Patient champions find the formula to unlock depleted Sligo

LEAGUE OF IRELAND PREMIER DIVISION: Bohemians 2 Sligo Rovers 0:AFTER LAST week's romp against Mayfield, Bohemians must have expected things to be a good deal tougher last nigh as the champions switched their attention back to the defence of their league title and the challenge of a heavily depleted Sligo Rovers side.

At the Showgrounds, Paul Cook’s men had held the Dubliners to a goalless draw and they would have settled for the same here. For a while, their hard work and the hosts’ haphazard passing made it seem a possibility but in the end second-half goals from Gary Deegan and Jason Byrne got Pat Fenlon’s men over their blip at Richmond Park two weeks ago and preserved their narrow advantage at the top of the table.

It didn’t come as easily as it should have before the break, though. Given much less time to settle on the ball they clearly found it difficult to make the required shift of gears over the course of the opening half.

There was still plenty of possession and early on there was a fair bit of invention too but the home team’s normally pinpoint passing consistently looked to be in need of recalibration with ball after ball a yard or so too long or short, a margin of error that let the visitors off the hook on occasion.

Sligo worked hard to hang in there against the champions for as long as they did. With seven likely starters out, Paul Cook’s side had a slightly makeshift look about it but there was still some suspicion that the presence of just two substitutes on the bench was intended as a hint from the manager to the board regarding for the forthcoming transfer window.

But the level of commitment shown by the visitors as they held Bohemians off prior to the break was exemplary.

A lot was asked of debutant striker Paul Curry who played in attack more or less by himself but the young striker worked tirelessly to occupy the Bohemians’ defence as best he could while Owen Morrison sought to serve as a link man to the midfield.

Conor O’Grady and Christopher Kelly did their utmost too to contain the Bohemians midfield’s urge to join the attack but the Rovers defence did especially well in difficult circumstances along with their goalkeeper Richard Brush, who got down smartly to stop a couple of decent mid-range efforts.

Bohemians still had chances prior to the interval. In the 21st minute Glen Crowe turned well to feed Deegan. His square ball found the league’s leading scorer in plenty of space but Byrne chose to attempt a volley rather than take a touch or two and the opportunity went begging.

Crowe subsequently managed a far more memorable miss at the other end in the second half when he turned a low cross into the arms of Brush by the far post with a good three-quarters of the goal open before him.

But by that stage his side had already taken the lead thanks to Deegan and Rovers, suddenly under pressure to get forward a bit more, had started to look all the more likely to concede again.

The opening goal came after 53 minutes when the locals swept forward towards the box, Deegan narrowly failed to make contact with Jason Byrne’s angled ball into the box but then turned home an Anto Murphy shot from beyond the far post that looked to be goal-bound anyway.

Rovers sought to get two then three up front but pretty much managed to surrender midfield in the process and Bohemians started to created a steady succession of chances, many of which were missed in slightly amusing fashion.

They were perhaps a little lucky to be handed the opportunity to wrap things up from the penalty spot just short of 20 minutes from the end for Alan Keane didn’t look to know too much about the handball he committed as Deegan tried to hook the ball over his head.

But it seemed almost academic whether Byrne slotted home his 16th goal of the season from the spot (he did) so one-sided had the game become by then.

BOHEMIANS:Murphy; Heary, Shelley, Oman (McGuinness, 87 mins), Powell; Murphy (Ndo, 70 mins), Cronin, Deegan, Brennan; Byrne, Crowe (Fenn, 73 mins).

SLIGO ROVERS:Brush; Cash, Keane, Feeney, Keohane; Torpey, O'Grady, Christopher Kelly (Fallon, 70 mins), Doherty; Morrison; Curry.

Referee:A Kelly (Cork).