Bohemian Football Club Crest

All-Ireland Champions and in the league running right to the death ... but it could have been so much better. Cillian Shields looks back

The 2010 season opened for Bohemians at Dalymount Park with a game against Sporting Fingal. There was still a positive feel all around the club after winning the league only a few months before. The stadium was packed, so much so that there were delays for some fans getting in before kick off, and the atmosphere was rocking.

Bohs came out of the game with the three points, although from the very first game and for a while afterwards, it never really looked like they had properly started the season. The cobwebs were there for all to see. However results didn’t reflect this as the Gypsies won four of their first five games, with the fifth result being a respectable draw to the eventual FAI Cup winners Sligo Rovers.

One poor and major feature of Bohemians’ season was failure to win the derby games against St Pat’s and Shamrock Rovers. For the first three quarters of the season, all we could muster against our Dublin rivals were draws at home while losing the away games.

In the third round of fixtures, Bohs hosted the Saints, who were at the summit of the table. A win for the home side would have put the Gypsies top, and we started the game perfectly with captain Owen Heary scoring in the third minute.

Bohs were in control for most of that game, and it looked for all of the world that we were going top before a last-minute Pat’s equalizer to make it 1-1. That was a result that really sunk the heart of every Bohs fan as well as completely deflating the atmosphere in the Jodi Stand.

Conor Powell in action against St Pat's in the Setanta Cup Final (Pic by E Lennon)

Tallaght constantly seems to be a bogey ground for the northsiders, with 1-0 and 3-0 losses in the league there. However The Big Club did enjoy some success there this year at last, when the Setanta Cup Final was held in the south Dublin venue.

Bohs had already faced Coleraine and Glentoran in the group stage of the tournament, and had disposed of Linfield in the semi-final. The winner of the game against St Patrick’s Athletic would be crowned All-Ireland Champions, and it was former Pat’s man Anto Murphy who headed the only goal of the final to give Bohs their fifth piece of silverware in two and a half years.

Despite this success, there were still some poor results through the season. Often though, sheer professionalism to just about get the job done would prevail. However, the team didn’t always get away with it, with points dropped against UCD and Bray and a meagre single point earned against Galway.

For a team aiming for the league championship, two home losses against the side that eventually finished third bottom isn’t an ideal return.

Every summer, European football fever hits Ireland’s shores, as the qualifying rounds for the Champions’ and Europa Leagues take place.

This is always an opportunity for clubs to have great fund-raising games, as fans are always attracted to the wonder that is European football in Ireland, and fill the stadiums more than usual. Our club played in the Champions League against Welsh opposition in the shape of The New Saints.

Bohs probably had too much confidence heading into this game, and maybe let the compromising conditions catch them off guard in the away leg of the tie, as TNS raced to a 3-0 lead in the first 20 minutes of the game.

The tie finished 4-1 on aggregate to TNS, and this was a true nightmare game for Gypsies, as the fantastic travelling support had to go home shocked and bitterly disappointed.

Bohs also missed out on a glamour tie with Belgian giants Anderlecht, who instead paid a visit to Oswestry.

Shortly after this game, news of Bohemians’ financial crisis became widespread. Summer friendlies were organized to increase income against Premier League teams Wolves and Aston Villa, and SPL team Celtic came to town too.

As a result of these Bohs youngster Matt Doherty earned himself a transfer to Wolves, and even made his debut for them against Doncaster in the FA Cup. This move was particularly interesting, as he had never even played for the Bohs senior team, other than in that friendly.

All at Bohemians wish him the best of luck in his career, as well as Paul Keegan who, shortly before this article was written, signed for Championship side Doncaster Rovers.

In the FAI Cup, Bohs made it to the semi-final stage, before being beaten by Sligo Rovers who totally dominated the game in Dalyer and fully deserved the win.

In previous rounds, Bohs had beaten Glenville in Richmond Park 7-1 including a hat-trick from Paddy Madden. We also hosted the first competitive derby with Shelbourne for a few years and progressed past them with a 1-0 win, Madden featuring on the score sheet again.

When Shamrock Rovers’ season began derailing it looked all of a sudden like Bohs had the chance to win the league for a third year in a row. Wins against rivals Pat’s and Rovers in the final furlong of the season showed the fans that the players were capable of stepping their game up.

But on the second last day of the season, travelling to Galway, though the team created chance after chance after chance, nobody could find that important third goal in the second half to give them the lead.

In the closing stages of the game Galway broke quickly on the counter-attack and nicked an undeserved winner for 3-2.

2010, all in all, was a year of underachievement for Bohemians. With the ammunition in the squad that we had, perhaps we should have, or could have easily been league champions had certain small results been different.

However it wasn’t all bad: second in the league and The Setanta Cup is still very respectable. Paul Keegan was voted player of the year for his anchoring and dictating midfield performances throughout the season.

European football is in store again for 2011 too, even though the squad playing will be totally different to the one that lined out in 2010 for the All Ireland Champions.