Bohemian Football Club Crest

@bfcdublin Bohemians broke their Tallaght hoodoo with a hard-fought and deserved point against rivals Shamrock Rovers on Wednesday, Cillian Shields reports. 

Bohs had to fight back from a goal down and a man down at half-time to earn a point courtesy of a fine Glenn Cronin finish.

Anto Flood had the first shot of the game, marking his intent to test Richard Brush in the Rovers goal early. Unfortunately for 'Bisto', the shot lacked composure as Brush watched the ball harmlessly go out of play for a goal kick. 

Young Chris Forrester had an excellent game that began with a great tackle on Pat Sullivan on the wing in the opening exchanges. The 18-year-old winger chased a loose pass down quickly and played the ball off Pat Sullivan to win not only the tackle but the throw in for his team too.

Rovers’ first real chance of the game fell to Billy Dennehy, as a long ball into the Bohs box was headed out by Ollie Cahill. The clearance didn’t go far enough and fell for Dennehy to swing a half volley that forced a good save from Barry Murphy.

Shortly afterwards, Gary Twigg and Gary O’Neill linked up well just outside the box to create an opportunity for the Scot to shoot, but he couldn’t get past Liam Burns, who was able to block the effort out for a corner.

Later, Murphy had to pull off a great save from an O’Neill header, when another long ball into the box was flicked on by Ronan Finn for O’Neill to athletically leap and hit the ball in the direction of the goal. Murphy was able to dive quickly to his left to keep out the close-range effort. 

Aidan Price headed clear a cross from Sullivan for the corner that led to Rovers’ goal. Dennehy crossed it into the danger area, where Dan Murray met the ball with his head to send it over Forrester standing on the line. 

Twigg was then lucky not to be sent off very shortly after the goal as his late tackle on Aidan Price near the half-way line was adjudged only to be worthy of a yellow by referee Derek Tomney. 

With Bohs on the back foot, Aidan Downes made a decent run on the wing to give himself a chance to cross. His pass found Killian Brennan waiting to hit a low shot on goal that Brush was able to collect.

In the last few minutes of the first half, Pat Fenlon’s men started to get more and more into the game. Flood showed great control when taking down a cross at the edge of the box. A quick lay-off to Aidan Downes was followed by the young striker winning a free-kick for Bohemians just outside the penalty area after a careless foul by Stephen Rice.

Football can be a game of inches at times. This fact was shown very clearly when Brennan’s free-kick hit the post only to come back out, just before Downes collected the ball and went down after a nudge on his back from Sullivan.

The ref saw it as a second yellow card, after he had already picked up another harsh caution earlier on in the game.

The second half began with a slower pace to the game, with Bohemians playing cautiously with a man down. On the break, Flood collected a pass from Price and shifted past Murray to send in a perfect cross to Cronin waiting just outside the box.

His side-footed shot on goal found the corner of the net to send the away fans into passionate raptures.

Bohs were exhilarated by the goal, and began to get on the ball a lot more. Some good play between Stephen Traynor, Cronin and Stephen Hurley led to Hurley having a go from outside the area, but the shot was closed down quickly before it could trouble Brush in goal.

Flood ran himself into the ground on the night, as a lot of extra effort was needed by the Bohs players after being  reduced to 10 men. On one such occasion, he followed Jim Paterson the length of the pitch to prevent his cross from getting into the box, but out for a corner instead.

Rovers were incapable of breaking through the resolute Gypsies' defence for most of the second half. Burns and Cahill were both very organised, while Price threw himself into every tackle with everything he had. 

Paterson’s pass to Rohan Ricketts gave the winger some space to cross, and even though an excellent ball was played in, there was nobody there for the home side able to take advantage. 

With five minutes left on the clock, Gary McCabe whipped a fast paced cross into the danger zone. Ciaran Kilduff rose highest and got his head to the ball, but could only hit it wide of Murphy’s left-hand post.

It was a night where Cahill’s experienced proved extremely valuable. In extra time, Finn was attacking on Cahill’s wing. The 35-year-old full-back was able to dispossess the 23-year-old Rovers midfielder before clearing his lines and getting rid of the danger. 

The game ended 1-1 with Bohs digging deep to hold Rovers to a draw, when the home side were massive favourites to take all three points.

Both sides were deserved of a point each in an excellently contested derby.