Bohemian Football Club Crest

@bfcdublin Bohemians could not get the better of Sligo Rovers again as the Connacht side scored three second half goals at Dalymount Park on Friday, Shane Quinn reports. It was once more harsh on Bohs, the better team in the first half. But Paul Cook’s men proved their quality after the break with a couple of superb break-away goals.

In the too often strange quirks of Irish fixtures, Bohs were facing their FAI Cup nemesis Sligo five days after being eliminated by them. Now the Bit O’ Red have an outside chance of winning the league after this impressive result.

Yet it is difficult not to see Shamrock Rovers picking up the three points they need to claim successive championships. Rovers travel to UCD on Monday, before they face bottom club Galway in Tallaght next Friday.  

Bohs made three changes from the FAI Cup loss, while six different players came in for Sligo.

Christy Fagan (above) was causing Sligo difficulty with his movement early on, and the striker thrashed a shot wide from 20 yards.

A brilliant move involving Ger O’Brien, Stephen Traynor and Anto Flood (below) would have produced a goal had the latter been able to find a way past keeper Brendan Clarke. Clarke came out to narrow the angles down, and saved Flood’s effort with his legs.
 
It was a shame Bohs could not have produced such incisive moves in the cup semi-final. The home side were much the better team in that opening period.

Three former Gypsies in the form of Joseph Ndo, Raffaele Cretaro and Conor Powell had started for the visitors.

Powell returned to League of Ireland after a terribly short-lived spell with League One side Colchester United. He wasn’t the first to leave English shores after such a short time, and he won’t be the last. Strangely, Cretaro was playing at right-back.
 
A piece of Magic from Ndo, where he split the Bohs defence apart with a reverse pass, put Matthew Blinkhorn through on goal. The striker’s first time effort was a very poor one though as Murphy read his attempt to flick the ball past him (63).

Liam Burns (above), so consistent all season, suffered a nightmare moment when his attempted back pass to Murphy was under-struck. Substitute Eoin Doyle, only on the pitch two minutes, easily got to the ball before Murphy and nonchalantly knocked it past him into the net.
 
Cretaro, who had been really wayward with earlier crosses, finally got one right for Doyle. The forward was lurking at the back post, and again made no mistake by firing beyond Murphy in the 69th minute.
 
Pat Fenlon's (below) men were pushing forward and leaving huge gaps at the back for Sligo to exploit, and they were good enough to do so. This time Blinkhorn was on the end of a sweeping counter-attack as Sligo put the game beyond Bohs.

 
Bohemians: Murphy; O’Brien, Heary (C), Burns; Cahill; Flood, Cronin, Hurley (McEvoy, 84), Traynor (Buckley, 58), Forrester (Downes, 73); Fagan.
 
Sligo Rovers: Clarke; Cretaro, Foran, Peers, Powell; Dillon, Russell (Greene, 50), Ryan (C), Ndo (Ventre, 68); Kirby (Doyle, 61); Blinkhorn.
 
Possession – Bohs: 48%; Sligo: 52%.
 
Attempts on target – Bohs: 2; Sligo: 3.
 
Attempts off target – Bohs: 3; Sligo: 1.
 
Corners – Bohs: 4; Sligo: 2.
 
Yellow Cards – Bohs: Ger O’Brien; Sligo: Danny Ventre.
 
Red Cards – Bohs: 0; Sligo: 0.
 
Referee – Dave McKeon (Dublin).