UEFA Champions League, first qualifying round, second leg: Bohemians - 3 BATE Borisov - 0 The scale of the celebrations that greeted the final whistle may say something about the regularity with which Irish supporters have seen their sides fall well short of reasonable expectations.
But against a side that has grown used to prospering on their European travels, Bohemians excelled at Dalymount Park last night, and after goals from Stephen Caffrey, Bobby Ryan and Glen Crowe had seen their side through to face Rosenborg next week in the second of these Champions League qualifying rounds, the 6,000 strong home support didn't need any history lessons to help the party along.
Stephen Kenny had said he expected his opposite number to flood midfield and he wasn't disappointed. BATE fielded four across the centre, with Valery Tarasenko sitting just behind and Igor Chumachenko just in front. The upshot, needless to say, was that there was precious little room to manoeuvre.
Amid so many opponents, though, Kevin Hunt seemed to thrive, and it was the Englishman who really stood out on a night when a many Bohemians players left the field looking justifiably proud.
From the very first minute Hunt put himself at the thick of things from where he repeatedly emerged with the ball at his feet. When BATE pushed forward on the counter-attack, as they did to good effect early on, the local midfielder did most to disrupt their swift passing game with a string of cool, ball-winning interventions.
Going forward, too, his influence was central to providing the Dubliners with the upper hand.
Chief amongst the victims of the lack of space through the first half, however, was Bobby Ryan who, prior to playing key roles for both opening-period goals, seemed incapable of escaping the attentions of Yauheni Lashanov, the left-sided wideman who had scored for BATE a week ago.
While Bohemians carved out good chances to take the lead - the best of them falling to Robbie Doyle who headed well over after Damien Lynch had picked him out with a fine angled cross - almost nothing went to plan for the Limerickman during the opening half an hour. When he attempted, eight minutes from the break, to skip inside his marker but instead had to settle for a throw, it looked as if he would fail to exert any real influence on a game in which the home side needed him to star.
But from Damien Lynch's throw he finally started to do just that, with the winger neatly sidestepping a challenge and then darting to the line from where he whipped in a low cross for Caffrey. The midfielder's finish wouldn't win any prizes, but having only just about made contact when he initially swiped at the ball, he did well to hold off two defenders long enough to clatter his second attempt home.
By the interval the lead had been doubled when Crowe's throw from the left found Doyle, who in turn pushed the ball past the one defender who had scrambled back to Ryan, who walloped the ball into the roof from six yards out as Yuri Zhanou lunged desperately across the goal.
Bohemians suddenly looked confident enough to completely overrun their opponents, who must have been pleased to hear the half-time whistle within seconds of the restart. By the time they returned they looked more steady and the balance of their approach had shifted noticeably towards a more attacking game.
Just short of the hour, though, the game was effectively decided when Valery Strypeikis, unmarked and just eight yards out, badly fluffed his attempt to turn Lashanov's low cross past Shay Kelly. Less than a minute later the Belarussian defence crumbled again, and, after Mark Rutherford had chipped into the path of Crowe, last year's top scorer showed a sureness in his finish that has been missing of late.
BATE now needed to score twice, and though they make a habit of that sort of thing back home it looked a tall order against a side that, after a long search, had finally rediscovered its swagger.
In the time that remained Bohemians might have extended their margin, though at the other end, where Colin Hawkins was outstanding, there were chances too, but Kelly did not have to make a save of note, cause for celebration in itself perhaps ahead of next week's visit by the Norwegians.
BOHEMIANS: Kelly; Lynch, Heary, Hawkins, Webb; Ryan (Harkin, 73 min), Caffrey, Hunt, Rutherford; Doyle (Morrison, 89 min), Crowe (Pereplyotkin, 90 min).
BATE: Zhanou; Baha, Mardas, Klimovich; Shmihera (Kobets, 61 min), Shkabara (Rubnenka, 69 min), Tarasenko, Likhtarovich, Lashankov; Chumachenko (Shchahrykovich, 79 min); Strypeikis.
Referee: I Dobrinov (Bulgaria).
