St Patrick’s Athletic 2 Bohemians 2
Bohemians came from 2-0 down in this thriller by the Camac to salvage a point and whet the appetite for hopefully more of this end-to-end excitement to come in the FAI Cup final at the end of the month.
There was certainly no shadow boxing in this rehearsal as the sides made it 13 goals between them from their four league meetings this season.
A well-earned point in the end it may be, but it’s just two wins now in 11 league games for Keith Long’s Bohemians to leave them a point off fourth-placed Derry City, who meet Waterford at the RSC on Tuesday night in their race for Europe.
Despite five changes from their having secured Europe with Friday’s 4-1 win in Longford, St Patrick’s dominated the first half, the only wonder at the interval being that they weren’t more than one goal to the good.
Half-chances were swapped before St Pat’s greater energy and urgency delivered their lead on 12 minutes from an uncharacteristic error by Bohemians goalkeeper James Talbot.
Right back Andy Lyons did his goalkeeper no favours by putting far too much pace on his back pass under pressure from Jak Hickman.
Talbot had to take a touch and then overhit his clearance straight to Billy King who showed admirable composure to cut past Lyons and rifle the ball to the net at the near post.
Remaining unsure of themselves at the back, the woodwork came to Bohemians’ rescue two minutes later, Jay McClelland powerfully heading Hickman’s cross against the crossbar.
McClelland would double Saints’ lead three minutes after after the break, though, finishing from close range from Hickman’s cross.
A mistake by Paddy Barrett allowed Bohs back into the game seven minutes later when his pass never reached Chris Forrester, allowing the alert Ross Tierney in to slip the ball past Vitezslav Jaros.
Springing Ciarán Kelly, Dawson Devoy and Promise Omochere from the bench, the revitalised visitors were level on 65 minutes.
Tyreke Wilson’s corner was flicked on at the near post by the impressive Tierney for Omochere to get the final touch.
Tierney then almost won it for Bohs on 85 minutes, his drive from distance coming back off the crossbar.
Roll on November 28th.
ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Jaros; Hickman, Barrett (Abankwah, 73), Bone, Griffin (Bermingham, 80); Lewis, Forrester; King, McClelland (Benson, 73), Smith, Melvin-Lambert (Burns, 73).
BOHEMIANS: Talbot; Lyons (C Kelly, 62), Feely, Finnerty, Breslin (Devoy, 62); Levingston, Wilson; Coote (Ward, 88), Tierney, Burt; Mullins (Omochere, 62).
Referee: Rob Harvey (Dublin).
Sligo Rovers 1 Longford Town 0
Sligo Rovers left it late to take the spoils as Lewis Banks netted in the 90th minute to sink a diligent Longford Town who looked on course to take a point from The Showgrounds.
This game appeared a mismatch – third-placed Sligo seeking a place in Europe against the already-relegated Longford, with just two wins in 32 games, the last of which came on September 11th.
Furthermore, Sligo had already beaten Longford in their three previous meetings this year.
Sligo, with Derry City and Bohemians their nearest challengers for third spot, were looking to build on the positives of their 2-0 home defeat of Drogheda United last Friday – that same night Longford were being hammered 4-1 at home to St Pat’s.
Longford were bright in the opening exchanges – Dylan Grimes and Aodh Dervin, in particular, showed neat touches – as Sligo’s first real opening was a 22nd-minute shot from Andre Wright that rippled the side netting. Then Adam McDonnell went close, drawing a save from Mick Kelly.
Longford’s first serious effort on target came from Dervin after 36 minutes and he also unleashed a fantastic shot from distance eight minutes after the restart as the visitors continued their first-half verve.
Sligo made a slew of substitutions in an attempt to find a breakthrough but they ended up not forcing Longford goalkeeper Kelly to make a significant save until the 85th minute when he smothered Garry Buckley’s close-range effort following a Sligo set-piece.
Five minutes later Kelly was powerless to prevent the crisp shot from Banks that gave Sligo the victory.
SLIGO ROVERS: McGinty; Banks, Mahon (Morahan 67), Buckley, McCourt; Figueira (Byrne 67), Bolger, McDonnell, De Vries (Lorenzen 78); Kenny, Wright (Keogh 67).
LONGFORD TOWN: Kelly; Elworthy, McDonnell, O'Driscoll, Kirk; Grimes (Manley 81), Robinson; O'Brien (Nugent 68), Dervin, Davis (McNally 87); Williams
Referee: Ben Connolly.
Finn Harps 0 Drogheda United 0
Battling Finn Harps moved out of the relegation playoff position albeit on goal difference ahead of Waterford – who have a game in hand, against Derry on Tuesday night – as a result of this scoreless draw in Ballybofey against a Drogheda United side who have taken another step closer to top-flight survival.
After some of the recent thrillers at Finn Park, this was a more subdued affair. The fact that both teams had been on the road on Friday, plus a heavy Finn Park surface, hardly helped matters.
Harps had an early scare on five minutes when Mark Doyle steered the ball into the net after Mark Anthony McGinley had parried a Dane Massey shot but an offside flag was raised.
On 15 minutes Conor Kane lost possession and Drogheda nearly paid the price as the ball came to Harps’ top-scorer Tunde Owolabi but he fired across the face of goal and wide.
The home side began the second half on a positive note with Seán Boyd coming more into the game and conjuring up a couple of chances.
In the 69th minute, Drogheda won a free in a dangerous position after Killian Phillips was taken down by Ethan Boyle, but McGinley saved from Jake Hyland.
A minute later, Hyland was sent-off after clattering Owolabi and suddenly the pendulum swung in Harps’ favour.
But Boyd then saw red for Harps on 85 minutes following an incident with Gary Deegan and neither side was able to grab a winner.
FINN HARPS: McGinley; Boyle, McEleney (O'Sullivan, h-t), Sadiki, Webster, Mustoe; McNamee (Seymore, 90+3), Coyle (Hawkins, 80 mins), Connolly, Owolabi (Foley, 90+3), Boyd.
DROGHEDA UNITED: Odumosu; Brown, O'Reilly, Massey; Redwood, Heeney (Phillips, h/t), Deegan, Hyland, Kane; Adeyemo (Corcoran, h-t), Doyle.
Referee: N Doyle (Kildare).
