Bohemians 5 Cork City 0
Bohemians returned to winning ways against 10-man Cork City at Dalymount Park to maintain their lead at the top of the Premier Division.
The travelling Cork fans had little to cheer about in the first half although it could have been a different story had James Talbot not pulled off an incredible first minute save to deny Ruairi Keating.
But City’s indiscipline would see centre back Adam Gilchrist red carded for a rash challenge on Jonathan Afolabi on the half-hour. And off the resultant free kick, Bohemians captain, Jordan Flores expertly floated the ball over the wall and beyond the City goalkeeper with 32 minutes gone.
The home side came close to extending their lead when Afolabi was unable to connect with a cross from Dylan Connolly. But they eventually doubled their advantage three minutes short of the hour mark when Adam McDonnell beat the keeper with a low shot into the far corner.
The game tapered off for a bit but City could have thrown themselves a life line only for Cian Murphy to miss from point blank range. And it was to prove a costly miss with Ali Coote marking his return from injury to put the game beyond Cork’s reach on 78 minutes before reprising his feat a minute later from a similar position.
James McManus then rounded off the scoring on 84 minutes with a terrific strike from outside the box that went in off the post.
BOHEMIANS: Talbot, Radowski, Nowak, Kirk, Horton, Flores (Clarke 75), McDonnell (McManus 61), Connolly (McDaid 69), Williams (Coote 70), Twardek, Afolabi.
CORK CITY: Moynihan, Honohan, Gilchrist, Colman, Wimbo, Healy, Bolger (O’Donovan 74) O Brien-whitmarsh (Krezic 62′), Crowley, Coffey (Murphy 62′), Keating (Owalabi 62),
Referee: A Reale (Ireland)
St Patrick’s Athletic 0 Sligo Rovers 1
Max Mata was the match winner at Richmond Park on Monday afternoon as Sligo Rovers recorded a slender victory over St Patrick’s Athletic.
Having lost out by the narrowest of margins (2-1) to defending champions Shamrock Rovers at the nearby Tallaght Stadium just three days earlier, John Russell’s visitors were hoping for greater joy on their latest trip to the capital.
Their goalscorer against the Hoops – Greg Bolger – was marked absent for this game, but New Zealand native Mata came up with the goods on 56 minutes to secure all three points for Sligo.
Pat’s were looking for a return to winning ways following a 2-0 defeat to Derry City last Friday, but breathed a sigh of relief when Sligo attacker Will Fitzgerald dragged a shot past the target during the early exchanges.
However, Jason McClelland and Adam Murphy did threaten at the opposite end and the Saints grew into the game as it developed. Although Thijs Timmermans was withdrawn in the closing stages of the opening half, the hosts remained in the hunt for their sixth league triumph of 2023.
Yet it was their opponents who broke the deadlock 11 minutes after the resumption when Mata confidently headed home Johan Brannefalk’s cross from the right-hand side.
Pat’s introduced a number of players off the bench in an attempt to get themselves back into the reckoning, but with one of them (former Sligo striker Eoin Doyle) receiving a red card in the closing moments, they ultimately couldn’t conjure an equaliser.
ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC: Lyness; Sjoberg (McGrath, 66 mins), Curtis, Lewis, Breslin; Timmermans (Kreida, 45+3 mins); Murphy (Lonergan, 66 mins), Forrester; McClelland (Atakayi, 71 mins), Mulraney; Carty (E Doyle, 66 mins).
SLIGO ROVERS: McNicholas; Brannefalk (Lafferty, 84 mins), Mahon, Pijnaker, Hutchinson; Morahan, Browning; Liivak, Barlow (Radosavljevic, 46 mins), Fitzgerald; Mata (Cawley 77 mins).
Referee: N Doyle (Dublin)
UCD 0 Dundalk 2
Teenager Ryan O’Kane scored a goal of the month contender to seal Dundalk’s victory at the UCD Bowl. Leading through John Martin’s first half strike and with UCD chasing the game late on, O’Kane struck in the 94th minute.
Collecting an Alfie Lewis pass, the 19-year-old got his head up and struck a stunning right-footed shot that arrowed into the net off the underside of the crossbar to add to his first goal of the season in Friday’s derby win over Drogheda United.
Their second back-to-back wins of the season moves Stephen O’Donnell’s Dundalk back up to fourth place in the table. UCD remain three points adrift of Cork City at the bottom.
Despite a promising opening it was the 35th minute before the game sparked to life with Dundalk taking the lead. The UCD marking was lax from O’Kane’s corner as Martin, fresh from his late winner which downed Drogheda, ghosted in completely unattended at the back post to score.
It was an hour before UCD finally worked Nathan Shepperd, Danny Norris finding a pocket of space on the left to bring a good save from the Dundalk goalkeeper down to his left.
Substitute Jake Doyle then spurned UCD’s best chance of an equaliser right on 90 minutes when shooting wide before O’Kane made sure of the three points for Dundalk with his moment of magic.
UCD: Moore; Osam, Keaney, Wells, Dempsey; Keane (Doyle, 74), Higgins (Gallagher, 54); Behan, Norris (Izekor, 84), Nolan (O’Connor, 84); Kinsella-Bishop (Clarke, 54).
DUNDALK: Shepperd; Davies, Williams, Muller, Leahy; Lewis, Malley; Yli-Kokko (Hoban, 65), Tulloch (Doyle, 88), O’Kane; Martin (Benson, 65; Ward, 69).
Referee: Sean Grant (Wexford)
Drogheda United 1 Shelbourne 1
Damien Duff’s Shelbourne extended their unbeaten run in the Premier Division to five matches with a draw against Drogheda United. However, manager Damien Duff left his players in no doubt about how he perceived their performance.
Evan Caffrey’s fine free kick salvaged a point against an impressive Drogheda team, for whom Freddie Draper had given the lead with a header early in the second half. Duff labelled his side’s display as “very poor.”
“We were nowhere near our levels today. I’m very happy with the point but not with the performance,” he said post-match, reflecting on a game in which his side were second best to Drogheda for the majority.
The home team dominated the opening half, with Draper, Darragh Markey and Dayle Rooney all going close to scoring the lead goal. Referee Rob Hennessy denied Drogheda a penalty when Ryan Brennan was fouled by Paddy Barrett.
Draper, the teenage striker on loan from Lincoln City, scored his second goal in three days mere minutes after the restart. He headed in Darragh Markey’s cross after a short corner routine.
Kevin Doherty, himself a former Shelbourne manager, would ultimately rue his team’s inability to take more of the chances that fell their way – and the decision of the referee not to penalise Barrett in the first half.
Caffrey’s free kick came at the midway point of the second half and left Drogheda goalkeeper Colin McCabe flailing. Jack Moylan could have stolen all three points for Shels near the death, but McCabe repelled his effort. It would have been scarcely deserved.
DROGHEDA: McCabe; Ahui, Adegboyega, Keeley, McNally; Brennan, Heeney; Grimes, Markey, Rooney; Draper (Foley, 90).
SHELBOURNE: Kearns; JR Wilson, Barrett, Byrne (Quinn, 83), Griffin, Ledwidge (Hadiki, 46); Lunney, Caffrey, T Wilson; Moylan; Robinson (McManus, 83).
Referee: Rob Hennessy
