Bohemians welcome Shelbourne to Dalymount Park on Friday night. Much has changed since Tolka Park hosted the north Dublin derby on April 11th.
That night is remembered for Mipo Odubeko’s arrival off the bench to toe-poke in a late winner for Damien Duff’s side. Shelbourne seemed ready to catch fire, having risen to third in the Premier Division as Bohs slid towards the relegation zone.
Notwithstanding Drogheda United‘s stubborn refusal to fall away, the scene was set for the defending champions to enter an all-Dublin, three-way tussle for the title with St Patrick’s Athletic and Shamrock Rovers.
Odubeko has scored twice since April 11th but until Kerr McInroy’s 90th-minute winner in last Friday’s 2-1 defeat of St Pat’s, Shelbourne had been winless in five games.
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What Bohemians have done during the same period is nothing short of miraculous.
The bald fact that Alan Reynolds’s team have won five of their last six matches does not say enough about that achievement. Bohs have embarked on a thrilling run, scoring vital late goals to spark euphoria among their fans.
Last weekend’s win over Sligo was especially satisfying because Lys Mousset secured it by opening his League of Ireland scoring account two minutes from full-time.
The vibrant run of form began with a sweet volley from James McManus to beat Cork City 1-0 at Dalymount on April 18th.
No big deal. Every team these days is supposed to beat Cork, whose problems were further illustrated last week by Tim Clancy’s decision to step down as manager, citing exhaustion caused by the commute from Meath and a lack of coaching support.
After the jubilation of the win over Cork, Shamrock Rovers were on course to dampen Bohs’ mood in Tallaght until a sensational 96th-minute winner from 18-year-old Rhys Brennan stunned the home crowd into silence.
Bohs had been trailing 2-0 after 70 minutes, but excellent contributions from Dawson Devoy, Ross Tierney and Collie Whelan helped them to a 3-2 win.
Four days later St Pat’s were coasting to a 1-0 victory at Dalymount until Robert Cornwall’s 90th-minute header appeared to snatch a point from their cross-city rivals.
What happened next – Seán Grehan’s 97th minute strike through traffic to secure all three points – has already been immortalised, thanks to Bohs club commentator Rúaidhrí O’Connor’s decent impression of the BBC’s Kenneth Wolstenholme from the 1966 World Cup final.
“The fans are on the pitch,” hollered O’Connor. “The managers are on the pitch. The subs are on the pitch. It’s bedlam in Dublin 7. Unbelievable, Bohs have won it at the death!”
Waterford appeared to ruin the May bank holiday weekend for Bohs with a 2-1 result at Dalymount, seemingly indicating that an unsustainable way of winning football matches had reached its end.
Not so fast. Bank holiday Monday arrived and Grehan rose up to head another 97th-minute winner to sink Galway United in Eamonn Deacy Park.
Throughout this run, the striker known as “The Moose” was nowhere to be found.
Mousset, the former Sheffield United and France under-21 striker, had been nursing an injury and looked nothing like a professional footballer when coming off the bench against Waterford.
Last Saturday afternoon at The Showgrounds, before just 2,056 spectators, Mousset shuffled into a 0-0 affair with 12 minutes remaining to finally take back control of his ailing career.
When Keith Buckley dropped a speculative ball over the Sligo Rovers defence in the 88th minute, Reece Hutchinson appeared to have the situation under control until a nudge from Mousset and an angled finish sparked another pitch invasion.
“He needs to get trimmer,” said Reynolds of the former £10 million man. “The people that talk about Premier League quality, you can see the glimpses of it. That’s what frustrates you, this fellow could be anything. But there is a reason he didn’t have a club for a while.
“I’m sure at times the players and staff wanted to strangle him as well as everything else, but he’s a nice lad and we took a gamble signing him, so hopefully it can work out.”
The win in Sligo elevated Bohemians to fourth in the table, two points ahead of Shelbourne and two points behind joint-leaders Shamrock Rovers and Derry City.
Five late winners in six games, Mousset on target and Shels en route to Dalymount Park. Anything could happen.
Up Next
Cork City have wasted no time appointing Gerard Nash as their new manager following Clancy’s resignation last weekend.
The 38-year-old Kildare man arrives at Turners’ Cross from GAIS in Sweden, where he was assistant coach, having previously worked with underage sides at Ipswich Town and Aston Villa.
Liam Kearney takes charge of Friday‘s match against St Pat’s and he will double job as assistant coach and head of the academy until Nash’s number two is recruited.
