Dennehy settles lacklustre Dublin derby

Shamrock Rovers 1 Bohemians 0

Hoops fans won’t be complaining about the quality though. All that mattered was that a committed performance reaped a deserved reward against a Bohs side which never lived up to their champions billing on the night.

Before kick-off, the appearance of Gary Twigg as a substitute on the Rovers team-sheet had the faithful wondering if manager Michael O’Neill would be tempted to do what Alex Ferguson had done with Wayne Rooney and risk an unexpectedly early return to action for the club’s talisman.

He would certainly have been a welcome sight on the pitch in the opening half hour which was a terribly undistinguished affair, neither side able to get a hold of the ball for any decent length of time and both goalkeepers remaining largely untroubled.

After 20 minutes of grim fare, Ken Oman headed a Paul Keegan cross just over the Rovers bar but a further 15 would elapse before they would bother Alan Mannus again, Raffaele Cretaro and an overlapping Jason Byrne combining well down the left and, from the latter’s cross, Killian Brennan’s back-post header rippling the top of the home side’s net.

For their part, Rovers struggled to support lone frontman Thomas Stewart, with Chris O’Connor a virtual spectator in the Bohs goal. But all that changed in the 38th minute when the game got the goal it needed.

In a contest of limited creativity, it was no surprise that it came from a throw-in, Aidan Price getting the flick-on in the air which a stooping Billy Dennehy was able to head low inside the post as O’Connor dived in vain.

With the home support in raptures at witnessing their first home goal of the season, the breakthrough also had a galvanising effect on their team, Rovers going on to force a succession of corners as the Bohs defence lived dangerously through to the break.

But the second half was barely a minute old when the visitors almost got back on level terms, Paul Keegan rising highest to head a Gareth McGlynn corner goalwards, only to see former Cork City man Danny Murphy well-placed to make the goal-line clearance.

After the dull fare of much of the first 45 it was now game on even if the quality on show rarely matched the rising tension level. The second-biggest cheer of the night came when, Twigg was finally called into action for his first appearance of the season with 20 minutes to go.

Rovers’ ongoing injury jinx then saw manager O’Neill forced to make a third substitution, Sean O’Connor replacing Pat Flynn as the home side looked to see out the last 13 minutes of the night.

Admirable spirit and plenty of hard work ensured that they would, even if the addition of a full five minutes of time added-on meant that it was an agonisingly long wait before the home support could finally heave a sigh of relief.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: Mannus, Flynn (S O’Connor 77), Murray, Price, Murphy, Dennehy, Turner, Rice (Bayly 60), Cahill (Twigg 71), Chambers, Stewart.

BOHEMIANS: C O’Connor, Shelley, Heary (Madden 82), Oman, Powell, Brennan (Quigley 45), Cronin (Higgins 85), Keegan, McGlynn, Cretaro, Byrne.

Referee: Alan Kelly.