Hecklers silenced as Crowe swoops

Glen Crowe's 74-minute strike made all the difference in Bohemians' Eircom League opener at Turner's Cross.

Crowe took a pass from Fergal Harkin in his stride before driving a shot under the body of goalkeeper Michael Devine from 12 yards as Bohs punished a mistake by veteran Patsy Freyne just outside his own penalty area.

Crowe's strike was the perfect answer to the Cork fans who held up a photograph of a black crow and made cackling noises whenever the Bohs' centre-forward got into the penalty area. Their barracking was good-humoured but it was the Dublin striker who had the last laugh.

Bohs' manager Pete Mahon afterwards said Bohemians' poor record in Cork, where they had not won in seven years, had been a big incentive. "Cork were the best team for the first 30 minutes" he said, "and we were lucky with one or two penalty claims, but we got our act together and I was very pleased with our form after half-time."

Cork played good football in the opening stages and after having two penalty claims turned down they were finally awarded one when James Mulligan was tumbled by Avery John on 15 minutes.

But the linesman had flagged for offside and referee John Feighery reversed his decision to award Bohemians a free. Said Cork manager Liam Murphy: "The linesman had flagged early for the offside so I'm not going to use that as an excuse. We gave away a bad goal and Bohs had the players capable of punishing us. It was not a bad performance by our lads, it was much better than last week's in Longford and I just hope we are not going to be plagued as we were last season by our inability to take our scores."

Bohemians were always more dangerous in attack and goalkeeper Michael Devine made two outstanding saves from David Morrison before Crowe's goal.

They were without Stephen Caffrey and Paul Byrne but they were impressive in the second half, with Tony O'Connor in excellent form at centre-back and Kevin Hunt dictating matters in midfield.

CORK CITY: Devine; Daly, Coughlan, O'Rourke; O'Brien, O'Grady, Morley Freyne 61 mins), Herrick, Cahill; O'Flynn (Hartigan 65 mins), Mulligan.

BOHEMIANS: Russell; Shelley, O'Connor, John, Webb; Morrison, Harkin, Hunt, Rutherford; Crowe, Molloy.

Referee: J Feighery (Dublin)