Bohemians 2 Linfield 1: WHILE accepting his side are somewhat fortunate to be taking a lead into the return, Bohemians' manager Pat Fenlon stressed that at least his player now know what to expect at Windsor Park on April 19th. "You'd love to have four or five, but that's never going to happen," said Fenlon when asked if a one goal lead will be enough. "It's going to be a difficult game going to Windsor either way, no matter what the score was here. Whether we'd won lost or drew, it's a tough occasion.

“I think from our point of view, the good thing is our lads have seen first hand what it’s about with Linfield. They’ve got to be able to match them.”

Linfield took the lead on 16 minutes. Damien Curran swept the ball out wide right and Brian McCaul’s cross was headed home by Mark McAllister.

Bohemians drew level from their sixth corner on 42 minutes. Another Paul Keegan delivery to the near post finally extracted a dividend as central defender Ken Oman powered his header to the net.

Linfield will be without midfielder Marcus Kane for the return after he was sent off for a second booking for a foul on Killian Brennan on 67 minutes. With that numerical advantage, Bohemians pressed late on and got their reward on 86 minutes. Teenage substitute Gary Burke punished an 86th minute slip by William Murphy to play Raffaele Cretaro in on goal and the little striker, guilty of several earlier misses, clipped the ball over goalkeeper Stuart Addis. Jason Byrne, another home substitute, was then deprived of a third goal two minutes into added time when his half volley from skipper Owen Heary’s cross came back off the butt of the far post.

BOHEMIANS: O’Connor; Heary, Shelley, Oman, Powell; Brennan, Rossiter (Cronin, 64), Keegan, Quigley (Burke, 74 mins); Cretaro, Greene (Byrne, 64 mins).

LINFIELD: Addis; Ervin, Casement, Murphy, A. Burns; McCaul (Tomelty, 78 mins.), Gault, Curran, Kane; McAllister (Munster, 83 mins), Miskimmin (Carvill, 70 mins).

Referee: T Connolly (Dublin).