Derry City 1 Bohemians 1
Bohemians will be sick of visiting Brandywell Stadium, their senior side robbed of taking the points as Derry City netted a 94th minute equaliser to share the spoils.
Last Wednesday Bohs’ talented Under-19 team lost out in the final of the Enda McGuill trophy on penalties, the club’s senior side also leaving for home hugely disappointed following this result.
The Candystripes clearly escaped from jail and with Sligo defeating Drogheda, this share of the spoils keeps the European race alive, the Bit O’Red to visit the North West venue in Derry’s final home game.
Despite a blank scoreline at the break, the attendance of 3,200 were treated to an entertaining free-flowing game with both sides anxious to play on the front foot.
And with both sides creating clear-cut opportunities, there was very little between the sides during the opening half.
Derry settled quickly with striker Jamie McGonigle dispatching two tame efforts during the opening 15 minutes, Bohs’ ’keeper, James Talbot gathering the ball with ease on each occasion.
Always keen to strike on the counter-attack, the Dubliners forced Derry keeper, Nathan Gartside into two vital saves within the space of as many minutes.
The lively Liam Burt got the better of Derry’s Ronan Boycec but he was denied by the alert Gartside in the 24th minute.
And Gartside was back in action again when he got down low to block a shot from Tyreke Wilson who had worked his way forward from midfield.
The Bohs keeper was not to be outdone and he pulled off a brace of top drawer stops before end of the opening period.
In the 42nd minute Talbot dived a full stretch to parry Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe’s powerful shot wide of his goal, a superb save.
Within a minute James Akintunde rose well at the back post to meet a McGonigle cross before the Bohs keeper climbed high to palm the ball clear before it was hacked to safety.
After the break Bohs continued to press and while Burt drove a shot into the hands of Gartside, the visitors broke the deadlock in their next attack in the 50th minute.
Striker Promise Omochere, who had played in his side’s Under-19 defeat at this venue on Wednesday night, weaved his way forward past two Derry defenders before squeezing a low drive into the corner of the net giving Gartside no chance.
That goal served to silence the Brandywell faithful as the home lot regrouped with Danny Lafferty failing to hit the target in the 55th minute.
Bohs could have ended the game as a contest in the 75th minute following a fumble by Gartside as the keeper attempted to clear the ball on the 18-yard line. Ross Tierney gained possession of the ball but his shot was blocked on the line by centre-back, Eoin Toal.
Derry refused to throw in the towel and they brought the attendance back to life when a long throw-in by Will Fitzgerald was flicked on by Toal before Akintunde crashed a shot off the crossbar.
Derry City: Gartside; Boyce, Toal, McJannet, Coll |(McLaughlin, 80); Thomson, Harkin (Ferry, 85); Akintunde, Junior, Lafferty (Fitzgerald, 67); McGonigle.
Bohemians: Talbot ; Lyons, Feely, Kelly, Breslin; Devoy, Wilson; Coote, Tierney, Burt (Finnerty, 81); Omochere (Levingston 90).
Referee: D MacGraith (Mayo).
Dundalk 1 Waterford 0
Daniel Kelly’s goal in first half stoppage time saw Dundalk claim a huge three points in their battle to avoid the drop against fellow strugglers Waterford at Oriel Park last night.
The 25-year-old broke clear in the second minute of added time to slot past Paul Martin, who was the primary reason that this wasn’t a more comfortable victory for the Co Louth side.
While the game went right to the wire as the home side failed to add the second that their efforts deserved, it is a huge result for Vinny Perth’s side in their bid to avoid the relegation play-off.
While they have played a game more than everyone bar champions Shamrock Rovers, this result puts them three points clear of Marc Bircham’s side and four clear of ninth placed Finn Harps, who lost in Tallaght.
There were chances at either end in the first half but the pick of them fell Kelly’s way. He volleyed wide on six minutes before missing a great chance to open the scoring on 38 minutes when he blazed over from close range.
He would make amends for his earlier misses in the second minute of stoppage time, however, when he was put clear by a superb pass from Murray before slotting past the outrushing Paul Martin from the right hand corner of the box.
Waterford had their goalkeeper to thank for keeping them in the game after that as he made big saves from Patrick Hoban twice, Andy Boyle and Michael Duffy just after the break.
However, the Blues were unable to capitalise with their best chance to level coming on 72 minutes when Junior Quitirna broke through one on one but his effort was brilliantly touched over by Peter Cherrie.
Dundalk: Cherrie; Jurkovskis, Cleary, Andy Boyle, Leahy; Sloggett (Dummigan 45+1), Patching; Kelly (Ben Amar 74), Murray, Duffy, Hoban (McMillan 85).
Waterford: P Martin; Power, Halford, Ferguson (O'Keeffe 62), Stafford; Evans, Wordsworth; J Martin, Griffin (Green 62), Patterson; Junior.
Referee: John McLoughlin (Roscommon).
Sligo Rovers 2 Drogheda United 0
Homegrown heroes John Mahon and Johnny Kenny got the goals as Sligo Rovers strengthened their grip on third spot with a 2-0 defeat of Drogheda.
Mahon and Kenny provided the finishes from two second half Adam McDonnell corners, as Liam Buckley’s side went four points clear of fourth with four games left.
Drogheda knew a win could have brought them into the hunt for European spots, and started well with wing-back Conor Kane getting forward to good effect on the left.
Mark Doyle was lively as well, and robbed Garry Buckley before cutting across the edge of the box and firing wide with the game’s first real chance.
But the hosts were the more threatening for the second quarter, and forced three saves off Drogheda keeper David Odumosu in quick succession.
Firstly, Lewis Banks combined with Kenny and Andre Wright before volleying towards the corner. Odumosu made the save and had to be back on his feet quickly to save the rebound from Wright.
Soon after, Ryan de Vries showed good feet at the edge of the area to create the space for a shot that the netminder again dived low to keep out.
But the breakthrough came on 72 minutes when centre-back Mahon arrived late into the area to head McDonnell’s corner to the net.
And a similar pattern followed for the second in the closing minutes, with Mahon’s effort this time blocked, and Kenny rifling the rebound to the net.
Sligo: McGinty, Banks, Buckley, Mahon, McCourt, Bolger, McDonnell, de Vries (Byrne 69), Figueira, Wright (Cawley 90), Kenny.
Drogheda: Odumosu, Brown, Kane, Massey (Hyland 74), O'Reilly, Markey (Heeney 60), Deegan, Phillips (Murray 74), Redmond, Doyle, Lyons (Adeyemo 55).
Referee: R Hennessy.
