Bohemians 2 Rovers 1

******* Eircom League Premier Division *******
Bohemians 2
Crowe 82' McGuinness 87'
Shamrock Rovers 1
Purcell 29'
Dalymount Park - Tuesday 3rd April 2007

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A calm dry night in Dalymount saw a relatively cagey opening to this derby game but the Hoops were the quicker to settle and carved out two chances in the opening 10 minutes. Firstly Cassidy shot weakly after Rowe and O'Connor combined then a Purcell cross saw Rowe stretching to make contact but his header was off target. Rovers continued to make the running and a good cross from O'Brien was helped on by Cassidy in the 21st minute but Purcell just failed to make contact in front of goal.

A speculative shot from Rowe on 26 minutes went wide before the Hoops opened the scoring when a Clarke throw-in was lobbed into the area by Rowe for Purcell to rise over his marker and head into the corner of the net. It was a deserved goal on the balance of play so far. Bohs only real chance of the 'half came in the 40th minute when a good run by Rossiter from his own half finished with a weak effort that missed the target. Rowe flashed a shot wide and O'Connor shot straight at the Bohs 'keeper from a free-kick before the break.

The home side started the second half with a little more purpose and a dangerous low cross by Fenn after 4 minutes was almost sliced into his own net by Ferguson. Barry Murphy had to be quick off his line two minutes later to deny Kelly. A long range Rossiter shot on 54 minutes had Murphy scrambling back but the ball went just wide. Clarke then made a fine defensive header in the 62nd minute before Rowe cheekily tried to lob the 'keeper from the edge of the area but his effort was tipped over. The hard working Ryan headed the resultant corner over the bar.

Ian Ryan made a good interception in the box in the 70th minute and Bohs next chance came nine minutes later when Rice blasted over from inside the area after Murphys punched clearance. The Hoops were relying on Rowe on the break and his fine run in the 80th minute saw a low cross cause problems in the Bohs defence before being cleared.

Rovers were defending deeply as the game entered the last ten minutes and they paid the price when Crowe was on hand to pick up a loose ball when Ryan tackled Mansaram on the edge of the area to slip the ball past Murphy for the equaliser. Bohs were now on top and pushed on but in the 86th minute the impressive Rowe latched on to a mistake in the Bohs defence and ran from almost the half-way line into the area. He then turned inside and was just about to shoot but a defender got back in the nick of time to deny him.

Worse was to follow for Rovers when McGuinness somehow looped a header from the edge of the area over Murphy in the 87th minute to give Bohs the lead. Pat Scully introduced Duffy and Colbert in the dying minutes and Duffy burst down the right behind the Bohs defence but unfortunately his low cross was blocked and the chance and game was lost.

Line-Out

1 Barry Murphy
2 Ger O'Brien
3 Robbie Clarke
4 Barry Ferguson
5 Ian Ryan
6 Tommy Barrett
7 Derek Pender
8 Dave Cassidy
9 Tadhg Purcell
10 Ger Rowe
11 Dave O'Connor


Substitutes :

13 Eric McGill
15 Robbie Kelleher
16 Stephen O'Brien 17 Jamie Duffy for Pender 88'
18 Wayne Colbert for O'Connor 89'