Entering Dundalk before the game, it was clear that a title buzz has gripped the town. A huge home crowd was in attendance, with a relatively disappointing away crowd adding little to the atmosphere. Stephen Kenny has revolutionized a Dundalk team that actually finished bottom of the table as little as two seasons ago.
While their title challenge has been built on a solid defence, quality midfielders, and pace and power up front, Dundalk’s quality at set pieces has been a real feature. It wasn’t a surprise when they took the lead from a corner. Darren Meenan’s whipped in-swinger was flicked on by Pat Hoban at the near post, and captain Andy Boyle was left in acres of space to nod home at the far post. Boyle has come a long way since playing alongside your reporter for Lucan CBS in secondary school, and is now odds on to lift the league trophy in late October.
As usual on the astro-turf Oriel pitch, Bohs were finding it difficult to get into any rhythm, but their performance sprang into life with a piece of absolute magic from Karl Moore. Dane Massey scuffed his clearance straight to the right winger, who cut inside and let fly with a dipping, swerving piledriver that almost burst the net from 25 yards. Peter Cherrie didn’t move, and Bohs were instantly galvanised.
Pressing Dundalk higher up the pitch, the boys in green began to take hold of the game, and took a deserved lead with three minutes to go before half time. This time, screamer duty passed to Dinny Corcoran, who collected the ball on the edge of the box, chested it down, and rifled it into the very same top corner! The delighted travelling band could hardly believe their eyes, and the previously boisterous Dundalk fans were silenced.
Unfortunately for Bohs, Dundalk have the kind of options on the bench that Owen Heary could only dream of. David McMillan was introduced at half time, and the former UCD man and brother of Sligo’s Evan turned out to be the difference between the teams. His equalising effort was a brilliant header. Daryl Horgan beat Derek Pender a little too easily, and floated a low cross that McMillan stooped to steer past Delany. The Bohs keeper got a hand to it, and might be a little disappointed to have conceded it.
If Delany had finally won the Bohs fans’ hearts on Monday with a superb performance against Cork, his crown slipped a little with this outing. Dundalk’s winner was the result of a disappointing error from the Gypsies shot-stopper. Dane Massey’s looped cross floated towards Hoban, who forced Delany into a pretty weak punch. The ball fell to that man McMillan, who dispatched the ball into the bottom corner to send the home fans wild.
Jason Byrne had a header from a corner that just went over, but apart from that Bohs didn’t really threaten Cherrie’s goal in the last five minutes. With word of Cork’s draw filtering through to Oriel, Dundalk celebrated a 6 point lead with just 7 games to go. Bohs have a home game against Bray next Friday before a challenging week that sees them travel to Sligo on Monday before an FAI Cup quarter final on Friday.
Dundalk: Peter Cherrie, Sean Gannon, Andy Boyle, Brian Gartland, Dane Massey, Darren Meenan (Donal McDermott, 67), Richie Towell, Chris Shields (Ruaidhri Higgins, 73), Daryl Horgan, Kurtis Byrne (David McMillan, 46), Pat Hoban. Subs not used: Gabriel Sava, Mark Rossiter, John Mountney, Mark Griffin.
Bohemians: Dean Delany, Derek Pender, Roberto Lopes, Aidan Price, Jack Memery (Adam Evans, 81), Karl Moore, Craig Walsh, Eoin Wearen, Kevin Devaney, Dinny Corcoran, Jason Byrne. Subs not used: Aaron Shanahan, Ryan McEvoy, Paddy Kavanagh, Jake Hyland, Keith Buckley, Stephen Best.
BohemianFC.com Man of the Match: Karl Moore