DINNY CORCORAN IS back at the club he feels most loved, and they are reaping the rewards.
The striker returned for a third spell with Bohemians back in December after ending an extremely frustrating time at St Patrick’s Athletic.
And Dubliner Corcoran has been in excellent form during the opening weeks — currently topping the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division scoring charts alongside Cork City’s Sean Maguire with four goals from as many matches.
“Ever since I left Bohs in 2014, I’ve always wanted to go back,” Corcoran told The42 this week. “I didn’t know when it was going to be but there is a special feel to the club with the fans and even all the backroom staff. Here I am now and I’m enjoying it as much as ever.”
After leaving the Gypsies three years ago, Corcoran joined Sligo Rovers and scored 16 goals before signing for Pat’s. But, despite putting in the work in training, he rarely featured for the Saints under Liam Buckley.
“I had a good season with Bohs in 2014 and then at Sligo I had a good year personally with 16 goals, although it didn’t go well for the club,” he says.
“I felt I was progressing well but what happened last year was a disaster. I only started two league games and it was a bit of a knock-back.
“My confidence was down but I knew myself that I could still do a job and I worked hard in the off-season to get myself back at the level to where I was before that season.
“The hunger was there and now it is showing as I’m playing well and the confidence is back.”
He adds: “To be honest with you, I can’t (put my finger on what went wrong). I trained as hard as ever and I don’t want to name names but I just feel like I was unfairly treated and never given a proper chance.
“The less said about it the better as it’s a season to forget about for myself.”
After losing their first two league matches of 2017, many were tipping Bohs to have a difficult season — particularly as the restructuring of the divisions means three clubs will go down this year.
However, Keith Long’s side have bounced back brilliantly. Corcoran bagged a brace as they came from two goals down to claim victory over an otherwise unbeaten Bray Wanderers side last Friday night.
On Monday evening, the 28-year-old centre forward was on the scoresheet again in a 1-0 win away to Limerick.
Having zero points after two games was disappointing so it was a massive weekend getting six points against two strong teams,” says Corcoran. “Hopefully we can kick on now.
“The performances had been good. The Derry defeat wasn’t a 4-1 game and we were unlucky against Shamrock Rovers with myself and Dano (Byrne) getting injured at half-time. The pitch was awful and it just wasn’t our night.
“We knew we played well and we didn’t let our confidence dip too much. We knew we needed to get results against Bray and Limerick so we’re delighted.”
Recent results aside, Corcoran is under no illusions that staying up will be the main objective — especially with first first-team regulars Ismahil Akinade (spleen removed) and Eoin Wearen (cruciate ligament tear) both sidelined for the foreseeable future.
“With three going down this season, we knew it was going to be very tough but I think there are five or six clubs that are going to be worried about that,” he adds.
“It’s going to be very competitive at both ends of the table. I’m not saying we were expecting a relegation scrap but if you look at our budget it’s one of the lowest in the league and everyone has been tipping us to go down.
“That said, I have confidence in the squad and the way we’re playing at the moment we will get results if we can keep it up. I’m hoping we can finish well above the bottom three.”
This Friday night, Bohs host Galway United — one of three clubs with just one point to their name so far — at Dalymount Park.
“We’ll be looking to get three points but I don’t there will be any easy games this season. It will be competitive as ever and everyone is going to be scrapping for everything. We need to go into the game with the right attitude.”
Predictions
Predictions
Every week, we’re giving readers the chance to take us on in predicting the Premier Division results. After Week 4, here’s the standings:
The42: 13
The Readers: 12
Next up is Adrian Sheehan from Cork…
The Reader (Adrian Sheehan)
- Shamrock Rovers v Cork City – Draw
- Bohemians v Galway United – Bohemians win
- Limerick v Finn Harps – Limerick win
- Derry City v Drogheda United – Derry win
- Dundalk v St Patrick’s Athletic – Dundalk win
- Sligo Rovers v Bray Wanderers – Draw
The42 (Ben Blake)
- Shamrock Rovers v Cork City – Cork win
- Bohemians v Galway United - Bohemians win
- Limerick v Finn Harps - Draw
- Derry City v Drogheda United - Derry win
- Dundalk v St Patrick’s Athletic - Dundalk win
- Sligo Rovers v Bray Wanderers - Bray
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