McGuinness reacts best to seal final place for Sligo

Bohemians 0 Sligo Rovers 1:BOHEMIANS MANAGER Pat Fenlon had said before yesterday's encounter at Dalymount Park he wanted to prevent a repeat of last year's one-sided encounter against Sligo Rovers at the same stage of the competition.

If that had been the height of his ambition then he could take some consolation from the fact his young side, shorn of several regulars through suspension, certainly made life more difficult for their opponents this time. The outcome was precisely the same, however, with the holders deservedly progressing to their third straight cup final thanks to another solitary second-half goal.

Former Bohemians player Jason McGuinness got the winner at almost the same stage of the game as Gavin Peers had 12 months ago here. There were 16 minutes left to play and Bohemians might by then have been imagining they were going to take the game back to the Showgrounds where, having won twice in the league this season, they could look to make it three out of three with a stronger side thanks to the likes of Liam Burns and top scorer Christy Fagan returning from suspension.

Without Fagan, or his closest rival in the club’s goalscoring chart Anto Flood, successfully salvaging something once they had fallen behind always looked a long shot.

Rovers had been just about the better side throughout what was a pretty poor game characterised by a succession of unforced errors and, even after taking the lead, it was the visitors who seemed at least as likely as their hosts to get a second goal.

“They deserve a lot of credit,” said Rovers boss Paul Cook nevertheless, “because they were without four or five players and there was still nothing in the game for long spells. But I’m immensely proud of my lads.

“We left Richmond Park on the floor last week and we’re leaving here proud as anything. To make another cup final is a terrific achievement especially when you look at some of the clubs we’ve beaten in that run – that’s the third time we’ve beaten Bohemians on the way to the final.”

Fenlon was still upset about the way the order of rescheduled league games had contributed to his problems here but he had no complaints about Sligo having taken their opportunity.

The Dubliner paid tribute to a side that has given its all for him throughout this campaign and expressed the hope his younger players would benefit from the experience.

They might well learn from their first cup semi-final but few will particularly want to remember it. The first half had been pretty grim stuff with Bohemians preventing Sligo playing to the extent that – a John Russell goal that was disallowed for offside aside – Barry Murphy was virtually untroubled while at the other end Rovers goalkeeper Brendan Clarke had only a couple of back passes to deal with.

As it happens, he didn’t cover himself in glory with all of those and more than once his attempted clearances handed possession to one of Bohemians’ wide men but neither of them could make much of the opportunities with Chris Forrester, in particular, failing to beat the first defender a couple of times from promising positions.

In the centre, Glenn Cronin and Stephen Hurley carried a lot of the responsibility for breaking up Sligo’s passing moves and between them the pair put in a few pretty robust challenges, most of which the referee let go until a couple of minutes before the break when Hurley was booked for a rough tackle on John Russell.

It was that sort of game though, with neither side able to put together anything by way of flowing football and both simply looking out for an opportunity to grab a goal that seemed increasingly likely, as the afternoon wore on, to prove decisive.

When it came the goal was a straightforward enough tap-in for McGuinness who was rewarded for managing to react to a nicely-weighted Richie Ryan cross to the far post quicker than any defender after Peers had unexpectedly failed to get his head to it.

The hosts might have dealt more effectively with Ryan’s original corner but having failed to do that a couple of Fenlon’s men looked to have had the opportunity to intervene before McGuinness got his touch. None did and the centre half poked it home.

BOHEMIANS: Murphy; Rossiter (Feely, 85 mins), Heary, O’Brien, Cahill; Forrester, Cronin, Hurley (Buckley, 77 mins), Brennan; Traynor (Burke, 89 mins); Downes.

SLIGO ROVERS: Clarke; Keane, Peers, McGuinness, Davoren; Ventre (Dillon, 66 mins), Ryan; Ndo, Russell (Blinkhorn, 64 mins), Greene (Cretaro, 88 mins); Doyle.

Referee: D Hancock (Dublin).