Crowe pounces for cup final spot

As the considerable away support drifted into Dalymount Park before last night's Harp Lager FAI Cup semi-final, their songs suggested…

As the considerable away support drifted into Dalymount Park before last night's Harp Lager FAI Cup semi-final, their songs suggested - in the plainest possible terms - that they hated Bohemians.

Somehow it's hard to imagine that their sentiments would have been any different a couple of hours later as, despondent, they wandered homewards again.

Not that Rovers had been exactly robbed in what turned out to be a rather disappointing derby clash.

Glen Crowe won the game fair and square three minutes from time with a poached goal after Alex Nesovic's close-range effort had been well saved by Tony O'Dowd.

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Still, Damien Richardson, his players and the supporters had good cause to feel hard done by after what had, for the most part, been a fairly even contest because the least they deserved for their efforts last night was the chance to do it all again on Tuesday night at Tolka Park.

Having made the stronger start to a very poor first period, Richardson's men created the best two scoring chances of a much better second.

Another night Brian Byrne would have slipped the ball into an empty net from 12 yards or Marc Kenny's late free kick would have gone in off the foot of the post instead on bouncing clean across the face of the goal.

Another night and the game would have yielded the goalless draw we had all come to expect by the time Crowe popped up to finish a move that had previously involved fine work by Liam O'Brien and Trevor Molloy and claim his 31st goal of the season.

"It's one of the hardest things that I have ever had to accept as a manager," said Richardson afterwards, "because tonight we have experienced the full cruelty of the cup.

"It's all the harder because in the second half I got what I wanted from the players - we raised the tempo, played some lovely football and reduced Bohemians to spectators for long spells, but the goal just wouldn't come."

Roddy Collins certainly had a point when he paid tribute to the Bohemians defenders, particularly Shaun Maher, for the way in which they had limited the Rovers to a handful of real chances.

Still, he admitted, "I would have been happy with the draw and even when the goal went in I was thinking that, whatever happens now, at least we're not going to lose it."

As it turned out, they did rather better and those Rovers fans will have to wait just over a week to find out who they'll be cheering for on the last day of the season.

BOHEMIANS: Russell; O'Connor, Caffrey, Maher, Hill; Morrison (Molloy, 32 mins), Fullam, Hunt (O'Brien 80 mins), Rutherford; Nesovic, Crowe.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: O'Dowd; Vaudequin (Dunne, 89 mins), Palmer, Cronin, Woods; Robinson (Kenny, 63 mins), Tracey, Colwell, Byrne; Grant (Cousins, 81 mins), Francis.

Referee: J O'Neill (Waterford).

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone

Emmet Malone is Work Correspondent at The Irish Times