Soccer

Bohemians fight back against UCD to open up three-point lead at top of the table

Round-up: Ciarán Coll earns Derry a point at home to Sligo and Shelbourne bank points against lacklustre Cork City

Bohemians’ Ali Coote in action against Adam Wells of UCD during the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division game at Dalymount Park. Photograph: Evan Treacy/Inpho
Bohemians’ Ali Coote in action against Adam Wells of UCD during the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division game at Dalymount Park. Photograph: Evan Treacy/Inpho
Fri Mar 17 2023 - 22:05

Bohemians 2 UCD 1

Paddy Kirk and Ali Coote delivered quick-fire second-half goals as Bohemians had to come from behind against bottom side UCD to maintain their terrific start to the season.

A fifth victory from six games stretches Bohemians’ lead at the top of the table to three points ahead of Derry City, and a staggering 10 points above arch-rivals Shamrock Rovers, whom they meet in their next home game on April 7th.

Though Bohemians started brightly, Dalymount was stunned into silence when UCD stole the lead on 12 minutes.

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[ Premier Division table ]

Adam Wells dinked a clever ball down the left for the run of Danu Kinsella-Bishop with the College striker’s low cross-shot deceiving James Talbot to go in off the far post.

Bohemians remained most unsure of themselves at the back as Dara Keane might have done better than shoot straight at Talbot while Krystian Nowak made a brave block from a Kinsella-Bishop shot.

Enjoying plenty of the ball, though, Bohemians thought they had levelled on 32 minutes but Jonathan Afolabi’s ‘goal’ was ruled out as Ali Coote’s cross had gone out of play.

A minute later, Afolabi was denied again when Moore got down superbly to make a fine save to his shot on the turn.

The frustration continued for the home side in the final minute of the half when Coote ballooned a penalty way over the bar after James Akintunde had been fouled by the UCD goalkeeper.

Talbot had to make a smart save from Harvey O’Brien early in the second half before Bohemians turned the game on its head inside four minutes.

They equalised on 55 minutes, Paddy Kirk working a one-two with Adam McDonnell to curl home off his right foot.

Coote then redeemed his penalty miss when collecting a loose ball from a Kirk pass to skip past O’Brien and shoot home.

BOHEMIANS: Talbot; Horton, Nowak, Radkowski, Kirk; Coote (Williams, 86), McManus, McDonnell, McDaid; Afolabi (O’Sullivan, 89); Akintunde (Clarke, 83).

UCD: Moore; Babb (Higgins, 80), O’Brien, Keaney, Wells; Behan, Dignam (Izekor, 74), Barr (O’Connor, 89), Nolan (Norris, 74); Keane; Kinsella-Bishop.

Referee: Rob Harvey (Dublin).

Attendance: 4,017

Derry City 1 Sligo Rovers 1

Ciarán Coll spared Derry City’s blushes at the Brandywell, the defender netting a deserved equaliser 10 minutes from the end to frustrate a gallant effort from the visiting Sligo Rovers.

And to be fair the share of the spoils was a deserved result, both Derry and Sligo happy to see the international break as both sides appear to have lengthy injury lists.

The Brandywell faithful marked this Sunday’s sixth anniversary of the death of club legend Ryan McBride, many supporters lighting up their mobile phones during one minute of applause.

Controversy, however, erupted five minutes later when referee Adriano Reale emerged the centre of attention.

The match official appeared to allow Derry the advantage following a challenge, but then stopped the game to award the free-kick as Jamie McGonigle was racing unchallenged towards the Sligo goal.

Despite Derry’s frenetic opening, it was Sligo who managed to silence another near-capacity attendance when breaking the deadlock in the 25th minute. And it was a superb goal, albeit against the run of play.

Lively full back Reece Hutchinson burst up the left flank at pace and his deep cross found the head of Max Mata who gleefully directed the ball into the Derry net, a superb strike.

Controlling the game after their goal, John Russell’s side lost the services of right full back Johan Brannefalk due to injury,

The Swedish player was stretchered off in the 42nd minute having sustained what appeared to be an ankle injury.

Sligo’s injury worries continued after the break when Karl O’Sullivan, who had replaced Brannefalk, was withdrawn due to injury and replaced by Éanna Clancy.

In addition, centre back John Mahon, who had been booked in the opening period, also failed to appear after the break having been replaced by Lukas Browning.

Both Ronan Boyce and McGonigle failed to hit the target when well placed as the home side forced their way forward in search of an equaliser.

With minutes remaining Derry restored equality when a corner from Ben Doherty was headed home by Coll. And while the big crowd celebrated, Sligo could and should have won the game one minute later.

Bogdan Vastsuk broke free and facing a one-on-one situation with goalkeeper Brian Maher, the big striker flashed the ball wide of the upright, much to the relief of the home attendance.

DERRY CITY: Maher; Boyce, Coll, S McEleney (McLaughlin, 86), Doherty; P McEleney, Diallo, Patching (B Kavanagh, 57); Graydon (C Kavanagh, 78), McGonigle, O’Neill (McEneff, 57).

SLIGO ROVERS: McNicholas; Brannefalk (O’Sullivan, 42, Browning, h/t), Mahon (Clancy, h/t), Pijnaker, Hutchinson; Bolger, Hartmann, Morahan (Livak, 73); Vastsuk, Mata, Fitzgerald.

Referee: Adriano Reale.

Cork City 0 Shelbourne 2

Shelbourne claimed their first away victory of the season after an impressive display against Cork City at Turners Cross on St Patrick’s Day. Damien Duff’s side were excellent throughout the contest and rarely looked in danger of not claiming maximum points from the game.

Shels deservedly took the lead in the 11th minute when City defender Josh Honohan unintentionally headed into his own net. A well-worked set piece by the away side ended up with Kian Leavy crossing into the City penalty area, before Honohan mistimed his jump to head beyond Jimmy Corcoran.

Duff would have been extremely pleased with his side’s first-half performance. They controlled the majority of the opening period. City struggled to cope with Shels’ midfield and at times it looked as if they were just chasing shadows, such was the Dubliners’ dominance.

Although Shel’s created little in terms of clear-cut opportunities in front of goal, the away side looked comfortable throughout the first half. The interchange of the Shels players in possession had to be admired as they always seemed to have options on the ball. The Dubliners were also extremely organised defensively, with every player knowing exactly their role when their side were out of possession.

City looked well off the pace in the opening 45 minutes. The home side were careless in possession and struggled to make any sort of impact in the half. However, despite their inferiority, the home side should have gone in level before the break when Barry Coffey found himself on the end of Ruairi Keating’s flick, but with the goal at his mercy the midfielder fired over.

Shels went further ahead five minutes into the second half. Tyrke Wilson picked out Jack Moylan inside the City penalty area, and after perfectly setting himself with an excellent first touch, the Shels’ striker finished calmly into the bottom corner of the net.

City upped their intensity but found little joy. There were claims for a penalty by the hosts when Keating went down under a Shane Griffin challenge but referee Ray Mattews appeared to get the decision right by not awarding the penalty for City.

CORK CITY: Corcoran; Crowley, Gilchrist, Hakkinen, Honohan; Coleman, Healy (Krezic 56), Coffey (O’Brien-Whitmarsh 81); Bargary (Walker 81), Keating, Varian (Owolabi 73).

SHELBOURNE: Kearns; J Wilson, Molly, Byrne, Griffin (Ledwidge 76), T. Wilson; Farrell (McManus 14), Leavy (Robinson 65), Caffery; Moylan, Smith.

Referee: R Matthews