Bohemians 1
Sligo Rovers 0
BOHEMIANS PICKED UP their first points of the season against Sligo Rovers at Dalymount Park on Friday night courtesy of a stunning first-half strike from Kurtis Byrne.
Byrne smashed in a thunderbolt 10 minutes in to the opening period to settle a tight battle in north Dublin. After a long ball over the top from Mark Quigley, winger Byrne shot from 20 yards on the half volley. His sweet strike from just outside the box left Michael Shlingermann helpless in the Sligo goal as the ball sailed into the top right hand corner of the net.
Byrne’s splendid strike settled down Bohemians as they edged the territorial stakes early on. Keith Long’s troops looked comfortable and Dean Delany was rarely threatened in the Bohs’ goal in the opening 45 minutes.
Sligo began the second half brightly though and Jaanai Gorda’s pace got him in behind the Bohemians defence to cross towards Chris Lyons but Derek Pender made a last ditch tackle to deny the Bit o’ Red forward.
Just past the hour mark Keith Buckley nearly doubled the home sides lead as his shot hit the bottom of the post with Schlingermann recovering well to save Akinade’s rebound.
The Connacht men’s main source of pressure came from set pieces as they searched for an equaliser but the Gypsies held out in the final stages for three points.
BOHEMIANS: Dean Delany; Derek Pender, Derek Prendergast, Anto Murphy , Lorcan Fitzgerald; Paddy Kavanagh, Keith Buckley, Eoin Wearen(Dave Mulcahy, 90), Jake Kelly, (Ayman Ben Mohammad, 79), Mark Quigley, (Paddy Kavanagh, 62), Kurtis Byrne, Ismahil Akinade.
SLIGO ROVERS: Micheal Schlingermann, Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Regan Donelon, Gavin Peers, Tim Clancy, Jimmy Keohane, Chris Lyons (John Russell, 67), Jordan Richards, Liam Martin, Philip Roberts, Jaanai Gordon
Referee: Graham Kelly
Attendance : 2,115
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