Bohemians 1
St Patrick’s Athletic 0
Brendan Graham reports from Dalymount Park
BOHEMIANS RETURNED TO league action with a hard-fought three points thanks to a wonder goal from Kevin Devaney against St. Patrick’s Athletic on Friday night.
It was a slow opening to the game with both teams trying to suss each other out and create some early chances.
It was St. Pat’s who settled quicker into the game and should have been in front after fifteen minutes.
A perfectly weighted ball over the top of the Gypsies’ defence left midfielder Ryan Brennan with a one-on-one chance with goalkeeper Shane Supple in a race for the ball.
Brennan secured possession and attempted to side-foot the ball into the corner of the net. But amazingly his touch was too heavy and the chance went agonisingly wide of the post in what proved to be a huge let-off for Keith Long’s side.
St Pat’s seemed to gain plenty of confidence with Brennan’s near-miss and they began to take the game to Bohs as the first half progressed, creating chance after chance on Supple’s goal.
He pulled off a string of fantastic fingertip saves from Jamie Lennon and Conan Byrne to keep a hard-working St Pat’s side goalless as the game remained at 0-0.
The hosts were really struggling to hold onto possession in the opening half, with Barry Murphy having very little to do only but enjoy the sunshine on his back in the opening half.
The first real chance that came the Gypsies way in the opening half came five minutes before the break as a wonder-strike from Devaney rocked his side into the lead.
The midfielder cut inside and unleashed a shot from distance, nestling the ball into the top corner to give a 1-0 advantage at half-time.
That opening goal for just minutes before the first half came to an end gave Bohemians an increased confidence and they showed just that in the second period, as they started very brightly.
Midfielder Dylan Watts had two very good chances to extend the lead for the home side.
He found himself on the end of a Keith Ward corner and unleashed a powerful shot towards goal which looked like it was heading for the top corner, only for centre half Kevin Toner to get his head in the way and ease the pressure on the St Pat’s rearguard.
Minutes later, Watts had another great chance to give Bohs a 2-0 lead but his shot from a Devaney pass went straight at Murphy — this time the Saints goalkeeper saved easily.
The performance from both teams in the second half was worlds apart from the first period. Bohs grew into the game from the minute they took the lead and comfortably dealt with anything Liam Buckley’s men threw at them in the second half.
St Pat’s had their chances to level the game through Thomas Byrne and Ryan Brennan again, but they were only half-chances and nothing that would trouble goalkeeper Supple in the Bohs goal.
The Saints would rue the number of fantastic chances they had in the first half as the Gypsies held out for a crucial 1-0 victory to leapfrog Sligo Rovers up into 7th position and give themselves a perfect start to the second half of the campaign.
Bohemians: Shane Supple, Derek Pender, Dan Casey, Rob Cornwall (Keith Ward 45), Karl Moore (Paddy Kavanagh 70), Kevin Devaney, Oscar Brennan, Ian Morris, Paddy Kirk, Dylan Watts, Eoghan Stokes
St. Patricks Athletic: Barry Murphy, Ian Bermingham, Kevin Toner, Lee Desmond, Simon Madden , Conan Byrne, Killian Brennan (Ian Turner), Ryan Brennan, Jamie Lennon, Dean Clarke (James Doona 79), Thomas Byrne (Jake Keegan 80)
Updated 23.40: An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to Shane Supple as an Ireland international. While Supple is a former Ireland U21, and was called up to the senior Ireland squad in 2018, he does not have any full caps.
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