Bohemians 3 St Patrick’s Athletic 2
Finally, the Bohs faithful have reasons to be cheerful entering high summer as these three points ease them into the title race.
A sparse Dalymount crowd pocketed their phones straight after the penalty shootout in St Petersburg to witness a Dublin derby that lacked only for the din. At least 6,000 supporters can march on the Aviva Stadium in 12 day’s time when Stjarnan FC visit from Iceland for the Europa Conference League qualifier.
St Pat's passed the halfway mark of their campaign on top of the SSE Airtricity League - they are third after this result - and while they retain the look of title contenders in possession, Bohemians created waves of panic by setting their Scottish wingers on them.
The way Liam Burt and Ali Coote used their pace and trickery prompted St Pat's stoppers, Sam Bone and Billy King, to lash out in the early exchanges. Both rightly saw yellow cards.
Another booking, for Lee Desmond, turned into a red before the finish. Desmond's hack on Ross Tierney led directly to Tyreke Wilson's winner on 72 minutes. The Irish under-21 international curled a perfect free kick into the top corner.
Matty Smith - another Scot on show - should have put the visitors in front on 19 minutes. The former Dundee United striker went for accuracy, with a low shot forcing a save from James Talbot.
St Pat’s appeared to be the dominant force until Dawson Devoy’s distribution began to tell. The teenage playmaker looked a class apart. It helped that Bohs were the more aggressive unit with Coote heaping on the stress by ghosting between the lines.
The pressure allowed Georgie Kelly show his strength through the middle but when his first goal chance came on 27 minutes the big centre forward's tame shot was easily stopped by Liverpool's loan goalkeeper Vitezslav Jaros.
Desmond's scything tackle on Kelly, and first yellow card, seemed to draw a line under the first half. Not so. Kelly followed up a header by Ross Tierney, scrambled off the line by Bone, to bury his 12th goal of the campaign. Andy Lyons put a lovely cross into the box after King's slip on the end line.
“Did you see it?” Kelly demanded of linesman Wayne McDonnell when Lyons collapsed in the box a few second into the second half. “He swung at him!”
The protest was not enough to warrant further sanction and, out of nothing, the equaliser came when Smith lifted the ball over Talbot, where it came off the post only for Lyons to accidentally finish to his own net.
Keith Long's team barely missed a beat, bombarding the Des Kelly stand end until Wilson reclaimed the lead.
The best was saved until last as Burt’s daisy cutter to the left corner punished St Pat’s on the break. Actually, the worst was saved until last as Bermingham’s second yellow, for kicking Lyons, gave us eleven versus nine to the finish line.
Remarkably, Bohs nodded off to allow Jason McClelland pull one back but that’s where the drama finally subsided.
Bohemians: Talbot; Lyons, Feely, C Kelly, Wilson; Devoy, Buckley (capt); Coote (Finnerty 93), Tierney (Mullins 87), Burt (Ward 87); G Kelly (Hery 90).
St Patrick's Athletic: Jaros; Bone (McCormack 78), Barrett, Desmond, Bermingham (capt); Burns, Forrester, Lennon, Benson, King (McClelland 68); Smith.
Referee: R Hennessy (Limerick).
