Shelbourne v Bohemians
SSE Airtricity League
Saturday October 3 2020, 7.30pm
Live on WatchLOI

Bohemians are aiming to turn luck into momentum when they make the short trip to Tolka Park tonight.

Anto Breslin was perhaps Bohs’ best performer in the smash-and-grab win against Derry City last week.

Keith Long’s men trailed for a 92 minutes at Dalymount Park, creating little, before first a Keith Ward penalty and then a last-gasp winner from Andre Wright from Breslin’s cross sealed all three points in the most unlikeliest of circumstances.

Breslin, who joined from Longford at the start of the season having previously been with Wolves, said: “Luck was very much on our side. We didn’t play anywhere near as well as we are capable of.

“But we showed what we are made of. There is great character in the team at the best of times but we had it in abundances last week.

“I don’t know of many teams who can say they’ve been 1-0 down for 92 minutes and have gone on to win the game.

“It was nice to have a bit of luck go our way for once. There have been plenty of occasions this season where we should have had penalties but they haven’t been given.

“When luck goes your way you have to enjoy it. Another week it might go the other way.”

Breslin knows Bohs won’t get away with it like that every week and will need to improve in Drumcondra tonight against a Shelbourne side that contains several former Bohemians who are battling to stay away from a relegation scrap.

3,560 were in attendance at Dalymount Park when these sides last met back in March – the final game before Covid-19 restrictions kicked in – and Breslin admits the team have had to try and create their own atmosphere of togetherness in the continued absence of fans in stadiums since.

He said: “Shelbourne are a very organised team, hard to break down and good at set-pieces.

“It’s going to be strange to have another Dublin derby without fans and without an atmosphere, but we know they are behind us from home.

“It’s up to us as a group to create our own atmosphere. We’ve five games left and we want to qualify for Europe and finish as high up the table as possible.

“The performance was disappointing last week. We want to improve on that. The previous week against Sligo, we were really good. We could have been out of sight at half-time. We need to find that consistency every week.

“But against Derry, we didn’t start well and conceded early. We need to learn from that. We need to start games fast and come out flying.”

Despite very able competition from Paddy Kirk, Breslin has been a mainstay at left-back this season having had big boots to fill following the departure of his fellow former St Kevin’s prodigy Darragh Leahy to Dundalk.

Breslin added: “I’ve been delighted with how it’s gone. Darragh was a great player here but I was confident in my own ability and knew what I was capable of.

“I certainly found it difficult at the start. The intensity in training is far greater to what I was used to at Longford. I had maybe lost that little bit of sharpness since coming back from England, so there was a period of having to adapt.

“There’s a great bunch of lads here who keep pushing each other. It’s not just one player, it’s the whole team. You can’t have a night off!

“Everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet. It’s unfortunate that because of the shortened season that some of the lads haven’t got as much game-time as they would have hoped for.

“But it’s a credit to them that you wouldn’t know they are out of the team if you watch us train. Everyone just keeps pushing each other so that they are ready to play if called upon.”

TEAM NEWS

Kris Twardek (suspension) and James Finnerty (illness) are available once more.

Ciarán Kelly has joined Ballymena United on loan. He will return to the club in January.

Preview: Bohemians v Derry City
SSE Airtricity League
September 25 2020, Dalymount Park, 7.45pm
Live on WatchLOI and
audio described commentary is available (link live from 7.20pm)

James Talbot is a team player but can be forgiven for looking out for No 1 having had to wait seven months to win back his place in the Bohemians starting XI.

The 23-year-old suffered a foot injury in the opening day of the season defeat to Shamrock Rovers in February and had to bide his time thanks to the combination of Stephen McGuinness’ form and the disruption caused to the football calendar by Covid-19.

With six clean sheets from 10 league games to his name, McGuinness impressed, but Talbot will be hoping to retain his place against Derry City having kept Sligo Rovers scoreless last Friday.

Talbot, whose only game-time this term came in an FAI Cup win against Cabinteely, said: “On a personal level, I was over the moon to get back into the team. It was a long time coming and was made even longer because of the Covid break.

“But that break gave me time to recover properly from my injury too and I’ve worked very hard in training to get back into the team.

“The whole squad has been working hard, we keep pushing each other.”

An ever-present in the team last year with 17 clean sheets from 36 league games, Talbot’s 2019 form saw him earn an Ireland call-up and an SSE Airtricity Soccer Writers’ Association of Ireland Player of the Month Award.

Having had big gloves to fill following the retirement of Shane Supple at the end of 2018, it was mission accomplished for Finglas man Talbot in his debut season at Dalymount Park.

To go from that to playing second fiddle for much of this term was testing. But Talbot is a team player – as evident from his vocal words of encouragement from the stands during last month’s Europa League game away to Fehervar, and his determined efforts to console his team-mates after the devastation of the subsequent penalty shootout defeat.

Now, though, Talbot wants to keep hold of his starting berth. Competition for places across the team is fierce, and it is no different between the sticks.

McGuinness was not part of the squad away to Sligo last week as a precaution because he was a close contact of a Covid case. In his absence, Talbot saw Bohs keep a clean sheet for the first time in three games and he hopes to build on that now once more.

His reinstatement coincided with Bohs returning to winning ways too as Andre Wright’s second-half goal, after skilful work from Dawson Devoy, banished the disappointment of defeats to Waterford and Shamrock Rovers in their previous two games.

Talbot said: “I want to kick on from last year, so I was glad to get a chance to impress and keep a clean sheet.

“We were disappointed with the previous two games, not just the results but the performances too. But we were a lot better against Sligo. We felt we could have been 2-0 up at half-time but thankfully we got the goal in the end. Dawson was unbelievable for the goal.”

Now attention turns to the visit of Declan Devine’s Derry City to Dalymount Park, with Talbot hoping he has done enough to retain his place in the team.

He added: “We are looking forward to it. Everyone is buzzing in training, but we are very focused and we want to go out, give a good performance and win the game.”

For manager Keith Long, the game presents another fresh challenge.

He said: “Derry are unbeaten in their last five games and have added to their squad since they beat us in March. Games between the teams have been very close over the last couple of seasons.

“With six league games remaining, it is vital we try to continue to pick up points and build on a positive result in Sligo last week.

“I was very pleased with how we played in Sligo. They were in good form prior to the game and we were coming off the back of two disappointing results, so it was really positive to see the lads put in such an assured performance.”

Talbot was just one of four changes to the team for the trip to the Showgrounds, with Rob Cornwall, Conor Levingston and Devoy making the starting XI in place of James Finnerty, JJ Lunney and Danny Mandroiu respectively.

Long added: “All players are desperate to play football and in a condensed season it is even more frustrating for them when they do not.

“The squad ethos is very important for any successful team. The changes made to the starting XI in Sligo underlines that and I was very happy with the boys who came into the team and performed well.”

TEAM NEWS

Kris Twardek, suspended due to accumulated yellow cards, is Bohs’ only absentee.

Preview: Sligo Rovers v Bohemians
SSE Airtricity League
September 18 2020, The Showgrounds, 7.45pm

Keith Long has challenged Bohemians to return to the level of consistency that saw them surge up the table when the season resumed at the start of August.

Four wins from four last month saw the Gypsies move up to second in the table, something few would have predicted at the start of the season.

But it has been a different story in September so far as Bohs lost the Dublin derby away to Shamrock Rovers a fortnight ago before succumbing to a disappointing 2-0 defeat at home to Waterford last week.

Long said: “We want to reach a consistent performance level week on week. Last week we fell short of what we expect from ourselves.”

Goals from Danny Mandroiu and Kris Twardek gave Bohemians all three points when these sides met at Dalymount Park in February.

But Long knows it will be more difficult this time around against Liam Buckley’s side, who are unbeaten in five league games now.

He added: “We will need to be better than we did last week against an inform Sligo.

“We want to put in a positive display and bounce back from the disappointment of last week.”

TEAM NEWS

Everyone trained this week, including Rob Cornwall (ankle).

EUROPA LEAGUE First Qualifying Round
Fehérvár FC v Bohemian FC
Thursday August 27, 2020
MOL Aréna Sóstó, 6.30pm local time/5.30pm Irish time
Live on stream.bohemians.ie

Bohemians make our long-awaited return to European football tonight as clear underdogs but manager Keith Long said his side have confidence, are eager to prove themselves on the bigger stage and are not without hope.

Tonight, they face Hungarians Fehérvár, who have taken points off Chelsea and have beaten Bordeaux in this competition in recent seasons.

In contrast to that pedigree, Long has a talented but inexperienced squad with an average age of just 23, and just four of his players have played in a European qualifier before.

Long said: “We are very inexperienced at this level. Keith Buckley, Rob Cornwall, Keith Ward and Dinny Corcoran have played at this level but we are otherwise a very young squad – the seventh youngest squad in Europe’s top divisions.

“It is going to be a big step-up in class against Fehérvár. But our performances since the restart give us real hope and certainly the boys are full of confidence.

READ MORE

BOHEMIANS v ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC
SSE Airtricity League
Saturday August 22 2020
Dalymount Park, 2pm

Keith Long looks ahead to today’s game and back at last week’s win away to Finn Harps:

“A Dublin derby against St Pat’s are always games to look forward to and today’s is no different despite not having supporters in the ground to generate the atmosphere normally associated with this fixture.

“Games between the two sides are always very competitive and today we expect nothing less.

“Pat’s have quality within their squad with a good mix of experience and talented young players, so we hope we can continue to make progress in every single game by challenging ourselves to reach a level of performance and hopefully picking up points.

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