A warm Sunday afternoon was the backdrop at the Oscar Traynor Centre as the Bohemians MU15s welcomed Galway United to the capital for the seventh round of fixtures in the EA Sports MU15 LOI Academy league.

The opening 15 minutes saw an aggressive Galway attack seek to wear down and force mistakes against a resolute Bohs defence. Bohs remained patient and sought to hit Galway on the counter with Chuckwu and Idah being the key men in attempting to cause issues amongst the Galway backline.

The two wide-men were having success in drawing fouls from the Galway defence which helped create the best Bohs chance of the opening half an hour – a great delivery was met by the head of Bohs defender, Dunne, who forced a great save from the Galway keeper.

The second third began with the Bohs backline continuing to confidently deal with high Galway balls. A loose ball caused Bohs no.3 Josh Delves to catch an oncoming Galway player with an outstretched leg which saw the young man given his second yellow.

Galway with a man advantage sought to turn-the-screw on Bohs forcing an excellent save from the Bohs no.1 McDonnell who turned the ball around the post for a Galway corner. The ensuing Galway corner caused a goalmouth scramble before Cillian Tollett managed to put the Tribesmen ahead in the 35th minute.

A man-and-goal down, Karl Keogh’s side began to control the game and create chances in an attempt to level the game. The Gypsies’ attacking play was orchestrated through Coyle and Skoubo Keely in the midfield who were constantly looking to play attacking and forward passes.

The best Bohs chance of the 2nd 3rd was, again, created by Coyle after an excellent solo run before playing a slide-rule played into Schabowski who had his effort turned around the post for a corner.

The final third saw a Bohs side in hot-pursuit of an equaliser as they continued to pressure the Galway backline. Bohs were rewarded for their efforts in the 64th minute when the head of Christian Coyle met the brilliant delivery of Colgan to bring Bohs level.

The remaining 25 minutes turned into an excellent back-and-forth game with Bohs sides desperate to leave with all three points. A series of Galway corners were dealt with brilliantly and calmly by the Bohs goalkeeper who had commanded his box well all game.

However, Bohs were fortunate as one thundering Galway header crashed off the crossbar before being cleared by Bohs.

Bohs continued to press and an excellent tackle by Coyle in the middle of the pitch saw Bohs hit Galway on the counter; an excellent ball played between the Galway backline was squared to Idah who was unable to convert the chance as it drifted marginally wide.

Galway had the last chance of the game after an incisive break which found them in a 2v1 against McDonnell. Thankfully for Bohs, the Galway attacker was unable to convert the chance.

Soon after, the referee Jack Nolan blew for full-time at the Oscar Traynor Centre bringing an end to a back-and-forth game of football which showcased the resilience and determination of this Bohs team.

Bohemian’s U15s manager Karl Keogh reflected on the game: “As the head coach, I am very proud of the players for their performance today. Our performance was an excellent workout for our players.”

He explained that “the experience of playing over an hour with ten players in three different systems is invaluable to the group’s learning and development this season, as well as in the future.”

“Every game and every gameweek offers a learning opportunity, and today the players really rose to the challenge. Playing against any Galway team isn’t an easy game, and doing it with a man down”

Keogh said that he and Derek couldn’t be “prouder of how we approached this.”

“On Tuesday, we will continue to work hard and go again with all of the above in mind, proud that our lads left nothing behind today, and were unlucky not to come away with all 3 points. Credit to Galway today also, who caused us a lot of problems,” he concluded.