A very different Bohemians to the one that went out of the League Cup at Belfield on Tuesday gained revenge on UCD at Dalymount Park last night, taking all three points and moving clear of Shelbourne by two points at the top of the table.
It was one of the seven players rested in midweek who put the home side in front in the 18th minute. Glen Crowe hadn't scored in a month but got his 13th league goal of the campaign last night thanks largely to Clive Delaney's badly fluffed interception of a high ball from Stephen Caffrey.
Crowe's finish left Barry Ryan with little chance of saving but the UCD goalkeeper, clearly struggling throughout with a back problem, was fortunate not to be called into the action more often as the two Bohemians strikers came off the wrong side of a series of close offside calls.
In midfield the visitors consistently attempted to knock the ball around but early on the passing was often poor and the likes of Kevin Hunt and Stephen Caffrey were regularly invited to bear down on struggling opponents. Had Roddy Collins's side hit their stride at that stage then the game could have been over by the break.
As it turned out it was 16 minutes into the second period before the northsiders could start to feel comfortable about the points. Then, after Crowe had rather bungled an attempted lob of Ryan as the pair chased the same ball just inside the box, the goalkeeper was penalised for making contact with the striker as he followed through on his challenge.
It seemed harsh, for the ball was well gone and Ryan could have been excused for being a little clumsy in the circumstances, but stand-in referee Ian Stokes had no doubt and booked the keeper before Trevor Molloy placed the ball almost perfectly inside the foot of the left hand post.
Before the penalty the students had had a couple of chances to pull level, with Kevin Grogan first forcing a fine reaction save from Martin Russell and, from the corner, Aidan Lynch scooping the ball over from six yards when scoring looked easier.
After the goal, with Ryan looking increasingly uncomfortable and with Martin Moran apparently not keen on replacing him, the question seemed to be how many more Bohemians might add to their lead. Molloy certainly should have made it three while Ryan did a fine impersonation of a hit-and-run victim 15 yards off his line after making a challenge, but the striker rushed his shot from further out and the defence finally scrambled the ball away.
Remarkably Ken Kilmurray almost pulled one back for the visitors, but his low-driven strike was well stopped by Russell with his legs and the minutes then slipped past with little, bar a Gary O'Neill goal disallowed for offside and an astonishing miss by Molloy, for Ryan to worry about. On the bench, though, reserve team keeper John Browne must have been slightly concerned as to where a man might lay his hands on a transfer application form at such a late hour of a Friday night.
BOHEMIANS: Russell; O'Connor, Maher, Hill, Webb; Caffrey, O'Keeffe (Williamson, 82 mins), Hunt, Hopper (O'Neill, 65 mins); Molloy, Crowe.
UCD: Ryan; McLoughlin, Delaney (Kilmurray, half-time), McAuley, O'Donnell; Lynch; Quinn (Fitzpatrick, 69 mins), Grogan, Kavanagh, Martyn; Bennis.
Referee: J Feighery (Dublin).
