Bohemian Football Club Crest

@bfcdublin Bohemians showed great resilience to come back from a Craig Walsh goal to beat Longford Town 3-1 in the FAI Cup, Cillian Shields reports.

Aidan Downes continued his good run of form by getting onto the scoresheet while a Chris Deans own goal and a Killian Brennan strike confirmed Bohs’ presence in the draw for the next round.

The FAI Cup always offers great fixtures and often shock results, but there was to be no upsets at Flancare Park in this contest between the fifth-placed First Division side and the fifth-placed Premier Division side.

Bohs played with a full strength team minus first choice goalkeeper Barry Murphy, who was replaced by the young Craig Sexton. Longford Town played without the big name Keith Gillespie, who signed last March, as an ankle injury meant the former Newcastle United player wasn’t even on the bench. 

The opening exchanges were mostly dominated by the away side, with Stephen Hurley and Anto Flood seeing good possession for Bohs early on.

Bisto was first to test Alvin Rouse with a shot on goal coming from a cleared free kick, but the Longford keeper was equal to it, making clever use of his feet to stop the effort. 

But on 13 minutes, Longford were able to push up the pitch quickly. Cathal Brady provided the cross for Craig Walsh to convert the opportunity from close distance, leaving Sexton with no chance between the Bohs sticks.

Town found much encouragement in seeing Walsh find the back of the net and looked a stronger team after taking the lead. Brady was exciting for the home team, looking like the orchestrator for Longford’s most dangerous attacks. 

The midfielder offered Thomas Crawley the chance to shoot, but the former S. Pat’s youngster took his eye off the ball and missed his break.

Brennan tried to force the issue for Bohemians in retaliation. A well-worked short corner kick with Downes in the first half ended up with the winger having an effort on goal but Rouse was again able to prevent the ball finding the net.

On 34 minutes, Downes showed excellent composure to capitalise on Ger O’Brien’s cross. Rouse was hopeless to reach the ball as the well taken strike crashed into the corner of the goal. 

In the second half, Anthony Flood ran at the Longford defence more, forcing his way into advantageous positions. On one such occasion in the 52nd minute, he managed to sidestep defenders and create enough space to unleash a shot, that won Bohs a corner kick. 

Brennan swung the resulting kick into the box with lots of pace, causing confusion within Town’s defence. The unfortunate Chris Deans could only send the ball into his own net when trying to clear the danger.

The own goal put Bohemians 2-1 up and in a very comfortable position.

Clear-cut chances came few and far between for the remainder of the game, as Bohs looked quite content with the lead when in possession and willing to soak up any pressure Longford provided without it. 

Substitute Austin Skelly had a half chance of note in the 77th minute, when his low shot just dragged wide. This provided a reminder for Bohemians that any mistakes that they could get punished for would result in a level score. 

Moments later, with nine minutes remaining, Brennan found himself with the ball and in space on the wing. The 27-year-old skillfully set himself up to strike from roughly 25 yards out, and connected beautifully with the ball to score a fantastic goal to round the evening up. 

LONGFORD TOWN: Rouse; Dowling, Deans, Hope, Cronin; Crawley (Skelly 49), Walsh (Lee 64), Hyland, Sammon, Brady; Cowan (Purdy 76).

BOHEMIANS: Sexton; Heary, Burns, Price (Rossiter 46), Cahill; O'Brien, Hurley, Cronin (Buckley 85), Brennan; Flood, Downes (Fagan 74).

REF: R Winters (Wicklow).