St. Patrick’s Athletic 3
Bohemians 1
Darryl Geraghty reports from Dalymount Park
ST PATRICKS ATHLETIC all but secured a fourth place finish with a convincing 3-1 win at a sold-out Dalymount Park.
Goals from Barry Cotter and Chris Forrester did the damage, before a Rory Feely header gave the home fans hope, only to be undone by a late Adam O’Reilly finish to ensure the bragging rights in the hotly contested Dublin derby went back to Inchicore.
With a nine point gap between the two sides in the race for fourth prior to kick-off, Keith Long selected a full strength side for their two-nil FAI Cup win at home to Lucan United that ended just 72 hours previous – a possible admission that the cup route was the more realistic opportunity of securing European football.
Making just three changes from the side that started Friday night, and with a massive away trip to Tallaght on the horizon, the hosts tried matching The Saints, going with three at the back, and should really have opened the scoring after just five minutes.
Kris Twardek, operating as a wing back on the right, did well to dig out a cross from the right and found the head of the unmarked Liam Burt, but couldn’t direct his header goalwards from ten yards out.
Having relinquished their FAI Cup title in a first round defeat to an impressive Waterford side, and having a busy period including European ties, the well rested Athletic side had been in decent form winning their last two. It was Tim Clancy’s men who broke the deadlock a couple of minutes later and with on-loan Shamrock Rovers wingback Barry Cotter doing the damage.
Picking up the ball on the half way line, following a one-two with Chris Forrester, Cotter saw space and went on a marauding run, skipping by challenge after challenge before getting to the edge of the area and seeing his left footed effort hit Twardek and bounce past the helpless Jon McCracken right in front of the 800 strong travelling Saints fans.
The home side responded well to the set back and Ethon Varian, restored to the side in place of the injured Johnny Afolabi, became a bustling handful for the Saints rearguard.
Just before the half hour mark the Cork native was found in the area with a slick through ball, but just as he pulled the trigger was denied at the last second by a brave last ditch tackle from the recovering Sam Curtis.
A rousing rendition of “There’s only one Derek Mono” for club legend Derek Monaghan failed to lift the home side, and it was the visitors who finished the half the stronger, doubling their lead on the whistle.
The pacey Serge Atakayi capitalised on a defensive error that has become all to common in the Bohs backline, and showed great composure on the edge of the box to tee up Chris Forrester just to his right. The enigmatic midfielder did the rest, smashing home to make it two – as an aggressive chorus of boos rang around the famous old ground.
Bohs reverted to a back four at the start of the second period in a bid to drag themselves back into the game with a more familiar formation. The introduction of Jordan Doherty, Ali Coote and James Clarke seemed to have the desired effect as they halved the deficit just after the hour mark through a towering Rory Feely header, and in doing so flipping the toxic atmosphere on its head.
As Bohs pressed for the equaliser, the threat of Atakayi on the break loomed large and it was another defensive mistake that almost allowed The Pat’s front man to restore his side’s lead. Liam Burt was easily dispossessed on the left wing and the ball fell kindly to Atakayi who drifted inside and was denied by the feet of McCracken.
A barrage of long throws and corners entered the visitors box but the pressure was undone as the Saints put the game to bed with a lightning quick counter attack. Hat-trick hero from the last time the sides met, Tunde Owolabi linked up well with Adam O’Reilly who fed the big front man through on goal.
Owolabi opted to cut back onto his right foot and bundled into the recovering Feely, with the ball falling kindly to O’Reilly who backed up the play. The on-loan Preston Midfielder, under pressure from the onrushing McCracken, tucked the ball away to give his side all three points and almost wrap up what could be a priceless fourth spot finish.
Bohemian FC: Jon McCracken, Kris Twardek (Jamie Mullins, 77’), Josh Kerr (Jordan Doherty, 45’), Rory Feely, Ciaran Kelly, Tyreke Wilson, James McManus, John O’Sullivan (Ali Coote, 57’), Liam Burt, Declan McDaid (James Clarke, 57’), Ethon Varian
Subs not used: Max Murphy, Conor Levingston, Ryan Burke, Tadhg Ryan, Cian Byrne
St. Patrick’s Athletic: Danny Rogers, Barry Cotter, Sam Curtis, Joe Redmond, Harry Brockbank, Anto Breslin, Serge Atakayi (Billy King, 90’), Adam O’Reilly, Jamie Lennon (Jason McClelland, 90+2), Chris Forrester, Eoin Doyle (Tunde Owolabi, 85’)
Subs not used: Ronan Coughlan, Ben McCormack, David Odumosu, Ben Curtis, Thijs Timmermans, Paddy Barrett
Referee: Paul McLoughlin
We are in month 4 of the year. Salah has been incredible thus far but Keane is right in the sense that it’s very hard to make a case for any player unless they have major honours behind them. Look back on all the winners and the vast majority have won the big trophies. Of course if they win the CL which is very possible, he becomes a red hot favourite.
@Robert O Farrell: Agreed. The international competitions also usually take precedence over club football in Ballon D’or voting so how Messi, Ronaldo and Salah perform during the World Cup will have a big impact.
@Robert O Farrell: complete b0110cks.
You could theoretically be the best player in the world playing for a team winning bugger all but outperforming your peers except in trophies. And not to be considered?
Guess that means Brian O’Driscoll never should have been mentioned as a world player of the year contender as he (Ireland) bottled world cups and grand slams?
@Mikarlachenko: Shut it fool
@Mikarlachenko: Even after winning a grand slam and a Heineken cup in 2009 BOD still didn’t get player of the year (yup, still bitter about that one and the bould Richie McCaw). Its actually a good reflection of the situation with the balloon d’or, there’s no way Messi and Ronaldo have been the outstanding candidates every one of the last 10 years but yang hasn’t stopped the accolades heading their way
Normally agree with Keane and he usually says it as it is. However, the award is player of the year. Its isn’t an award for the best player in a team that won trophies this year.
It’s an individual, not team award – if salah consistently plays this well through the year and is the best player in the world, then he deserves to win it. This is regardless of whether Liverpool or Egypt win anything.
@Seán C: THANK YOU! Spot on
@Seán C: It’s about the trophies though. Messi outscored Ronaldo last year, but Ronaldo won the trophies. It probably shouldn’t be that way but it’s a team game!
@Shy Tall Knight: It’s an individual award
Rubbish as usual from Keane.. the best player in the world is just that..you don’t need a body of work behind you ..its a seasonal award…if Liverpool win the champions league he has to be on the short list…and that’s from a spurs fan!
@Barry Evans: Is that not basically what Keane said? Win the trophy and then he’s in the conversation!
@Barry Evans: that’s exactly what he said. If he doesn’t win something then he isn’t at that level.
@Barry Evans: betraying your anti Keane bias there.
And since when does he regularly talk rubbish, if anything hes always straight to the point. Especially compared to half the spoofers on football panels
@Jim Demps: He’s already won pfa player of the season. You’re looking for Liverpool as a team to win something as a measure of him deserving an individual reward. It’s beyond stupid. It’s like when Portugal won the euro’s and people said Ronaldo deserved player of the year for it, even though he did sweet feck all the whole tournament. Absolute idiocy
@Barry Evans: obviously didn’t read the article ooopps
@Barry Evans: eh ‘rubbish as usual from Keane’ and then you repeat EXACTLY what he was saying ??? Idiot.
@Barry Evans: it’s a yearly award
@Barry Evans: To be considered a great player you have to be performing consistently well over a period of years. No doubt Sala having great year and is probably player of the year but can he do it next year and the year after, Messi and Ronaldo have so did Keane in his pomp, (probably best ever midfielder in PL, even maybe europe as well). Keane spot on in what he is saying.
I think if the voting was tomorrow he’d win it but still a long way from the voting. If he doesn’t win the champions league or have a good start to next season i feel it will go to someone else. Especially if Ronaldo or Messi have a good world cup.
Ronaldo form this year has been a major reason why Madrid are where they are in la liga. His form was really poor for the first half of the season. Yes he has been unreal in the champions league but no better than salah . He has 15 goals , 3 of which are penalties . For me to that he has to win the champions league to win the balón is crap . He could score a hat trick if he gets to the final and Madrid could score four, with Ronaldo having a nightmare like last night and it scoring . Would Ronaldo still deserve it then ? For me. It’s salah number 1 , messi number 2 and Ronaldo number three at present . Salah is about to have the greatest season in English football history surely it deserves to be recognized ,
Andy cole is a strange example considering the striking talent Keane played with, one goal internationally and I can’t remember him ever scoring in a cup final. Yorke, sheringham, RVN, solskaer, Rooney and ronaldo would all spring to mind ahead of him
@Sean Lawlor: He’s talking about amounts scored , not most important and boy did Andy Cole score some amount of goals.
@Sean Lawlor: Internationally he had Shearer, Sheringham, Owen and Fowler to contend with too.
@Hardly Normal: And Keane never played with him internationally. in fairness to Keane he was only talking about strikers he played with at club level so not unreasonable to include Cole.
Where the hell is all this coming from. He has had a very good season and they want to erect a shrine to him. Give him a few more seasons and if he still doing what he has done this season then consider it. Gods aren’t made in one season.