Soccer

Airtricity League round-up: Bohemians make it two from two to set early pace

Drogheda earn draw against nine-man Shamrock Rovers; Derry open home account with win over Cork; Max Mata hat-trick secures win for Sligo at UCD

Bohemians celebrate scoring their first goal during the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division match against Dundalk at Dalymount Park. Photograph: Ciarán Culligan/Inpho
Bohemians celebrate scoring their first goal during the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division match against Dundalk at Dalymount Park. Photograph: Ciarán Culligan/Inpho
Fri Feb 24 2023 - 22:18

Bohemians 2 Dundalk 1

Goals in either half from Jordan Flores and Declan McDaid helped Bohemians to make it two wins from two at the expense of Dundalk at Dalymount Park on Friday night.

Declan Devine’s side were dominant throughout as they deservedly opened up a five-point gap over a side whose European position they will be looking to take come the end of the season.

Dundalk came into the game on a run of six matches without defeat against the Gypsies but never got going as they await their first win of the campaign following an opening night draw at home to UCD.

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[ Premier Division table ]

Rumours of a potential takeover had swarmed over Stephen O’Donnell’s side in the build-up and it was ironic that it was ex-Hull City man Flores who opened the scoring in first-half stoppage time when he curled a superb left-foot shot to the top left-hand corner from the edge of the box after Dylan Connolly had been pulled back by Louie Annesley.

McDaid then punished Dundalk’s sloppy play to double his side’s advantage on 71 minutes, curling past Nathan Shepperd from the edge of the area from Jonathan Afolabi’s pass after Paddy Kirk had caught Connor Malley in possession.

Stephen O’Donnell’s side did briefly threaten a comeback when Finnish debutant Johannes Yli-Kokko fired past James Talbot from 30 yards out in the 90th minute but despite six minutes of stoppage time, Bohemians comfortably held out to retain their place at the top of the Premier Division table.

BOHEMIANS: Talbot; Buckley, Horton, Radkowski, Kirk; Flores, McDonnell; Connolly (Akintunde, 85 mins), Coote (Twardek, 85 mins), McDaid (Nowak, 77 mins); Afolabi (Williams, 85 mins).

DUNDALK: Shepperd; Davies (Tulloch, 80 mins), Muller, Boyle, Annesley; Doyle (Martin, 75 mins), Malley (Elliott, 75 mins), Lewis (Yli-Kokko, 36 mins); Sloggett, Hoban, O’Kane (Kelly, 55 mins).

Referee: Rob Harvey (Dublin).

Drogheda United 1 Shamrock Rovers 1

Shamrock Rovers finished the game with no specialist central defenders on the field as both Lee Grace and Daniel Cleary were sent off in an extraordinary end to a memorable draw at Weavers Park.

Ryan Brennan, himself an ex-Rovers man, struck in the final minute of injury time to deny Stephen Bradley’s team a first win of the season. Their makeshift back four – consisting of two midfielders and a full back slotted into centre back – couldn’t withstand the Drogheda pressure.

Grace and Cleary were both shown two yellow cards by referee Seán Grant. The latter received both his bookings within two minutes, not long after Grace had left the field. Rovers had lost their discipline and after Roberto Lopes sending off last week, it once again cost them.

Graham Burke’s second-half goal had Rovers set fair for a maiden win of the campaign. Colin McCabe flapped poorly at Jack Byrne’s corner and after a poor attempt at a Drogheda clearance, Burke forced the ball over the line from close range.

Teenage debutant Warren Davis played his part in the equaliser. He beat two men and crossed and eventually the ball fell to Brennan who made his former employers pay.

DROGHEDA UNITED: McCabe; Ahui, Curtis (Adegboyega, 12 mins), Keeley, Weir (Davis, 87 mins); Deegan, Brennan; Foley (Grimes, 65 mins), Markey; Rooney; Draper.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Mannus; O’Neill, Cleary, Grace; Farrugia, Byrne (Nugent, 82 mins), Poom, Watts (Gaffney, 85 mins), Clarke; Kenny (Towell, 85 mins), Burke (Gannon, 31 mins).

Referee: Seán Grant

Derry City 2 Cork City 0

Struggling with four first-choice players on the injury list plus one out due to suspension, Derry City made short work of securing their first victory of the new season against Cork City at the Brandywell.

And while the well organised Leesiders may have lacked a cutting edge against the Candystripes their effort and commitment over the 90 minutes could not be faulted.

Fielding without injured striker Cian Murphy, they struggled while Barry Coffee will enjoy a better return on another night.

Derry, minus the services of Cameron Dummigan, Cameron McJannet and Michael Duffy, also lost the services of Adam O’Reilly due to injury, with team boss Ruaidhrí Higgins forced into a number of positional changes.

Interestingly one such switch saw Ben Doherty deployed at left back and the more recognised central midfielder caused Cork no shortage of problems on the left flank.

In fact Doherty made his presence felt after just seven minutes when his low drive from 20 yards was parried to safety by Cork goalkeeper Toby Oluwayemi.

Having opened his scoring account against St Pat’s last weekend at Inchicore, Jordan McEneff went close to adding another strike but his shot was deflected wide of the goal at the expense of a corner in the 22nd minute.

Appearing well organised and passing the ball with accuracy and authority, the visitors looked solid in defence.

However, that all changed when Patrick McEleney netted another spectacular strike in the 31st minute.

With the ball worked into McEleney’s path on the left, the Derry captain let fly with a right-footed shot from 25 yards, the ball screaming into the bottom corner of Oluwayemi’s net.

Cork could and should have levelled matters three minutes before the break.

Barry Coffey muscled his way through a hesitant home defence but his parting shot was blocked by the legs of goalkeeper Brian Maher and the home crowd breathed a sigh of relief.

Coffey threatened again during the early stages of the second half when he got his head to a cross from the left but failed to hit the target.

Derry doubled their lead in the 63rd minute when Doherty delivered a low cross from the right flank and McEneff was on hand to turn the ball into the Cork net, giving their on-loan Celtic goalkeeper no chance.

In the 69th minute Ruairí Keating should have reduced the deficit but the striker failed to take control of the ball when well placed inside the Derry danger area.

Derry went close to gifting Cork a consolation goal in the 82nd minute when Doherty’s header back to his goalkeeper almost crept into the net, Maher getting back to spare the defender’s blushes.

Cork sub Daniel Krezic was also denied by Maher with minutes remaining, the Derry goalkeeper tipping the effort over his crossbar.

DERRY CITY: Maher; Coll, Donnelly, S McEleney, Doherty; P. McEleney, Patching; Graydon, McEneff (B Kavanagh, 73 mins), O’Neill (Boyce, 85 mins); McGonigle (C Kavanagh, 73 mins).

CORK CITY: Oluwayemi; Hakkinen, Gilchrist, Honohan, Bargary; Crowley, Coleman, Bolger, Coffey (Owolabi, 79 mins); Varian (Krezic, 70 mins), Keating.

Referee: D MacGraith (Mayo).

UCD 2 Sligo Rovers 3

Max Mata scored a hat-trick as Sligo Rovers had to twice come from behind for victory at the UCD Bowl.

Though Sligo enjoyed much of the ball and created the majority of the chances in a riveting game, they needed two somewhat harshly awarded penalties to turn the game around.

Rovers began on the front foot only to find themselves a goal down on five minutes.

Their teenage centre back Eanna Clancy’s pass back to goalkeeper Luke McNicholas fell short and College striker Danu Kinsella-Bishop skipped away to cross for Alex Nolan to apply a composed finish.

Mata had a goal ruled out for offside and then headed over the bar, but the New Zealander wasn’t to be denied a deserved Sligo equaliser on 21 minutes.

UCD lost possession with Kailin Barlow linking with Frank Liivak to put Mata in on goal. Onside this time, Mata neatly cut past Ryan Bowden to shoot beyond Lorcan Healy for a fine first goal of the season.

Though owning much of the ball, Sligo had a right let off five minutes later when McNicholas was forced to make a brave stop with his feet to deny Kinsella-Bishop.

McNicholas couldn’t repeat that as UCD regained the lead four minutes after the interval. Ciarán Behan collected a long clearance on the left to play Kinsella-Bishop through to poke the ball past the Sligo goalkeeper.

Stefan Radosavjkevic shot wide while Will Fitzgerald blazed over before Sligo’s pressure brought their second equaliser on 69 minutes.

Fabrice Hartmann’s cross struck the hand of UCD’s Brendan Barr with referee Ray Matthews pointing to the spot and Mata emphatically drove the penalty to the bottom corner.

A trip by Nolan on the marauding Reece Hutchinson looked outside the box on 82 minutes.

But a second penalty was given and Mata obliged once again to win it for Sligo.

UCD: L Healy; Gallagher, Bowden, Keaney, Norris (Dignam, 53 mins); Barr (Clarke, 89 mins); Nolan (Izekor, 84 mins), Keane, Higgins (O’Connor, 89 mins), Behan; Kinsella-Bishop.

SLIGO ROVERS: McNicholas; Brannefalk, Clancy, Pijnaker, Hutchinson (Lafferty, 90 mins); Bolger (Radosavljevic, 59 mins); Browning, Barlow (Morahan, 83 mins); Liivak (Hartann, 59 mins), Mata, Fitzgerald.

Referee: Ray Matthews.