Moving onto another game that probably won’t have neutrals rushing to watch the highlights, Bray Wanderers travel to Athlone, who will not stay on zero points forever. Football teams are rarely as good or as bad as their very recent results suggest, and so there is a danger of assuming that Athlone are the worst team ever to grace the division, just by virtue of their current points tally. While Bray are admittedly a decent outfit, well-drilled under Matthews, a case can be fairly easily argued that they shouldn’t be 4/5 on the road against anyone.

Many observers will consider some of the remaining fixtures this weekend “best left alone” from a punting perspective, and that indeed may be the best course of action. St Pat’s travel to take on Sligo, and both sides are already very familiar with each other despite it still being early in the season. Recently handed a hammering at home by these opponents, Liam Buckley will be determined not to slip up and potentially lose ground to one or both of Cork and Dundalk, who play each other at Oriel Park. The draw here appeals as the most likely result, but maybe the price reflects that at 12/5.

Recommended:
Bohs win, 1pt 9/5 (Boyles)
Athlone Town, 1pt 19/5 (Hills)

Heary’s side gained a point last week from Cork City in Cork, where the league leaders remain undefeated. “It was a very good performance considering the conditions and the crowd against us. We outplayed Cork for the majority of the game, and we created numerous opportunities.”

Bohemians now have three home games in eight days, including next Tuesday’s visit of St Patrick’s Athletic for the second round of the EA Sports Cup and Heary is aiming to have his team turn playing at home into an advantage. “You should enjoy playing at home, but we have to get that first win and then build on it.”

Bohemians’ busy schedule has given the manager an opportunity to test all of his players in senior-team competition. ‘Fringe players’ Lee Whelan, Jake Hyland and Philly McCabe started in last Monday’s Leinster Senior Cup defeat to Shamrock Rovers, while Paddy Collins and Keith Mahony came on as subs. Meanwhile, Jack Memery returned from knee injury to play the 90 minutes.

“We were well in the game until [Daniel Byrne’s] sending-off. Even then, the team kept trying to do what we wanted them to do, getting on the ball and passing well,” said Heary.

“Lads who had been left out previously showed their character by doing their job well. You could see their mental toughness. Anybody can have a bad game, but you can sink or swim after that and I think the lads clearly showed they wanted to swim.”

However, Byrne’s sending-off on Monday has reduced Heary’s selection options for Friday. Byrne is automatically suspended for this match, while Craig Walsh serves a one-match suspension for accumulated yellow cards.

Striker Dinny Corcoran is again available for selection following knee injury, but Anto Murphy’s return from hamstring injury will likely be delayed until Tuesday’s EA Sports Cup fixture. Central defender Aidan Price has a late fitness test for a quad injury incurred in the Cork City game.

A new name in the Bohemian squad is that of central midfielder/defender Eoin Wearen, 21, who was most recently with West Ham. He was previously a “hot property” with St Kevin’s Boys and has played at under-17 and under-19 for Ireland. Wearen has been training for some weeks with Bohemians and is awaiting international clearance to be eligible for selection.

“Rovers will always have a strong team out, so it gives our younger players a taste of what it’s like at this level and shows them the level they should be aspiring to play at week in, week out in a few years’ time.”

Although he was happy to see Bohs’ run of league defeats come to an end, Heary was frustrated not to have come away from Turner’s Cross with all three points against a top-of-the-table Cork City side still unbeaten this season.

“I was very happy with the performance but I’m disappointed not to have won it. Ryan McEvoy and Jason Byrne went close, and Kevin Devaney hit the crossbar. We were the much stronger team and created more than enough chances to win it, particularly in the second half.

“In saying that, we did get out of jail at the end when Cork were denied what looked like a legitimate goal and we were handed a free-kick out, so I won’t complain too much!”

Heary was pleased to have been able to pick the strongest line-up available for the trip to Leeside as recent Monday league fixtures have necessitated much tinkering to his line-ups.

“Being able to play the kind of football we want to play is obviously much easier when we’ve our strongest team out and they’re not knackered. With Dinny Corcoran injured, we obviously would have liked Jason to start against Sligo Rovers on Monday but he wasn’t physically capable of playing having played the full game 2½ days previously against St Pat’s.

“Asking Dave Mulcahy to play two games in such a short space of time after being out for so long was a big ask too. You have to remember that players are part-time too – they have jobs or go to college – so they benefited from having a full week’s training with no game in between going down to Cork. There shouldn’t be the same problem this evening as most of the players who will be playing are players who haven’t been getting regular game-time”

Jack Memery, out for over a month with a knee injury, is expected to feature tonight. Corcoran (knee) has also returned to training, while Heary revealed Anto Murphy (hamstring) is targeting next Tuesday’s EA Sports Cup tie against St Pat’s for his long-awaited first appearance of the season. Aidan Price (quad) will not be risked tonight, but Philip McCabe, who came off with a knock against Sligo on Monday, is available to play.

Jason Byrne returned to the starting line-up in place of Philly McCabe as the only change from the team that were beaten by Sligo Rovers on Monday. That meant Steven Beattie was moved into a right-back position, with Byrne ploughing a lone furrow up front. Unfortunately for both sets of fans – including the raucous travelling supporters – the game was doomed from the beginning to suffer from the effects of the weather. At around 7pm, the heavens opened over Turner’s Cross, and a fierce wind blew from the Shed End towards the Bohs fans in the opposite corner. The wind was at Cork’s back in the first half, and naturally they dominated possession.

City’s wing duo of Billy Dennehy and Liam Kearney were the home side’s two key dangermen, and they created a succession of half-chances in the middle of the half once the home side had acclimatised to the gale. Bohs took longer to get used to the conditions, with Derek Pender and Karl Moore faring the worst with a string of slips and misjudgements. Jason Byrne was actually Bohs’ stand out player in the first period – his hold up play and control were relieving pressure on the back four at regular intervals. The only real chance of the first half came when Kearney got in behind Beattie on the left flank, but his cutback was agonisingly ahead of a sliding Dennehy. The half time whistle was greeted with real enthusiasm from the away fans – they sensed the change of ends could be a defining moment in the match.

Almost straight from the kick-off, Heary’s men signalled their intent. A lovely interchange between Pender and Paddy Kavanagh got the Karl Moore in behind the Cork defence. He delayed his pass perfectly until the midfield runners arrived. He picked Ryan McEvoy out, but the bearded wonder blazed over from 12 yards with the goal at his mercy. Almost inevitably – the league leaders punished that miss. A seemingly over-hit pass to Kearney held up in the wind, and allowed the former Shamrock Rovers man to pull the ball across the face of goal. It skidded all the way to the back post, where Mark O’Sullivan got a toe on the ball in front of Pender, who clearly brought him down. Dennehy stepped up, cleared the water from his eyes, and sent Lee Murphy the wrong way to put the home side in front.

Credit to Bohs, they didn’t let the goal faze them –and hit back within 3 minutes. Paddy Kavanagh was excellent in the second half, and his beautifully-floated cross was destined for the back post – a fact read perfectly by Jason Byrne. The veteran striker stepped off Dan Murray, judged the cross like a master, and bulleted his header into the far corner. He could, and possibly should, have given Bohs the lead with 12 minutes to go. McEvoy was the provider this time, pulling the ball across for Byrne whose shot almost squirmed under McNulty’s body – but the Cork keeper grabbed the ball at the second attempt. The game looked to be petering out to a 1-1 draw without further incident, until an explosion of action in injury time. First, Bohs sub Kevin Devaney let fly with a thunderous 25 yard drive that crashed off the crossbar – McNulty beaten all ends up. Then, with all 3 minutes of added time elapsed, Cork looked to have grabbed a winner. Rob Lehane’s cross was fumbled by Murphy, and Mark O’Sullivan scrambled the ball home. However, referee Neil Doyle adjudged that Murphy was fouled, and Bohs breathed again.

Cork City: Mark McNulty, John Kavanagh (Iarfhlaith Davoren 65), Dan Murray, John Dunleavy, Brian Lenihan, Billy Dennehy, Colin Healy, Gearoid Morrissey, Garry Buckley (Dave O’Leary 80), Liam Kearney (Rob Lehane 71), Mark O’Sullivan. Subs not used: Matt Gledhill, Anthony Elding, Andy O’Connell, Ian Turner.

Bohemians: Lee Murphy, Steven Beattie, Aidan Price (Dan Byrne 64), Robert Lopes, Derek Pender, Paddy Kavanagh, Dave Mulcahy, Ryan McEvoy, Craig Walsh (Kevin Devaney 82), Karl Moore, Jason Byrne. Subs not used: Dean Delany, Jake Hyland, Stephen Traynor, Darragh Reynor, Keith Buckley.

Bohemianfc.com Man of the Match: Jason Byrne

Looking across the fixture list this weekend in fact, it is tempting to get with some more of the dogs. Drogheda at 5/1 at home, Bray at 13/2 at home to Dundalk, Limerick 15/2 at home. These are some of the carrots being dangled in front of punters tonight, in a league where we are reminded almost on a weekly basis that the odds-on shots just aren’t to be trusted, even more so away from home.

Seeing a fairly lethargic Sligo outfit being gifted three points by Bohs last weekend, would you back them at 8/15 at Limerick, a competent, physically fit team? Would you back Dundalk away from home at 1/2 at Bray? We cannot bring ourselves to trust either of those sides, and for that reason we recommend backing the draw in both of these games. Dundalk in particular, are not considered a worthy 1/2 favourite as a road team by any rating system.

While we are on the topic of dogs, how often do we see 28/1 shots? That’s the price Athlone are to take three points from Richmond Park. Athlone had no substitute goalkeeper on the bench recently and are still stuck on a bagel at the foot of the league table. Still though, football throws up strange results, particularly in this league. Again it’s hard to rule out the draw at a tasty 7/1.

To finish on our own game in Cork, conventional wisdom says that we have no chance of coming home with anything. Sitting pretty at the top of the league and drawing large crowds, it’ll surely be a backs against the wall job down there. The best goal difference in the league means that they lead Dundalk at the top, despite having played a game less. With some of the same players we have playing for us at the moment, we have proven over the years that we can pull off results away from home against superior opposition. We can’t be written off but the bet to consider is the half time draw at 6/5.

Recommended:
UCD, 1pt 7/1 (Bet365)
Bray-Dundalk, 1pt draw 10/3 (Boyles)
Limerick-Sligo, 1pt draw, 3/1 (Boyles)
Cork-Bohs half time draw, 1pt 6/5 (Bet365)

Heary wants his players to approach the Cork game in a positive frame of mind. “I know we have the players to get a result. They just have to believe it. I think they do, but we just have to get the mental approach fine-tuned.”

At this stage in the season Heary expected to be better-placed in the league. “I’m disappointed that we haven’t got more points on the board. I can live with a team outplaying you, as Pats did against us. But against Limerick and Sligo we defended really well, we created the better chances, and then we go and concede a goal off a corner. We were well in those games, getting on top, and then we killed ourselves on a set-piece.

“The players have to take responsibility for tuning-out for a second and that’s something that we’re working on with them. The disappointing part is that we haven’t reacted as we should to someone making a mistake.”

Bohemians have to plan without striker Dinny Corcoran (knee ligament injury), but Jason Byrne, sat out 80 mimnutes of Monday’s match against Sligo following a strenuous 90 minutes against St Patrick’s Athletic three days earlier, is likely to start in the Cork game. Corcoran may make it back for next weeks’ home league game against Derry City.

Steven Beattie, who has proven his versatility with appearances on the wing, up-front and, most recently, shuffled to right-back, may be chosen in that position again, with Derek Pender switching to left back, where Bohemians have too often proven vulnerable.

Jack Memery (knee) has returned to light training but is not yet fit for possible selection, while Anto Murphy (hamstring) may be back training next week.

Heary expects to make several changes for Monday’s Leinster Senior Cup match in Tallaght against Shamrock Rovers. Jake Hyland and Lee Whelan, promoted from the under-19s, can expect to play and goal-keeper Dean Delany will return to start.

Another two-game weekend at the start of May will further stretch the Bohemian squad but Heary insists he would prefer to be playing in three competitions in parallel than to be already eliminated from the knock-out tournaments. “You want to be playing every game possible,” he said.