"IT'S not the performance, but the result that matters in the Cup." A curiously apt quote from Bohemians manager Turlough O'Connor after this generally dour, one-sided FAI Cup first-round tie at Dalymount Park last night. A game that never really came to life.
Bohemians, the 5 to 1 joint favourites, will nonetheless be happy enough that they are comfortably through to the second round of the competition, but as for doing it in style against 1,000 to 1 outsiders from Clondalkin, forget it.
That's one of the thrills of the Cup. The fact that one team can totally dominate and be frustrated by the opposition. We saw far too much of the ball, which can work against you at times," added O'Connor afterwards.
Of the ball, Bohemians owned it for virtually 85 minutes. And it took 70 of those before they finally broke through with a goal from midfielder Maurice O'Driscoll while striker Derek Swan scored their second seven minutes from the end.
In a first half that did a disservice to everything that's good about cup football such was its lack of excitement, Bohemians should nonetheless have been comfortably in front at the interval.
But, due to Tony O'Connor's profligacy in front of goal, and a lethargy throughout the Bohemians team, Moyle Park held out and might even have snatched a goal themselves.
O'Connor's first miss came on 18 minutes when he received a cross by Swan only to casually shoot straight at goalkeeper Gerry Barry who saved with his left knee.
Bohemians had a scare on 30 minutes when bustling striker Ivor Condron availed of a bad bounce which saw the ball skid past Robbie Best. But Best recovered to force him wide and goalkeeper Dave Henderson put Condron's angled shot out for a corner.
O'Connor fluffed a second chance two minutes before the break when Brian Mooney dribbled past two tackles to set him up, but, the midfielder buried his shot wide.
The second-half was equally frustrating for Bohemians with Swan coming closest to breaking the deadlock when screwing a shot wide on 54 minutes. But, as Moyle Park manager Jim Kelly said afterwards: "Their set-pieces were always going to cause us problems and that is what got to us in the end."
And a simple set-piece goal it was. Tommy Byrne floated over a corner from the left and O'Driscoll rose to nonchalantly head home at the near post. In a curious twist, O'Driscoll then almost toe-poked into his own goal seven minutes later after a fine run and cross by Stephen Kearney, but the ball came back off the foot of a post.
A bit of Mooney magic put some undeserved loss on Bohemians win seven minutes from the end when his cross from the right was headed home low at the far post by Swan for their second goal.
Mick McCarthy will unleash Russian on-loan imports Sergei Yuran and VaseIi Kulkov on the English League today as out-of sorts Millwall aim to clinch a first victory in 11 first division games at home to improving Port Vale.
Striker Yuran will partner 10-goal Chris, Malkin up front and Kulkov will play on the left of midfield while goalkeeper Tim Carter comes in for Kasey Keller, who is on international duty with the USA.
