Higgins Strikes Late To Ground Effortless Drogs

Bohemians 1 (Quigley 90) – 0 Drogheda United

 
Bohemians came into this bank holiday Monday clash with Drogheda United in desperate need of a win after some very poor showing in the league, more notably the 0-0 draw with UCD here on Friday. Pat Fenlon came into the game without team leader Owen Heary with a hamstring injury and also without the services of Gareth McGlynn due to suspension.

Bohs started the game rather well and had Drogheda on the back foot right from the whistle. First chance in the game came thru a lovely pass in from Aaron Greene, it came to Jason Byrne but he couldn’t get his shot in and it managed to come out to Paddy Madden who tried his luck but he slipped at the crucial moment, great start from the pressured champions. That wasn’t just a stroke of luck as the champions kept the pressure on and had another chance 2 minutes later, again Jason Byrne got on the end of a pass from Conor Powel but Byrne made an arse of the shot.

Drogheda’s first chance in the game came on 11 minutes and the visitors almost went ahead the first time asking, Alan Mc Nally got on the end of an attempted back pass and was about to shoot but Killian Brennan got back to defend and cleared the danger.

The champions had most of the ball possession and it was mind boggling to know how they hadn’t taken the lead in the first 20 minutes, Jason Byrne and Paddy Madden were the men to put in the chances.

On 23 minutes Drogheda had their best opportunity of the half, Mick Daly had put thru a gift of a ball to Jamie Harris who’s strike came off Barry Murphy but Murphy looked like he didn’t know what had hit him but Powel was there to clear the ball out and it was scare over for the champions who couldn’t really afford to lose or draw again.

From there on Bohemians dominated the half and had plenty of chances coming from corners and free kicks but like Friday’s game with UCD, Bohs couldn’t make anything of their chances. At half time Pat Fenlon would have been the happier of the managers from the possession his side had but knew his team still had a lot to do to pull a win out of the bag.

The second half was no different than the first with the champions dominating the game but again they had nothing to show from their perfect goal scoring chances, it looked as if it was going to be a repeat of Friday’s 0-0 draw with the students. Even when Bohs made tactical subs bringing on Raffaele Cretaro and Mark Quigley, it still wouldn’t be enough to get the goal they needed.

A frustrating second half was made even worse by the brutal refereeing of Richie Winter. Both teams should have had penalties but neither himself or his incompetent linesmen noticed it, much to the frustration of Pat Fenlon and Alan Mathews.

Another dull draw was looming and Bohemians looked as if their season was going to keep slipping, but on 90 minutes a lovely ball in from a corner kick from Cretaro met the head of Ruaidhri Higgins and Bohs found the net and Dalymount Park erupted as the fans and players knew this was where their season was going to change for the better. The players were too busy celebrating to notice how many minutes the 4th official had indicated for added time and eventually referee Winter blew for the final whistle which brought a massive roar from the supporters. This win will have indeed changed their season and give Fenlons men extra confidence heading into next week’s game with Sligo Rovers.

Bohemians: B Murphy(GK), M Rossiter, C Powel, R Higgins, J McGuiness, B Shelly, A Greene, P Keegan(C), P Madden, J Byrne, K Brennan SUBS; A Murphy, G Cronin, M Quigley, R Cretaro, C O’Connor.

Drogheda: P Skinner(GK), C Treacy, J Kendrick, A McNally, B McGill, P Crowley, G O’Connor, J Harris, M Daly, B King, C Smyth SUBS; P Murphy, D Brennan, E McGill, G Fitzpatrick, R Brennan

Referee: Richie Winter

Daniel "Pitchside" Pitcher Twitter: @DanFM104Sport About: Dan "Pitchside" Pitcher provides insight and commentary as the chief soccer and rugby correspondent for Sportspeak.