"Ask me after the Rovers game" had been the line call through last week when Roddy Collins was asked how much we should be reading into his side's strong start to the new campaign. By the time the final whistle came at Tolka Park yesterday there hardly seemed much reason to bother anymore.
Having led the game thanks to a Glen Crowe header and a near monopoly of the decent chances, Collins's side were well beaten and no one was more scathing afterwards than the man who has assembled virtually a new team at the club since taking over a year ago.
"Can we win the championship?" he chuckled afterwards, "they've answered the question for me. No chance, not if we play like that. Rovers looked sharper mentally and physically out there today while we never got started, maybe the problem was that the boys were beginning to read all that stuff that you boys had started writing about them over the last few weeks."
Whatever was going on, the Bohemians players seemed to lack the focus you might expect for the latest instalment of what has traditionally been their fiercest rivalry. That much was evident from the speed with which they surrendered a lead which had taken more than half-an-hour of fairly rugged battling to knock out in the first place.
Even when they had the better of things during those opening minutes, however, the home side could create next to nothing from open play. From free kicks and corners the sweetness of Paul Byrne's strike was repeatedly matched only by the agility of Tony O'Dowd around his own goalmouth.
But against a defence which all through last season has shown a tendency to panic when opponents get in amongst them, there seemed little idea of how to carry the fight into the Rovers defence.
The ease with which Crowe made space to head home Byrne's corner from the left for the goal would certainly suggest that Damien Richardson's side, while undoubtedly much improved on last term, still retain some of their frailties at the back.
It is going forward, though, that Rovers have been transformed over the summer and yesterday, even without a recognised striker, the visitors did enough in that department to leave Collins with no basis on which to claim that his side had deserved anything other than the defeat.
Young Anthony Stewart performed solidly for a teenager thrown into such a keenly contested encounter but around him there were glowing performances from Billy Woods, Richie Purdy and again, 18 year-old Shane Robinson down the right hand flank.
In the absence of Sean Francis and Tony Cousins, Purdy started his first ever game as a striker and took to it immediately. When the Rovers equaliser came just two minutes after Crowe's goal, it was almost the result of a fine link up between Wood and his fellow winger. Twice the Bohemians defence were sufficiently on their toes to block and it took a ruthless piece of finishing from Purdy, starting his first game since rupturing his hamstring back in February, to guide the ball into the Bohemians goal. The move had actually started with a Marc Kenny free kick and Richardson's side took the lead in much the same way with a quickly taken set piece on the edge of the area 10 minutes into the second period catching just about everyone bar Purdy unawares. With his back to goal and a defender scrambling across to cover, the Dubliner showed that he could finish from a tight angle like the best of them.
With Robbie Brunton off injured, Avery John having had his debut cut short, presumably by a spot of jet lag and Bohemians now chasing the game, Robinson suddenly found himself with the opportunity to further enhance his rapidly growing reputation over the closing stages.
That Waterford had the opportunity to sign the 18 year-old before the summer and decided against it looks like being something that will haunt Mike Flanagan and co over the months.
The youngster showed yesterday that he can shoot with either foot and after going close to finishing a fine sprint down the right with what would have been a superb goal in the 74th minute he opted for direct route 10 minutes from the time to round off a fine afternoon.
The late sending off of substitute Ray McLoughlin for the use of his elbow on Graham Doyle was a slight blemish on an otherwise memorable victory for Richardson but, like Collins, he'll know only too well, that championships aren't won nor great teams made by brushing past sides that have at least temporarily forgotten how to stand their ground.
BOHEMIANS: Russell; Caffrey, Maher, Mullen, Brunton; Byrne, Dempsey, Hunt, John; Crowe, Harris. Sub: Swan for Brunton (69 mins).
SHAMROCK ROVERS: O'Dowd; Britton, Jackson, Palmer, Dunne; Robinson, Kenny, Tracey, Woods; Purdy, Stewart. Subs: McLoughlin for Stewart (73 mins), Colwell for Kenny (78 mins), Crowley for Dunne (96 mins).
Referee: J Feighery (Dublin).
