Bohemians 3 Cobh Ramblers 0:BOHEMIANS MOVED four points clear of their closest rivals, St Patrick's Athletic, with a goal straight after the restart from John Paul Kelly sending them on their way to victory at Dalymount Park last night.
It is good news for Pat Fenlon ahead of their crunch derby clash with Shamrock Rovers on Tuesday.
Last night also saw Lithuanian international Mindaugas Kalonas make his first appearance for the club he played against for Riga in Europe last month.
It was a rather nervy start from the home side but they came close to an opener on 28 minutes after Ramblers goalkeeper James McCarthy had done well to divert Anto Murphy's shot away for a corner.
And when Killian Brennan sent over a ball over from the right, McCarthy produced more heroics to push Murphy's downward header away at the far post.
At this stage, Ramblers were giving a good account of themselves and as the half wore on, Bohemians desperation grew with club captain Owen Heary shooting way over from outside the box on 40 minutes.
Bohemians were then to lose their centre half, Jason McGuinness, who was substituted at half time by former Irish under-19 captain John Paul Kelly. But within 23 seconds of the restart, Kelly had put his team in front when having cut down the left, his shot slipped out of the goalkeeper's grasp and over the line.
Bohemians then sealed the game with two goals in the space of four minutes. The first of these came on 78 minutes when Kelly was upended on the right-hand side of the penalty area with Brennan converting from the spot for his ninth league goal of the season.
Then, five minutes later, Kelly threaded the ball through for Jason Byrne who calmly slotted past McCarthy from inside the box.
BOHEMIANS: B Murphy; O Heary, McGuinness (Kelly half-time), T Heary, Rossiter; A Murphy, Deegan, O'Donnell, Brennan (Singh 88); Byrne, Fenn (Kalonas 72).
COBH RAMBLERS: McCarthy; Carey, Guthrie, Murray, Meade; Kavanagh (O'Shea 65), O'Halloran, Coleman, Kearney (Cummins 65), O'Neill; Gaynor.
Referee: P Tuite (Dublin)
