WOLVES FRIENDLY
May 15, 2014
Meanwhile, please note Bohemians’ EA Sports Cup quarter-final away to Longford Town has been fixed for Monday May 26th (City Calling Stadium, 7.45pm).
All the latest club news and updates from Dalymount Park.
May 15, 2014
Meanwhile, please note Bohemians’ EA Sports Cup quarter-final away to Longford Town has been fixed for Monday May 26th (City Calling Stadium, 7.45pm).
May 14, 2014
Check-in is from 5pm. The bus will leave Dalymount Park at 5.30pm sharp and return straight after the game. The fare is €15.
To put your name down, mail bus@bohemians.ie as soon as possible.
May 12, 2014
Owen Heary spoke to Robert O’Reardon after Bohemians’ stalemate on Friday night. Manager Heary discussed the controversial red card shown to Roberto Lopes and praised the performance of the remaining 10 men against Aaron Callaghan’s UCD.
Filmed by Jamie O’Halleron.
May 12, 2014
Bohemians have been drawn to play Limerick away at Thomond Park in the second round of the FAI Ford Cup. Tie to be played weekend ending Sunday June 8.
FULL DRAW: Dundalk v Sligo Rovers, Belgrove Home Farm v Finn Harps, Drogheda United v Cockhill Celtic, Limerick v Bohemians, Cobh Ramblers v Derry City, Athlone Town v Longford Town, Wexford Youths v Bray Wanderers, Shelbourne v Waterford United, St Patrick’s CY v St Patrick’s Athletic, Mayfield United v Malahide United, Ballynanty Rovers v Phoenix, UCC v St Michael’s, UCD v Galway, Collinstown v Avondale United, Cork City v St Mochtas, Sheriff YC v Shamrock Rovers.
May 10, 2014
BOHEMIANS 0-0 UCD
Another red card condemned Bohs to more dropped points at home as they battled out a goalless stalemate with UCD at Dalymount on Friday evening, writes CONOR HAYES.
Even allowing for the fact the men in red and black played for nearly an hour with a man disadvantage, they had the better of the play although the Students came closest on the night, hitting the post in the second half.
Bohs made three changes from their last league outing, with Dean Delany back in goals, Dan Byrne slotting in at centre-half and Kevin Devaney replacing the suspended Dinny Corcoran.
In the early stages, Bohs seemed to focus their play down the flanks and found themselves in positions to deliver balls into the danger zone but on each occasion the final ball was lacking accuracy.
The Students looked lacklustre in the opening period and they gifted Bohs the first opportunity on 13 minutes as Devaney won the ball from their defence and it ran into the path of Jason Byrne who fired his effort straight at UCD keeper Conor O’Donnell.
The evergreen striker was also presented with a chance just before the 20-minute mark after Paddy Kavanagh found him from the right-hand side but this time he scuffed his shot into the side netting.
Bohs had the better of it during this period without ever looking like finding the net but the game changed utterly on the half-hour mark as the home side were reduced to 10 men. Uncharacteristically, David Mulcahy lost a battle in midfield which allowed Chris Mulhall to spring a ball over the top for Robbie Benson. The Students skipper then seemed to cut across Lopes and in the ensuing tangle fell over. Referee Paul McLaughlin, who was fully 30 yards from the incident, was not only sure enough to whistle for a foul but also produced a red card for the Gypsies’ centre-half.
UCD, buoyed by their man advantage, then had their best spell of the half. A series of corners ratcheted up the pressure and on the third delivery Hugh Douglas met the ball with a point blank header six yards out which seemed destined for the net only for Delany to claw it away. A stunning save.
The same UCD defender then had a free header from another set piece which he nodded over. A corner from the other end then saw the ten men nearly take the lead just before the half as Mulcahy ghosted in at the back post but could only head it over the upright.
The heavens opened at half-time, reflecting the mood of the Jodi Stand faithful, but Owen Heary’s side enjoyed the vast majority of the possession in the second half. Karl Moore, who looked a danger all evening, tried to break deadlock eight minutes into the second period with a wonderful solo run cutting in from the left wing but his shot from the edge of the area lacked the sufficient power to beat O’Donnell.
Bohs were still in control as the game entered its final quarter but were finding it hard to break down the opposition who, despite the man advantage, seemed happy to concentrate on defence. First Kavanagh had an effort which was deflected wide and then the former Birmingham City man set up substitute Craig Walsh whose shot was blocked by one of the wall defenders clad in white.
Then, completely against the run of play, UCD nearly scored what would have been a stunning opener, after nice play from defence, a lovely one-two between Robbie Creevy and Benson saw the latter curl a beautiful shot past Delany but on to the post.
Craig Walsh’s introduction seemed to give Bohs new attacking impetus and with 15 minutes remaining, he found himself through on goal after being slipped in by Jason Byrne but his near-post effort was denied by O’Donnell.
The Students’ netminder proved himself again against Walsh as he saved an effort from a tight angle after the midfielder had been put through by a Byrne flick-on.
There would be one final chance to secure that long awaited home league win in the 94th minute as good work from Kavanagh found Jason Byrne near the penalty spot but his hooked effort could only find the grateful arms of O’Donnell.
So despite a good display with a man down, another frustrating evening at Dalymount for Bohemians. They travel next Friday to Drogheda hoping for a more fortunate outcome.
Bohemians: Dean Delany, Steven Beattie, Roberto Lopes, Daniel Byrne, Derek Pender, Paddy Kavanagh, David Mulcahy (c), Ryan McEvoy, Karl Moore, Kevin Devaney Craig Walsh 62), Jason Byrne. Subs Not Used: Lee Murphy, Anto Murphy, Jake Hyland, Stephen Traynor, Andy Mulligan, Eoin Wearen.
UCD: Conor O’Donnell, Mark Langtry, James Kavanagh, Hugh Douglas, Tomas Boyle, Robbie Creevy, Colm Crowe (Gary Burke 76) , Robbie Benson (c), Cillian Morrison (Thomas O’Halloran 79) , Chris Mulhall, Samir Belhout. Subs Not Used: Mark McGinley, Gareth Matthews,Michael Barker, Dwayne Wilson, Sean Coyne.
Referee: Paul McLaughlin.
May 9, 2014
You can place your order for the 3-2 ’84 replica jersey – a one-off special edition to mark the 30th anniversary of Bohemians’ famous UEFA Cup win over Rangers – at Bohs v UCD tonight.
Remember, the jerseys are strictly made to order and the deadline for orders is Friday May 16th. The cost is €49 (fully-paid club members) and €59 (non-members). All children sizes are €49.
They will come in a numbered presentation box with reproduction programme from the game. There will also be a special jersey collection night on September 20th.
Orders can be made using the PayPal button below. Members must supply their membership number after ordering by emailing 1984@bohemians.ie.
Orders will also be taken at the club office during normal office hours and also at our home games against Derry City, St Patrick’s Athetic and UCD. (Note: from club office, not club store). Further queries: 1984@bohemians.ie.
May 9, 2014
BETTING COLUMN BY SEAMUS O’CONCHUR
It is probably a good time for all of us to take stock and reflect on the season so far, after a full series of fixtures. We will publish a P&L figure for this page in the coming weeks, but it’s easy to see now that it’s going to be negative. Like the teams in the Airtricity League though, there is little sense in dwelling on what has happened in the season thus far, and such energies as we have for these Friday nights is best spent on plotting how to win points for the remainder of the season.
Picking out the underachievers and the overachievers of the season so far is relatively easy. Using points as the indicator, Dundalk and Cork have overachieved, St Pat’s are where we expect them to be, and Shamrock Rovers, despite being 4th in the table, would be joint-top had they beaten Limerick at home last weekend in the last round of the first series of games.
So making a case for them under-achieving may not be as easy as it looks on first glance. That Dundalk are where they are is fairly consistent with Stephen Kenny’s pedigree as a manager, despite the fact that we all have our opinions on his ability to manage a side at the top for a sustained period. We really should not be surprised at their position, although we might not quite have had them down to pick up six points from trips to Sligo and Inchicore.
Speaking of Sligo, what’s wrong with them? Eight points off the top is not where they want to be, or where we expect them to be. Once Cork play their game in hand against Limerick, they too could be eight clear of Sligo along with Dundalk. However, over the second series of fixtures, we would expect that Cork will regress slightly, and coupled with an improving Sligo outfit, it’s probably safe to say they’ll be closer to the top than they are now by the time we’ve gone through this second series of games.
This weekend Sligo and Dundalk clash in the Setanta Sports Cup final and it’s probably worth a bet on Sligo for the reasons outlined above. In order to make money from betting on football, there will come times where you will have to either buy low or sell high (ideally both). It means that you have to pick out progressive teams and oppose sides who are doing well but may not quite convince. In this case, Stephen O’Donnell is a big loss for Dundalk, particularly in this spot as Rovers have a fairly useful midfield themselves and will look to control possession. Sligo’s draw against an in-form St Pat’s last weekend means they might just be picking up their form, even if they’ve left themselves a lot to do in terms of a serious league title challenge. By opposing Dundalk here we are not necessarily saying that they have peaked and won’t win the league, just that it might not be a great time to back them considering they dismantled the then-league leaders in the shape of Cork City last Friday night. Consider an even bigger bet on Sligo if they drift for any reason.
Getting back to the bread and butter of the league now, and there is little value to be had in this round of fixtures. Derry worked hard against Bohs and despite the home fans going away thinking Dinny Corcoran cost us the game, there is no guarantee that we would have found a way through the Candystripes back four with eleven men. Like ourselves they have struggled at home this season, but all things considered I think I would want to see a shade of odds-against before backing the away side in this game. Derry may scrap their way to a draw here.
St Pat’s look like league champions of late, and it was no surprise to see ex-Bohs player Chris Forrester getting the player of the month award for April. He will go on to greater things, but himself and his team might not have things all their own way at home to Cork tonight. It would be interesting to see the prices for this game if Cork hadn’t been hammered in Dundalk last week, and the truth is that we simply don’t know if their early-season form was a flash in the pan, or whether like Dundalk they can go to Richmond Park with no fear and come away with a result. Again, Pat’s aren’t for me at the prices. At a best price of 4/5, it’s just not the sort of bet you will make money on in the long term in this league.
At the risk of being accused of insanity, we will return to the bet we tipped for the opening day of the season, in the shape of Limerick to beat Bray Wanderers. Bray may be a bit tougher under Alan Matthews than in recent seasons but there is no obvious reason to expect them to finish much better than where they were last season. They actually have 2 points more than Limerick at this stage of the season but again it is doubtful that that will be the case at the end of the season, and it’s arguable that Limerick shouldn’t be as big as the 21/10 available with Pinnacle.
Recommended:
Sligo Rovers, 1pt 2.63 (Pinnacle)
Limerick, 1pt 21/10 (Pinnacle)
May 8, 2014
BOHEMIANS v UCD
SSE Airtricity League, Dalymount Park, Friday 9 May, 7.45pm
Bohemian manager Owen Heary has warned his side not to let their recent high standards drop as his predecessor Aaron Callaghan takes his place in the opposition dugout at Dalymount Park for the first time since parting company with the Gypsies in July of last year.
Bohs are unbeaten in three games in all competitions and Heary said: “We’ve turned good performances into decent results. We’ve drawn away to Cork, drawn against Derry and pushed on to get the win against St Pat’s in the EA Cup. The challenge now is to push on further and get that first win at home in the league, which is long overdue.
“After good results against strong teams, fans can sometimes think ‘ah it’s only UCD’. It’s important that the players don’t think that way. UCD have very good players – some of the best young players in the league, so you can never write them off. We can’t let our standards slip.”
Bohs kicked off the 2014 league season with a comprehensive 3-0 victory against the Students at the UCD Bowl and matched that scoreline at the same venue three days later in the EA Sports Cup, but Heary believes Callaghan’s side will pose a much greater threat this time around.
“Aaron had only just come in then,” he said. “He’s put his own stamp on things now and has them playing the way he wants them to play. I wouldn’t pay too much attention to the games we had against them at the start of the season.
“They have kicked on since. They’re coming here on the back of two good results themselves having beaten Drogheda after a good point against Derry in the Brandywell. We’d be focusing on those performances rather than looking back to how they played against us two months ago.”
Bohs’ 3-2 EA Sports Cup win against St Pat’s on Tuesday provided a platform for some of the players on the fringes of Heary’s squad to stake a claim for regular inclusion with 18-year-old Jake Hyland making the most of the opportunity as he netted twice from midfield.
Heary said: “They were two great goals and both of them on his weaker foot. Aside from the goals, he held his own in there up against real quality in Greg Bolger and Killian Brennan. Starting two games in four days at this level would be a big ask at this stage but he’s definitely played himself into contention now.”
Dinny Corcoran grabbed the winner against St Pat’s, which served to highlight what a loss he will be as he begins a three-match ban tomorrow for the red card he received for an off-the-ball incident with Derry City’s Cliff Byrne last week.
“He probably owed us that goal,” Heary said. “It was such a silly sending-off last Friday and losing him for the next few weeks is frustrating for me and hopefully frustrating for him. It’s a learning curve. As a striker, defenders are going to annoy you and wind you up. You answer them back by scoring goals, not by getting involved off the ball.”
Corcoran isn’t the only absentee tomorrow. Aidan Price remains out with a quad injury, while Paddy Kavanagh is struggling with an ankle knock. Anto Murphy made his first appearance of the season as he was introduced from the bench on Tuesday after a lengthy lay-off with a hamstring injury, but he is not yet ready to start a game.
“It’s great to get Anto back into the squad,” added Heary. “But he only got 20 minutes or so against St Pat’s so he still has a way to go before we consider him ready to start a game. With Aidan also out, we’ve looked at other alternatives at the back. Dano Byrne and Eoin Wearen were solid together against St Pat’s and Jack Memery really grew into the game at left-back too, so we’ve decent options there now.”
May 5, 2014
BOHEMIANS v ST PATRICK’S ATHLETIC
EA Sports Cup Rd 2, Dalymount Park, Tuesday 6 May, 7.45pm
Bohemians go into the second of three home games in eight days still searching for that elusive win at Dalymount Park but manager Owen Heary is adamant his side will get their just rewards if they continue playing and working as hard as they have done in recent weeks.
Heary believes Bohs’ performances have deserved to yield better results and is encouraged that, after a run of three league defeats in a row, much-improved displays in 1-1 draws away to Cork City and against Derry City in Dalymount can now provide the platform for his side to change their fortunes at home, starting with tomorrow’s EA Sports Cup clash against the league champions.
With a third of the league season gone, the Gypsies have failed to register a victory at Dalymount Park since beating Bray Wanderers 5-1 in the Leinster Senior Cup in February, while you have to look as far back as September for Bohs’ last home league win (2-0 v Derry City).
“The performances over the last couple of weeks have been very good,” Heary said. “I look at the last two league games as four points dropped, but it’s hard to fault the players’ performances in either of them. We went down to Cork and battered them, in the second half in particular. Against Derry, it was similar – we had all the chances yet they scored a great goal against the run of play to get a point.
“The lads know that if they keep playing the way they are, working as hard as they are and delivering the kind of performance they have in the last two games, their luck will change. The positive is they’re creating more than enough chances to win these games, we just need to be a bit more composed in front of goal.
“Having said that, we are scoring too. We’ve only failed to find the net in two league games. Last year, we were getting turned over by two or three goals at home without scoring ourselves. So while we’re not where we want to be, there are signs that we’re moving in the right direction. We need to keep at it, not let the heads drop and our luck will change.”
Cup competitions are Bohs’ only realistic chance of silverware, but Heary still has one eye on Friday’s SSE Airtricity League visit of UCD to Dalymount Park.
“We want to win every game and every cup,” he said. “But of course you have to look ahead too when you’re selecting your team for a game in this competition. We’ve already lost Dinny Corcoran through suspension for the UCD game, so we can’t afford any more silly bans or risk players carrying a knock. That gives a chance to a couple of others – young lads like Jake Hyland and players on the fringes – tomorrow night to play themselves into contention for Friday too.”
Heary will have to plan without the experience of Aidan Price, who was forced off at half-time against Derry City after he aggravated a thigh injury. He was replaced by 21-year-old debutant Eoin Wearen and the former West Ham youth is likely to keep his place in the side. Anto Murphy, targeting his first appearance of the season after a hamstring injury, is also in line for some game-time.
Heary added: “Eoin was thrown in at the deep end on Friday and while he didn’t have a lot to do, he did everything that was asked of him very well. Anto should feature too. He’s been out for too long to risk him from the start but he should come off the bench at some stage.”
Craig Walsh returns from suspension, while the ban Corcoran received for his red card against Derry City does not kick in until Friday’s league clash against UCD.
May 4, 2014
Owen Heary spoke to Robert O’Reardon on Friday night and discussed Bohemians’ improved performance, missed chances, Eoin Wearen’s debut, assessed the two red cards handed out during the game and looked forward to Tuesday’s visit of St Patrick’s Athletic in the EA Sports Cup.
Filmed by Jamie O’Halleron.