Alan Reynolds says his Bohemians side need to continue to ask questions in the final third if they are to build on last week’s 3-0 win away to Waterford when they travel to face St Patrick’s Athletic in Richmond Park.

Bohs went into last week’s game at the RSC against the then top-of-the-table Waterford looking to reverse a run of three narrow defeats on the spin.

Given that form, there was perhaps a feeling of ‘any win will do’ so fans were pleasantly surprised to see Bohs march into a 3-0 lead in the first half, thanks to a hat-trick for Kilkenny man Colm Whelan in only his second start for the club.

While two of Whelan’s treble came from the penalty spot, there was no denying that the performance was a complete reversal on how Bohs played four days previously when they failed to lay a glove on Drogheda in a 1-0 defeat at Dalymount Park.

Now Reynolds hopes it is a sign of progression and of things to come, and said: “We went into the game after three defeats, so obviously I was pleased with the resolve and character of the players to put on the display that they did away from home against a team who had won three of their opening four games and who had their tails up.

“There’s no denying that it was a completely different performance to how we played against Drogheda. As well as the character we showed, the most pleasing thing about it was our attacking play.

“For all the time on the ball that we had against Drogheda, we didn’t ask enough questions of them, but we asked plenty of Waterford.

“We have attacking players at this club and that is what we expect of them. We need to take more risks when we are in attacking positions in the final third; take shots, get balls into the box and ask real questions of opposition defenders and goalkeepers. That’s what we did in Waterford, and we got the result the players deserved.

“We looked more organised than we had done in the previous games, and the players had a much greater understanding of one another. The challenge for us now is to maintain and sustain that, and get better still.

“We are working extremely hard – the work ethic of the group is excellent – but that needs to continue to translate to performances on the pitch.”

Reynolds couldn’t hide his delight for Whelan, a player he previously worked with at Waterford, Derry City and the Ireland U21s, grabbing the headlines against his former club.

The 24-year-old has suffered an injury-plagued couple of years but Reynolds is backing his man to make a real impact this season.

Reynolds said: “For me, going in the closed season, of all the players we targeted, Colly was the one above all that I really wanted to bring to the club because I know how good he can be.

“He is a terrific talent, a proper goalscorer and I was delighted to bring him to the club as I know if he finally gets a break, he can be a fabulous player for this club.

“The hat-trick meant a lot to him, and after the couple of years he had, it was brilliant to hear the fans take to him the way they did and chant his name.

“It meant the world to him and he’s a popular guy too, so all the players were delighted for him as well. He has had a tough couple of years as everyone knows with the injury he has had, so I don’t want to put too much pressure on him but I know how much he wants to kick on now too.”

Tomorrow, Bohs face a St Pat’s side that were many people’s tip for league winners this term. Stephen Kenny’s side had started the season not too unlike Reynolds’ side, and sit one point ahead of them in the table in fifth place.

Reynolds added: “St Pat’s are a serious side with quality attacking players who go all-out and who can do damage, as well as having the most successful manager operating in the league in Stephen Kenny.

“Stephen always wants his sides to have a go, and that’s even more the case when they are playing at home so we know how tough a game this is going to be.

“But we have quality players ourselves, who can cause plenty of problems too. We have our homework done, and we are really looking forward to it.”

Team news

Rob Cornwall and Alex Lacey are ruled out, while Lys Mousset and Dayle Rooney are doubts.

Alan Reynolds says Bohemians need to win back the trust of supporters and rise to the challenge of expectation.

After the initial high of the opening day of the season win against Shamrock Rovers, Bohs have crashed back down to earth with defeats against Derry City, Cork City and Drogheda United.

Reynolds admits Monday’s loss to Drogheda was the most disappointing yet as Bohs failed to perform in front of their home fans in their first game of the season at Dalymount Park.

He said: “The results haven’t been good enough but what was most disappointing was how we performed against Drogheda on Monday night.

“Against Cork City on Friday, we created chances, got crosses in but didn’t take our chances when presented with them.

“It was different on Monday in that despite all the possession that we had, we didn’t get at Drogheda at all.

“It was our first game at Dalymount this season and you want to set a marker, and give your fans something to get behind but we simply didn’t do that.

“We have good quality players in our team but we didn’t show that quality, and we didn’t show the aggression, creativity or penetration that our fans expect of us and that we expect of ourselves.

“Fans are frustrated by that and, as I said on Monday night, it is up to us now to roll up our sleeves and, collectively as a team and as a backroom team, to win back their trust.”

Those efforts start away to Reynolds’ former club Waterford, who went top of the table with victory against Cork City on Monday.

With three wins from their opening four games, Keith Long’s side have lost only to champions Shelbourne so far and have also claimed the scalps of Derry City and Sligo Rovers.

Reynolds said: “Waterford have had a great start to the season, so we have to be a lot better than we have been over the past couple of weeks. Monday simply wasn’t good enough.

“We have some quality players at the club now but we need to play with more confidence and conviction, and assert ourselves on the opposition.”

Team news

The experienced duo of captain Keith Buckley and Jordan Flores, who both started against Cork City last Friday but who were not risked on Monday against Drogheda United after injury lay-offs, come back into contention.

However there are doubts over Lys Mousset and Rob Cornwall, while Alex Lacey remains out.

Alan Reynolds says his Bohemians side are relishing being back on home turf for the first time this season.

The club’s decision to play the opening game of the season against Shamrock Rovers at the Aviva Stadium, followed by successive away trips to Derry City and Cork City, has Bohs players chomping at the bit to finally play a game at Dalymount Park this season.

With all home sections sold out, and just a handful of tickets remaining for travelling fans in the Mono Stand, Reynolds is hoping his side will make the most of home advantage.

He said: “It’s our first game in Dalymount this season, which is something the new players have been really looking forward to.

“We have a lot of new players in the group this season, and they’ve been told what a great place Dalymount is for atmosphere, so we all want to start the game positively as we mean to go on and have our fans behind us from the start.

“We know that our supporters have had to dig deep for three difficult opening games and have been right behind us in the Aviva and in the two away games at either end of the country that we’ve had so far. They’ve supported us in big numbers and we want to repay them for that.

“There is something special and different about playing in front of your own supporters in a packed out Jodi Stand, so that is something that we have all really been looking forward to, and we hope that it’ll be a cracking atmosphere.

“The fans have a part to play but the onus is on our players to produce at home in front of them. We want our players to excite our fans, and be aggressive in and out of possession, to get the crowd behind them.”

Reynolds returns to the dugout having had to watch from the gantry in Turner’s Cross on Friday as a result of being sent to the stands in the previous game against Derry City.

He watched on in frustration as Bohs, despite bossing lengthy periods of the first half, failed to make their dominance count.

A deflected shot from skipper Keith Buckley, making his first start after an agonising 18-month lay-off, sent the sizeable travelling contingent into raptures after 21 minutes, and was no more than Bohs deserved.

But their failure to convert the many first-half goalscoring opportunities they had created ended up costing Bohs dearly, with the experienced duo of Seán Maguire and Ruairí Keating combining to send Bohs home empty-handed.

First, Maguire popped up for the equaliser ten minutes before the interval and, after Bohs failed to match their performance of the first half, Keating punished them seven minutes from time.

Reynolds said: “We were really frustrated with the result. When you watch back the game, we had so much of the ball in the first half, played some really good stuff and created more than enough chances to put ourselves out of sight.

“We showed in that period that we have players who can cause a lot of problems and open up teams, but we didn’t test the goalkeeper enough for all the chances we created. We should have been further ahead than 1-0, and you have to make those periods count.

“We weren’t the same team after Cork City scored the equaliser so we have to be stronger mentally when we suffer a setback, and show more composure when we have those periods of dominance.”

Bohs will have to work even harder to create and take their chances against Kevin Doherty’s Drogheda United, who have conceded just once in their opening three games of the season.

Reynolds added: “Every year people seem to underestimate Drogheda and they continue to silence the doubters.

“They won the Cup last year, and have a really good side who are an organised group. They’re three games in, unbeaten and have only conceded once so there’s no doubt in our minds as to how good a team they are and how hard we are going to have to work against them, but we are really looking forward to that challenge.”

Team news

Rob Cornwall is suspended, while Jordan Flores (Achilles), Rhys Brennan (shoulder) and Alex Lacey (calf) are doubts.

Alan Reynolds says Bohemians have put the hard yards in over pre-season and are determined to start their 2025 campaign as they mean to go on.

With 30,000 tickets sold for tomorrow’s game against Shamrock Rovers at the Aviva Stadium, Bohs’ 2025 league opener promises to be a Dublin Derby like no other and is on course to smash generations-old records.

There is always a sense of anticipation ahead of a new season, but the heightened build-up the league has had in recent weeks has ratcheted that up to another level again.

Reynolds said: “The exposure that this game and the league in general is getting is fantastic. You see it with the TV deal with Virgin, and the wall-to-wall coverage over the past number of weeks.

“It’s a fantastic time to be a part of this league and after all the work our players have put in over the course of pre-season, everyone is really looking forward to getting out onto the pitch at the Aviva now and hopefully we can give our fans something to cheer about.

“We are looking at it as a fresh start for us. We have a very different squad now to what we had when I came in.

“Tomorrow is only the first of 36 league games, but we are playing our rivals and the players are hungry to start as they mean to go on.”

Reynolds has been busy strengthening his squad over the course of the closed season with the addition of Lys Mousset 10 days ago the seventh new face following the arrivals of Connor Parsons and Alex Lacey, Colm Whelan, Niall Morahan and John Mountney, and loan signing of Kian Best.

Reynolds said: “We had to be patient in bringing players in. We knew what we wanted, we chipped away at it, and we are pleased with who we’ve brought in.

“They have built a strong bond over pre-season and have worked extremely hard. Our fitness levels are good, and standards have been high.

“Those additions come on the back of the lads we brought in last summer too. We asked a lot of the players we brought in during the July window – Ross Tierney, Dawson Devoy, Leigh Kavanagh, Liam Smith and Archie Meekison – to be thrown into the team when we were scrapping at the wrong end of the table when they hadn’t had a pre-season with us.

“We limped to the end of last season but it’s a fresh start for everyone now. Those five have a pre-season under their belt, we have really strengthened with the seven new players we’ve brought in, and then you have Keith Buckley, Rob Cornwall and James McManus all back after missing last year through injury, all looking to play and all driving each other on.

“Having Bucko, Rob and James back is massive. They are Bohs through and through, they know how to win, and they are like new signings for us having them back.

“We have exciting young players coming through too – the likes of Rhys Brennan, Markus Strods, Declan Osagie and others – so I am pleased with the talent and potential we have in the squad, but we will have to be patient with them too.”

There is undoubtedly a renewed sense of excitement and anticipation among the majority of Bohemians supporters, which was certainly felt when Reynolds addressed a forum of club members during the week, and he is hoping that will lead to supporters getting behind his side from the first whistle tomorrow.

Reynolds said: “To have 15,000 or 20,000 Bohs fans behind you in a stadium like the Aviva is incredible. But the levels of support this club has is incredible no matter where we play. We see it with Dalymount being sold out for every home game, and we see it with the crowds we have behind us everywhere we go away from home.

“We want our players to embrace that, to thrive on the pressure of playing for the club, and to excite those supporters, and that is what we are striving for.

“We spoke with the members on Thursday night about how that connection is so important, and the players know it too. This is a massive club that demands high standards and hard work, and that’s what we have been striving for over the course of pre-season.

“The excitement there has been around the start of the league has been massive, so we want to build on that, draw a line under last season, and pull together to get this club back to where we all want it to be.

“Last season was a big disappointment for everyone at the club. But there has been a lot of change since, it’s a new group now who we want to build up that bond between players and fans again.”

Bohs are coming up against a Shamrock Rovers side aiming to regain the league title they lost to Shelbourne last season, and buoyed with Thursday’s Europa Conference League win away to Molde.

Reynolds added: “We didn’t need reminding of how good a side Rovers can be but they provided it on Thursday. They’re a good team with players who can really hurt you, so we have to be ready for that.”

Team news

Bohemians have a full squad to choose from.

Alan Reynolds has challenged his Bohemians side to sign off the season with something for the Dalymount Park faithful to cheer about tomorrow when they host Galway United on the final day of the season.

The concession of an injury-time equaliser away to seventh-placed Waterford last week means the Gypsies can no longer catch Reynolds’ former club, with focus shifting to plans for the 2025 campaign.

Reynolds said: “It’s been a difficult season for the club. We know how frustrating and disappointing it has been for supporters. I know supporters are probably tired of hearing me say that, so we just want to end the season with something for them to cheer about as we look ahead to next year now.

“Work has already started on our plans for next season. We have a lot of work to do to make the improvements necessary to push on as a club.

“Players will obviously move on and we have identified the priority areas where we need to strengthen. We have big players coming back too.

“Before I came in, the club started off with Keith Buckley ruled out for the season and then lost Rob Cornwall on the opening night for the rest of the season too.

“As I mentioned before, losing players and personalities of that calibre was a massive blow. They are big players and leaders in really important positions so it’s been great to have them back training with the team over the past couple of weeks, alongside James McManus who really has had no luck this season with injuries either.

“All three of them are bursting to make up for lost time next season and we are really looking forward to working with them over the closed season and into pre-season.

“We also brought in players during the summer who I believe will push on now in the closed season with a proper pre-season working closely with us under their belt, and we have strong players with strong personalities coming back from injury now too.

“So despite the disappointment of this season, I feel we have a lot to work with here for next season, alongside the areas we have identified where we need to strengthen to push this club on to where it should be.”

Bohs come into tomorrow’s game frustrated once more after working hard to take the lead against Waterford at the RSC last Friday only to concede an injury-time equaliser.

There were positives from the game, however, with James Talbot making his first appearance of the season and U19 players Rhys Brennan and Markuss Strods making their league debuts as second-half substitutes.

Reynolds said: “The first half was a let-down and a bit of a non-event. The second half was night and day compared to the first, but I thought we were really good in the second half. We went ahead and we were disappointed not to hold on to the lead having led into injury-time.

“It was a great ball in from Dawson Devoy for our goal and a great header from James Clarke too, who it has to be said has been given a difficult task in a difficult season being asked to play as a striker. There’s a lot of pressure with that, and he has worked really hard in that role.

“Conceding late on having worked so hard to get ahead in the game has happened too often this season and is something we need to cut out of our game next season.

“We’ve drawn too many games we should have won and lost games we should have got something out of. We need players who have that ruthless streak when games are in the balance to get where we need to be as a club.

“So there was frustration at the end of the game but there were positives to take from it too. We were able to give league debuts to Rhys Brennan and Markuss Strods off the bench and bringing young quality players through who can make an impact for the first team will be crucial for us over the coming seasons.

“It’s something Bohs teams over the past decade have been really good at. You look at the likes of Ross Tierney and Dawson Devoy, who we brought back to the club in the summer. They are two of the best young midfielders in the league now, and they were given their break in the first team and a platform to show what they can do here at a young age having come through the academy teams.

“The same goes for Cian Byrne who has come into his own this season having been thrown in at the deep end.

“This club has a great track record of bringing players through and there’s a lot of work going on within the academy structures to ensure we get back to that, and that we improve on it. I think most people will be aware by now of the work going on to develop the Oscar Traynor Centre into a facility that can help develop the best young talent in the country.

“There have been big improvements already and we want to ensure that from there those players have pathways into the first team and to establish themselves as the likes of Dawson, Rossi, and players who have moved abroad to other leagues, did previously.

“That is what this club is building towards, and we want to see more of those players featuring regularly next season.

“The likes of Rhys and Markuss are very much a part of that. They are players with real potential and ones for the future.

“There are more like them and getting them in over the closed season, nurturing their potential they have and testing them at first-team level next season is a key part of how we want to develop and strengthen our squad, and build towards getting this club back to where it belongs.”

Team news

Bohemians will have the same squad to choose from as last week, with Rob Cornwall, Leigh Kavanagh, Ross Tierney, Keith Buckley, James McManus and James Akintunde all still unavailable for selection.