Derry City denied Bohemians the tonic of travelling to Germany next Monday for their UEFA Cup clash with Kaiserslautern as leaders of the Eircom League with a hard-fought victory last night.
Liam Coyle's strike after 33 minutes was enough to send the Brandywell faithful home happy.
Derry City started the brighter, with Gary Beckett twice going close. After confusion in Bohemians' defence Coyle took advantage to score from an acute angle.
The big striker again went close with a volley moments later as the home side held their advantage to the break. Eleven minutes into the second half, the visitors were reduced to 10 men when Dave Hill was sent off for retaliating to a Coyle challenge, for which the striker was booked.
Bohemians were the better side in the latter stages, although it was the home side who went closest to scoring, Stephen Parkhouse heading narrowly wide in the 63rd minute.
Former world super middleweight boxing champion, Steve Collins, took centre stage at the half-time interval when he donated a pair of his boxing gloves to Derry City to raise funds in their fight for financial survival.
DERRY CITY: Connolly, McCallion, Hargan , Hutton, Kerry, Doherty, Harkin, Hegarty, Coyle, Beckett, McLaughlin. Subs: Quigley for Doherty 53 mins, Parkhouse for Coyle 58 mins.
BOHEMIANS: Russell, O'Connor, Webb, Hunt, Maher, Hill, Morrison, Caffrey, Molloy, Crowe, Hopper. Subs: O'Keefe for Hopper 61 mins, Markey for Molloy 81 mins.
Referee: Hubert Byrne (Dublin)
