Bohemians face week of reckoning

LEAGUE OF IRELAND PREMIER DIVISION:THE TREBLE may have eluded them but the timing of Saturday's EA Sports Cup final success in Waterford means Bohemians are in a position to allow supporters to nip around and have their pictures taken with the country's three main trophies this Thursday.

With one cup won and another set soon enough for a new home, however, the Dubliners are now free to concentrate on the defence of their league title, with this evening’s trip to Derry combined with Friday’s game at title rivals Shamrock Rovers making this the toughest week of the run in.

“We’ve three trophies now at Dalymount even though we’ve lost out on the other cup,” says skipper Owen Heary. “The aim was to win all three competitions but the league is the priority and we are still in the hunt for that. I think this week will be a defining moment and maybe come next Friday we’ll be able to say we know where we stand.

“If we win both games, it puts us in a strong position. On the other hand if we don’t win them and Rovers win their games then they’re the ones in a strong position.

“But we’re not going to give up. We’ve seen it before where it’s gone down right to the wire and it’s probably going to happen again this year. I’ve played when we’ve lost games on the last day of the season and I’ve played when we’ve won games on the last day of the season, so it will be an interesting one. But this week will have a big say in where the title goes this year.”

Heary is set to start tonight’s game having come through the full 90 minutes at the weekend without any ill-effects but Jason McGuinness (hamstring), Mark Rossiter (groin( and Gary Deegan (suspension) all miss out.

The hosts have an even longer list of problems, with Steven Gray (ankle), Kevin Deery (knee), Peter Hutton (groin), Ciarán Martyn (thigh) and Clive Delaney (back) all likely to to have watch from the stands this evening.