LEAGUE OF IRELAND: Bohemians 1 Cork City 0THE CHAMPIONS Bohemians could have found themselves sharing top spot after this game while Cork City might have closed the gap on the leaders to just three points but for 45 minutes at Dalymount Park it was difficult to believe there was so much at stake for either team.
After the week they’d had, of course, it’s probably only fair to cut the southerners a bit of slack.
Not too many of us would arrive for work with a spring in our step if less than half of our wages got paid. City’s players’ growing fatigue with the situation at Turner’s Cross is underlined by the fact several squad members will reportedly use the break provided by the FAI Cup next week to seek alternative employment abroad.
A couple of the home side appear to have been fairly successful on that front already with Brian Murphy now strongly linked with a move to Ipswich at the end of the season and with Gary Deegan likely to travel ahead of the goalkeeper or stop off at Wolverhampton Wanderers instead.
The latter had the busier night here but in a frantic first half not even he could impose any pattern on the proceedings. There were a couple of occasions on which he helped to engineer a threat around the Cork City area but the Dubliners’ best chance of the half was the product of a fine pass by Joseph Ndo and a wonderful-timed run by the Jason Byrne.
Sadly, the striker undid all the good work by taking an age on the ball before firing over. It was a rare moment of composure in a half during which neither team seemed capable of retaining the ball.
Deegan’s most notable contribution before the break was a shot from the edge of the area but the midfielder played an early and critical role in the game’s only goal which, predictably enough, came from a set-piece. The midfielder went over under pressure from Stephen O’Donnell 25 yards out on the left and Paul Keegan curled the resulting free-kick into the area where Killian Brennan got enough of a touch to help the ball into the bottom right corner.
City, until then, had managed some spirited resistance and once behind they did their best to battle for a point but, having already lost a couple of players who might have made a significant difference on an night like this, the southerners lacked penetration and the Bohemians back four were generally comfortable.
Gavin O’Neill, on for Guntars Silagailis at the interval, did look lively, troubling Conor Powell on a couple of occasions and fired low across the face of the goal midway through the half when he might have expected one of his team-mates to be arriving. Most of City’s better work was done at the back, though, with Greg O’Halloran, in particular, having to react sharply at one point to clear a menacing looking cross from Ndo.
Murphy, meanwhile, scarcely had a serious save to make and City, having won here on their first visit of the season in April, were rather tamely beaten this time.
Having failed to string back-to-back wins since May, Cork’s title challenge looks to have been pretty much ended by this defeat while Bohemians have cause for some satisfaction even if Gary Twigg’s goal for Shamrock Rovers up at United Park leaves it just as it had been between the top two prior to kick-off.
Pat Fenlon’s men had dropped points in both of their previous league games since the disappointment of their late elimination from the Champions League qualifiers. Here, they had steadied the ship and ground out a win without playing well. And you know what they say about teams that can do that.
BOHEMIANS:Murphy; Rossiter, Shelley, Oman, Powell; Ndo, Keegan, Deegan, Dennehy; Byrne, Fenn (Madden, 80 mins).
CORK CITY:Connor; Horgan, O'Halloran, Murray, Murphy; Kiely (Duggan, 73 mins), Lordan, O'Donnell (Gamble, 73 mins), Dennehy; Kudozovic, Silagailis (O'Neill, half-time).
Referee:D Tomney (Dublin).
