Two goals from Dinny Corcoran helped Bohemians to a come-from-behind 3-2 win over Bray Wanderers to get their season up and running in style at Dalymount Park.
Despite Bohemians dominating the first half with Keith Ward striking the bar, it was sluggish Bray who scored twice early in the second half through John Sullivan and Dylan Connolly.
But Corcoran led the revival with a goal back before Ward levelled.
Corcoran then won it with his second goal of the night 11 minutes from time.
Eager to get points on board after opening defeats to Derry City and Shamrock Rovers, Bohemians brought winger Ward back into his midfield while Dylan Hayes, resigned during the week, started on the bench.
With two wins from two, Bray were unchanged for the third match running.
Bohemians showed plenty of purpose early on, with Bray keeper Peter Cherrie the first to be worked on 12 minutes, diving to his left to push Ward’s shot from distance out for a corner after good approach play by Georgie Poynton and Paddy Kavanagh.
Apart from that, and four corners inside the opening 25 minutes, Bohemians, despite their possession, were struggling to make their dominance pay.
A half-chance opened Bray up for a second time on 38 minutes, but Corcoran failed to get enough purchase on his header from strike partner Jamie Doyle’s cross and the ball was well off target.
Bray had a let-off two minutes before the interval as Bohemians pressure almost told.
Wanderers’ right-back Hugh Douglas fouled Ward on the edge of the area. The little midfielder dusted himself down to curl the resulting free-kick up and over the Bray wall only to see his effort crash back off Cherrie’s crossbar.
For all their first half dominance, Bohemians were clinically punished early in the second half as Bray scored twice inside as many minutes.
Bray snatched their lead on 48 minutes. Gary McCabe’s corner wasn't cleared and Sullivan tapped home at the back post.
Two minutes later a defensive blunder by Gypsies’ skipper Derek Pender presented the ball to Connolly, who raced in to shoot home.
Bohs hit back on 53 minutes when Corcoran calmly slotted to the net after Jamie Doyle played him in on goal.
Relatively quiet up to then, Bray’s Anto Flood came alive on 65 minutes to see his shot on the turn come back off Shane Supple’s crossbar.
It was end-to-end now and Bohemians were level on 70 minutes.
Corcoran threaded the ball through for the run of Ward in from the left and he drilled the ball to the net through the legs of Cherrie for a fine finish.
Corcoran then won it on 79 minutes. Doyle again provided the assist for his strike partner and Corcoran did the rest slotting the ball to the corner of the net past Cherrie.
Bohemians: Shane Supple; Derek Pender, Dan Byrne, Rob Cornwall, Lorcan Fitzgerald; Paddy Kavanagh, Georgie Poynton, Ian Morris, Keith Ward (Philip Gannon 82); Dinny Corcoran, Jamie Doyle.
Bray Wanderers: Peter Cherrie; Hugh Douglas, Conor Kenna, Tim Clancy, Kevin Lynch; John Sullivan, Keith Buckley (Ryan Brennan 82); Aaron Greene (Karl Moore 80), Gary McCabe (Jamie Aherne 85), Dylan Connolly; Anto Flood.
Referee: Rob Hennessy (Dublin)
