Bohemians 4
Cork City 2
Brendan Graham reports from Dalymount Park
CORK CITY’S TITLE hopes took an almighty dent this evening in Dalymount Park as Bohemians recorded a well-deserved victory to continue their fantastic end of season form.
Bohs began the game with electrifying pace right from the off and gave Cork absolutely nothing from the first whistle.
The enthusiastic fans in the Jodi Stand could sense that the Gypsies were in the mood and with the side coming into this game as the form team in the league and looking for their seventh straight win in all competitions, the atmosphere was fantastic right from the get-go.
Cork took quite a while to settle themselves down and a Keith Ward chance just 10 minutes into the game should have been enough of a warning that the home side were up for this and ready to pounce on any slight slip at all.
That warning wasn’t heeded and just a minute later the home side had the lead thanks to a Damien Delaney own goal. Home fans rose to their feet in rapturous applause as the pass from Delaney back to Cherrie in the goal was far too heavy and was nestled in the net by the time the scrambling keeper could recover the ball.
Kelly was wreaking all sorts of havoc with his blistering pace and he used it to his advantage scoring two goals in the space of eight minutes to give Bohs a deserved 3-0 lead.
Chances were few and far between for Cork in the opening half and they were finding it hard to create anything outside of their own half as they focused all of their efforts on dealing with the pace and urgency the home side were showing.
They did pull a goal back after 36 minutes with Graham Cummins scoring his 14th of the season and Cork’s first of the night, taking advantage of a rare lapse in concentration in the Bohs defence.
The deficit reduced to two but only for a total of nine minutes as Derek Pender restored Bohemians three-goal lead just before the break.
Cork came out fighting in the second half and began to enjoy a lot more possession as they tried to battle their way back into the game.
As you would expect from the league champions they weren’t going to give up without a fight and had their second of the night 12 minutes in from a close range Jimmy Keohane-header. Karl Sheppard took the ball down the left wing and did very well to beat Pender and swing a cross right onto the head of Keohane to head past Supple and make the game 4-2.
Bohs, to their credit, weathered the storm extremely well for the remainder of the half once they conceded their second and seemed happy enough to sit back and try and catch Cork on the counter with any chance they got.
Dan Casey and Ian Morris never looked overly exerted with the chances that Cork created in the final stages with Morrissey, Cummins and Sheppard taking their turns to test Supple but Bohs saw the game out to record a memorable victory over the current champions.
It comes as a seventh win in-a-row in all competitions for Keith Long’s Bohemians with City’s title hopes taking a severe dent this evening in Dalymount Park.
Bohemians: Shane Supple; Derek Pender, Dan Casey, Paddy Kirk, Ian Morris; JJ Lunney (Dan Byrne 89), Kevin Devaney, Keith Buckley, Keith Ward (Oscar Brennan 75); Daniel Kelly (Eoghan Stokes 90), Dinny Corcoran.
Cork City: Peter Cherrie; Aaron Barry, Shane Griffin, Damien Delaney (Conor McCarthy 46), Steven Beattie; Barry McNamee (Josh O’Hanlon 70), Conor McCormack, Jimmy Keohane, Gearoid Morrissey, Jimmy Keohane; Graham Cummins, Karl Sheppard.
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