Shelbourne 1 Bohemian FC 4
Boyd 21’; Burt 13’, Devoy (pen) 45’, Twardek 50’, Ogedi-Uzokwe 75’
Two northside Dublin projects at different stages of development, Bohemians emphasised this reality by edging three points clear of Shelbourne with a thumping victory at a ground they will soon be sharing.
What Damien Duff, or any manager in the League of Ireland, would do for a Liam Burt or a Dawson Devoy in their team. That was the obvious difference. Both men were resting in the dugout as Shels fans streamed out of Tolka long before the final whistle, having seen enough of the First Division champions most disappointing loss of the season. They now have one point from six matches at home.
“What can I say, here we go again?” went Duff. “I think the players are too eager to get that win for the fans but you can’t win a game at any level, whether it be kids, adults, Premier Division football in Ireland or in England if you give away goals like that.
“Listen, don’t blame the guys, blame me, the set-up, whatever, but they have to stop because you can’t keep handing teams goals. Without the ball we didn’t feel threatened at all and we could say that most weeks against anyone.”
Bohemians disappeared to dry off at half-time with a well deserved 2-1 lead. Burt opened the scoring in the 13th minute, having hurdled a Bohs assault course before his shot took a wicked deflection off Shane Griffin. The Shels defender made three miserable contributions in the same sequence, first conceding possession to Burt on halfway before slipping and then recovering only to help the ball find Brendan Clarke’s net.
But it was unquestionably Burt’s goal as the Scottish terrier evaded three defenders, which was no mean feat considering the last two were intent on cutting him in half. The former Celtic and Rangers winger has been a real find for Keith Long since arriving in Dublin in February 2021. Shels simply couldn’t handle him on the counter-attack.
Bohs should have been ahead earlier but Junior Ogedi-Uzokwe, the powerful centre forward preferred ahead of Promise Omochere, missed the target from two yards after good work by Ali Coote and Kris Twardek down the right.
There’s an argument for Bohs being reduced to 10 men when Conor Levingston was yellow carded for a heavy foul on Brian McManus. The 20-year-old midfielder has struggled for fitness of late and needed to be replaced four minutes later.
“We can’t really get to the bottom of it,” said Duff of McManus, not the Shels campaign. “It [the injury] flared up again which is disappointing because he can’t get any rhythm in his season.”
Shels, still flying from Friday’s win in Derry, pulled level after Sean Boyd connected with Jack Moylan’s corner. And really, they should have taken the lead when Shane Farrell’s free kick found Luke Byrne but the defender headed straight at Bohs goalkeeper James Talbot.
The Bohs penalty, coming in first-half injury, looked harsh at first sight, even if Byrne did appear to kick Ogeni-Uzokwe, but Devoy made no mistake when going down the middle as Clarke leapt to his left.
The return of this famous derby attracted a full house to Drumcondra but only the Bohs faithful could be heard when Twardek bagged a third goal early in the second half. Coote’s pass found the Canadian in the box and a slick turn beat Ledwidge before a calm finish into the bottom corner.
Ogedi-Uzokwe spurned another chance to open his account for the season – when trying and failing to scoop Clarke – but Burt’s unplayable afternoon eventually gifted the Englishman an open goal, which he gladly took.
Just to rub salt in the wound, the sun decided to come shine on drenched Bohs fans behind the Fairview-end goal. They were never happier when Jordan McEneff arrived to sky a free header into the heart of them.
Shelbourne: Clarke; Griffen, Byrne, Ledwidge; McManus, Coyle, Thomas, Kane; Farrell, Moylan, Boyd.
Subs: Wilson for McManus (18 mins), Lunney for Ledwidge, McEneff for Coyle (both 60 mins), Carr for Moylan (70 mins).
Bohemians: Talbot; Twardek, Horton, Kelly, Wilson; Devoy, Levingston, Murphy; Coote, Burt; Ogedi-Uzokwe.
Subs: Flores for Burt, Omochere for Coote (both 69 mins), Doherty for Devoy (79 mins), Cassidy for Ogedi-Uzokwe (81 mins ).
Referee: John McLoughlin.
