Bohemian Football Club Crest

@bfcdublin Bohemians' hopes of being involved in a late title charge were all but extinguished as they were comfortably beaten by UCD at the UCD Bowl on Monday, Kevin Fagan reports.

The Gypsies have the best away record in the Premier Division, but showed nowhere near that form during this limp, under-par performance.

Bar injuries to Liam Burns and Owen Heary, Pat Fenlon had a full strength squad to choose from, and recalled Robert Bayly, Anto Flood and Aidan Downes into the starting lineup.  Fenlon again went a 4-5-1 formation, with Flood wide on the right and Downes up front on his own.

The initial signs were good from that duo, as Flood provided Downes with the game's first chance in the fourth minute.  Downes didn’t get enough on his header, however, and the ball went wide.

Unfortunately for the away side, there was very little creativity from the midfield trio of Glenn Cronin, Stephen Hurley and Robert Bayly.  Downes was busy as ever up front, but nothing seemed to fall for him.  

Bohs’ best moment came on 19 minutes. Ger O’Brien drove forward from centre-half and found himself in behind the UCD defence.  He attempted to lob keeper Mark McGinley, but the ball was never going to reach the goal.  Killian Brennan nodded it in but was ruled offside.  

The rest of the first half waspoor from both sides, with barely a shot on target.  Brennan offered some hope for Bohs.  The Drogheda native was trying everything in his power to get the team moving at pace.  He picked out Downes with an amazing pass on 43 minutes but the striker failed to connect with his attempted shot.  Half time came with the game still scoreless.

Mark Rossiter came off at half time for Roberto Lopez, and within four minutes, Lee Dixon replaced Glenn Cronin.  Hopefully neither have injuries that will rule them out of any remaining games.

As the game drew towards the hour mark, UCD began to look the more likely to score.  Graham Rusk fired over from just 12 yards before the home side opened the scoring on 58 minutes.

Stephen Doyle found himself with his back to goal on the edge of the box. He swivelled and shot, with the ball cannoning off Aidan Price before looping over Barry Murphy and in.  

Unfortunately for Bohs, there was no real backlash.  Indeed the home side grew more confident after taking the lead.  Rusk saw a curling shot saved by Murphy, and Tomás Boyle was inches away from connecting with a free-kick at the back post.

With 20 minutes to go, Paul Corry had a long range effort just tipped over by Murphy.  Bohs had a couple of slightly dangerous corners, but disappointingly, UCD keeper Mark McGinley had no saves to make.

Then, with 7 minutes remaining, the Students sealed victory. Darren Meenan ran unopposed down the left flank, cut inside and saw his initial shot blocked by Lopez.

The ball came straight back to Meenan and he made no mistake the second time, curling the ball just over the fingertips of the stretching Murphy.

Many Bohemians heads dropped after that, and it was clear that this was going to be one of those nights.  In the end, it was an extremely disappointing display from the Gypsies, which surely rules out a late title charge.

Thoughts now turn to Friday night's meeting with St. Pat's, which Bohs must win to reignite hopes of a European place.

UCD: Mark McGinley, Hugh Douglas, David O’Connor, Thomas Boyle, Michael Leahy (C), Paul Corry, Paul O’Connor, Robbie Creevy (Dean Marshall, 31), Stephen Doyle (Samir Belhout, 76), Graham Rusk, Darren Meenan.  Subs: Chris Lyons, Daniel Ledwith, , Barry McCabe, Ger Barron, Mark Langtry.

Bohemians:  Barry Murphy, Mark Rossiter (Roberto Lopez, 46), Aidan Price, Ger O’Brien, Ollie Cahill,  Glenn Cronin (C) (Lee Dixon, 49), Stephen Hurley (Christy Fagan, 68), Robert Bayly, Anto Flood, Killian Brennan, Aidan Downes. Subs: Stephen Traynor, Keith Buckley, Kevin Feely, Craig Sexton.