karl Sheppard had appeared a fatal handicap, but Bohemians arrived, it seemed, intent on evening things up whenever possible. Having gifted the locals two goals over the course of the first half, they were fortunate to be on level terms at the break.

Ken Oman pretty much presented the opening goal with a clumsy body check on Molloy that prompted an immediate penalty decision from referee Tommy Connolly. Derek O’Brien calmly sent Barry Murphy the wrong way.

The goal came against the run of play, which Bohemians had the better of more or less from beginning to end.

Given the stakes, though, the intensity with which they chased an equaliser was no surprise. And while they managed to look a little shaky almost every time United broke forward, their pressure was rewarded just after the midway point in the half when Owen Heary crossed from the right and Paul Keegan turned a powerful header low past Barry Ryan.

If the large travelling support that made up comfortably more than half the crowd reckoned their side might push on and put their jitters behind them they were to be disappointed.

Connor’s men always seemed to feel they could nick another one, as they nearly did when Oman headed wildly up into the air on the edge of his box and Gary Curran hit a first-time shot that bobbled just the wrong side of Murphy’s post.

The goalkeeper limped off not long afterwards, the second Bohemians player to pick up a significant knock in the opening half, and so it was Chris O’Connell who was beaten for United’s second with Brian Shelley appearing to fractionally beat Molloy to Rhys Meynell’s long ball and the substitute goalkeeper unable to prevent the bobbling ball sneaking into the bottom right corner.

With only time added on for stoppages remaining in the half, the visitors set about grabbing a second of their own straight from the restart, and Byrne ultimately delivered it from the penalty spot after Mark Quigley had succeeded in going over Tom King’s outstretched leg inside the area.

Once again, it seemed reasonable to expect that Bohemians would finally begin to assert themselves, but they were never quite able to put an extremely spirited young Galway side away.

Molloy looked a particular threat, but he was far from the only United player to make an impact.

Seamus Conneely rounded off a strong performance by setting up the late winner for the striker after appearing to have squandered the chance by delaying on the edge of the area.

As Molloy cut in and pushed the ball past O’Connor at the near post, the small home support erupted in joyful celebrations as, in front of them, the Dubliners’ management team held their heads.

It was a remarkable end to the evening, but not nearly so extraordinary as next week’s last round of games is going to have to be if Bohemians are to get their noses in front again.

GALWAY UNITED: Ryan; King (N Keane, 73 mins), Sinnott (G Kelly, h-t), McKenzie, Meynell; Reilly; J Keane, Conneely, Curran (D Sheppard, 81 mins), O’Brien; Molloy.

BOHEMIANS: Murphy (O’Connor, 34 mins); Heary, Shelley, Oman, Powell; McGlynn, Cronin (Higgins, 24 mins), Keegan, Quigley; Cretaro (Madden, 67 mins), Byrne.

Referee: T Connolly (Dublin).