Dundalk 1-2 Bohemians
By Padraig Whelan
Bohemians breathed fresh life into the title race and ended Dundalk’s long home unbeaten run with a 2-1 victory under the watchful gaze of Republic of Ireland management duo Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane at Oriel Park.
A Gary Rogers own goal saw the Dubliners take an early lead and although Dane Massey levelled shortly afterwards, Dave Mulcahy headed a 74th minute winner and halt the Lilywhites' top flight unbeaten run at 25 games.
Dundalk named an unchanged side from the one which convincingly beat St Patrick’s Athletic last time they were out on league duty.
Meanwhile, Keith Long was bringing his depleted Gypsies north - without long term absentees Derek Pender and Marc Griffin while Patrick Kavanagh and Anto Murphy also missed out with big Dublin derbies to come in the next week.
That meant new recruit Ismahil Akinade was handed a first start and he was heavily involved in the opener after just two minutes.
Capitalising on a Paddy Barrett error, he teed up Adam Evans whose blistering drive came back off the crossbar and against the prone Rogers before rolling into the net to stun the home faithful.
They had not saw their side trail at home in a league game since Bohs last visited in August of last year but soon struck back.
‘Massey for Ireland’ has been the cry lately around Oriel Park and those claims, with O’Neill and Keane watching on, will have intensified after the left-back met a Daryl Horgan corner kick with a glorious header into the far corner.
Moments later, they were almost ahead. The man who had saved them against Bohs last season in this fixture, Dave McMillan, bringing a good save out of Dean Delany with a powerful header.
Keith Long’s men were then dealt another bad blow as his already stretched squad suffered the sight of Stephen Best leaving the field with what looked to be a serious injury.
It was an absence the Bohemians boss could have did without as fixtures against St Pat’s and Shamrock Rovers loom large but nonetheless, in his absence they defended well for the remainder of the half - Dave Mulcahy dropping in to centre back and helping restrict the Lilywhites to very few openings.
A side famed for coming on strong in the second half this season, they started well with McMillan nodding over and then Chris Shields drilling across the face of goal after an outstanding Towell pass.
There were then chances at both ends as first Lorcan Fitzgerald cleared off the line from Andy Boyle and then Akinade fired a warning shot into Rogers’ arms from close range.
It was one that the champions failed to heed when Fitzgerald made an impression at the other end - his perfect free-kick being headed in by Mulcahy with just over 15 minutes remaining.
Bohs should have made it even more convincing before the end as Barrett was sent off for bringing down the dangerous Akinade inside the box but Dillon’s spot kick was saved.
It mattered little in the end though as the Gypsies saw it out for a deserved win. Not bad for a team rated 10/1 no-hopers before hand.
Dundalk: Gary Rogers; Sean Gannon, Paddy Barrett, Andy Boyle, Dane Massey (Shane Grimes 66); Chris Shields, Richie Towell; John Mountney, Ronan Finn, Daryl Horgan; David McMillan (Kurtis Byrne 86). Unused subs: Brian Gartland, Darren Meenan, Jake Kelly, Gabriel Sava (GK).
Bohemians: Dean Delany; Roberto Lopes Derek Prendergast, Stephen Best (Kealan Dillon 17), Lorcan Fitzgerald; Karl Moore, Keith Buckley, Dave Mulcahy, Robbie Creevy, Adam Evans; Ismahil Akinade (Dean Kelly 92). Subs: Dylan Hayes, Adam Wixted, Jake Hyland, James O’Brien, Dean Kelly, Lee Stacey (GK).
Referee: Rob Harvey.
