BOHEMIANS v FINN HARPS
SSE Airtricity League, Dalymount Park, Friday 5 August, 7.45pm
Keith Long has told his players to go out and stamp their authority on the game against Finn Harps on Friday.
The past fortnight has seen two key performers, Dave Mulcahy and Ayman Ben Mohamed, depart the club.
But Long maintains there is enough quality in the squad to step up and fill the void left by departures, suspensions and injury.
He said: “We are expected to win at home to Finn Harps. They are above us in the table, but a win would see us leapfrog them.
“To do that, we need to work hard to stamp our authority on the game. We have some good, quality players in this squad but they have to go out and show it.
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“We’ve lost two players, we have two players suspended and we still have others coming back from injury.
“But that creates an opportunity for others to go out, put the jersey on and make it their own.”
With last Friday’s league game against Dundalk postponed due to the Lilywhites’ involvement in the Champions League qualifiers, Bohs are still looking to make up for their last league outing a fortnight ago, which saw Derry City come away from Dalymount with a 1-0 win.
Long said: “Our last home game against Derry was poor. We never got going.
“At the same time, there was not a lot in it either. Derry are flying up the top of the table and we weren’t a millions miles off them.
“But as has sometimes been the story of our season so far to date, we didn’t create enough chances and the ones we did create, we didn’t put them away. We need to improve.”
Although frustrated to lose two consistent performers, Long has wished both Mulcahy and Ben Mohamed well in their respective moves to Cork City and L’Espérance Sportive de Tunis (Tunisia).
He said: “They’re both at very different stages of their careers and both left in very different circumstances. But you are always disappointed to lose players.
“Dave is self-employed and is primarily working in the Munster area at the moment. It’s also a chance for him, after 17 years in the league, to win his first league medal.
“We were very reluctant to let him go but he’s given great service to Bohs for five years and it would have been hard to deny him that opportunity at this stage of his career.
“Ayman’s had interest from home and abroad, particularly after his call-up to the Tunisia squad. He’s had a great few months for us, we are very disappointed to lose him so soon but we wish him well.
“It’s a chance for him now to make the step up to full-time football and, hopefully, break into the Tunisian national team too. We wish him every success.”
Bohs will once again be without Keith Buckley, who serves an additional one-game ban after his red card against Shamrock Rovers last month. Also suspended is Dan Byrne for accumulating five yellow cards this season.
Dylan Hayes (ankle) remains out. But there was better news elsewhere as Lorcan Fitzgerald (ankle) came through a full 90 minutes in last week’s 3-0 friendly win against St Mochta’s, while Stephen Best (knee) returned to training after nearly a month out.
One player who has put himself in contention is Marco Chindea. The striker signed from Athlone last month, made his debut from the bench against Derry and scored in the friendly against St Mochta’s.
Long added: “Marco’s looked really good in training. He’s scored goals for Athlone in the First Division so obviously this is a bit of a step up. But he’s got technical ability, took his goal against St Mochta’s very well and he’s given us something to think about.”
