JONATHAN AFOLABI was given a very direct order before the start of this League of Ireland season.
Bohemians manager Declan Devine and his coaching staff believed he was the best striker in the country, so they challenged him to show it.
It wasn’t just about goals or assists, the instruction during those discussions with Afolabi was to show that he could dominate defences, trouble them in a way others can’t and offer a focal point for the rest of his teammates to feed off.
He was going to be their most important player.
Those who worked up close with Afolabi, even in such a short space of time, were not shy about putting demands on a young forward that was still finding his feet in the senior game.
“This is my first full season in professional football. I have never really had a full season with one club, so to get past double digits and now be coming in on 20 [goals] is better than what I thought,” he said earlier this week, ahead of today’s FAI Cup semi-final away to First Division champions Galway United.
Afolabi turned 23 the month before the campaign began, and he’d endured challenging spells on loan in Scotland after leaving the comfort blanket of Celtic to try and forge a career.
Between January 2020 and May 2022 he was at Dunfermline Athletic, Dundee, Ayr United and Airdrieonians. This was a long way from those early academy days with Southampton, when his performances for the Republic of Ireland in the 2019 U-19 European Championships earned him a place in the team of the tournament.
He headed to Glasgow a month after those impressive displays and his future seemed very different then.
By last Christmas, though, after a tough first few months at Dalymount Park in which he struggled with injury and form at the back end of the 2022 season, the prospect of him emerging as the country’s top centre forward, who would earn a call-up to the senior Ireland squad, was not a genuine possibility.
Confidence was still low.
Opponents sensed weakness.
Early on he would be told in no uncertain terms during games by centre halves what they thought about him.
“You’re shit.”
“What you moaning for?”
“You’re still shit.”
“What you still moaning for?”
Afolabi was easy to wind up by more experienced opponents who did their best to unsettle him.
But Devine and his staff were happy with how he was performing. Bohs began the season strongly, finding their way to the top of the Premier Division, and while he scored just once in the opening five games – away to St Patrick’s Athletic on 10 March – confidence was building at the club.
Afolabi, though, was still taking stick in games.
“You’re still shit.”
“What you still moaning for?”
By late June, he hadn’t added to his single goal. Doubts crept in, Afolabi made it clear to the Bohemians management that he was frustrated with himself. He is someone who analyses every element of his performance, requests clips to study, and understands his game in a way others the same age might not.
So of course he knew that he needed to start scoring.
Opponents who were in his ear during games and found it easy to wind him up also respected the threat that he posed. Afolabi might not be a killer with comebacks to slaggings but defenders will tell you that he backs himself to be stronger than everybody he faces.
On crosses he will be the one looking to pin his marker rather than kill them with movement. He operates the same in open play, happy to be that focal point as requested and bring teammates into play rather than moving off the shoulder of opponents and going on the blindside.
Management reassured him about the contribution he was making and teammates continued to tell him he was the best in the league on a weekly basis.
Afolabi needed to find a sense of calmness when chances arrived.
He was too panicky and snatched at opportunities.
Then came a Dublin derby with Shamrock Rovers on 23 June.
The turning point.
Bohs went 2-0 down in front of their own fans. It was a familiar story for Afolabi, who was a threat for most of the night but unable to provide the killer instinct.
Until his goal on 67 minutes, when the ball broke in front of him at the edge of the box and his instinctive left-foot finish powered in off the post.
Seven minutes later he was quickest to react to a breaking ball down the left channel, crossed into the box and Bohs were level.
The floodgates opened with nine goals in seven games – including the winner against Shelbourne to get this FAI Cup adventure up and running.
Those vocal opponents during games also noticed a shift in his confidence. He wasn’t as timid as before when it came to dishing out verbals.
He wasn’t shit and now he was scoring too.
“He takes awful physical abuse in the game; we don’t understand the beatings he takes. But he keeps coming back for more and that’s credit to the lad. I think he takes more (than a striker takes naturally) probably because he gives it back too,” Devine said during that run in July.
Bohs have also sought to protect their star asset on a daily basis as the season has gone on, realising they cannot afford to be without him for a prolonged period of time.
But when Afolabi has been asked to sit out training, or to step out of certain intense parts of a session, he has refused. The data and advice from the medical/fitness department may indicate he is entering “the red zone” in terms of physicality and more prone to injury, but Afolabi is a player who demands to train every day with the same level of commitment he produces on a matchday.
Given he has played in 30 of their 32 league games and scored three times along this cup run it clearly works.
Afolabi scored in six successive Premier Division fixtures during that glut over the summer and followed up with another six goals over the last two months to take his tally for the season as a whole to 17. He was called up as emergency cover by Stephen Kenny for the recent European qualifier with the Netherlands but sat in the stands as an onlooker at Aviva Stadium.
For Bohs, he is the man they will look to for inspiration against Galway as they bid to return to Lansdowne Road for next month’s FAI Cup final.
Today: Galway United v Bohemians – Live on RTÉ 2, 2.40pm kick-off.