Sport

Mulcahy takes late chance

Bohemians - 0 St Patrick's Athletic - 1: Presumably the five visiting Swedish journalists were hoping for a game to remember…

Paul O'Hehir
Sat Oct 14 2006 - 01:00

Bohemians - 0 St Patrick's Athletic - 1: Presumably the five visiting Swedish journalists were hoping for a game to remember, but they can be forgiven for wanting to erase this 90 minutes from their memories.

Bohemians had carved out enough scoring chances to take full points, but the final scoreline reflects the frustrating nature of their campaign. They were more inventive, as their opponents spent a good deal of the game on the back foot until - Dave Mulcahy snatched an unlikely winner late on.

Until then, winger Aidan O'Keeffe and striker Stephen Ward were Bohemians' tormentors in chief.

O'Keeffe was lively throughout and his marker, Anto Murphy, endured a torrid night. The winger had two opportunities to put his side ahead inside half an hour, but while his first effort was spectacularly disappointing, his second should have gone rewarded. Having slalomed past Keith Fahey, O'Keeffe raced in on goal but sent an ambitious curling shot well wide.

READ MORE

But, he went close to redeeming himself on the half hour. Having gathered Ward's crossfield ball, he showed tremendous skill to embarrass Murphy but struck the post from close range.

Occasionally, when the shackles loosened, St Patrick's pushed forward. But despite Mark Rutherford's endeavours on the left, his crosses were comfortably dealt with by a defence that kept Paul Keegan and Trevor Molloy - both later substituted - at bay.

St Patrick's were marginally more inventive after the break but a final ball was always lacking. Passes and crosses that did breach the defence were over-played or mistimed, much to the frustration of manager John McDonnell and the travelling support.

Rutherford remained the most potent threat for St Patrick's, but in shifting so many crunching tackles it's a wonder he was fit to walk off the pitch unaided. Still, his tenacity rubbed off on team-mates and, with 10 minutes remaining, Mulcahy bulldozed his way into the box and beat Stephen O'Brien with a rasping shot.

BOHEMIANS: O'Brien; O'Reilly, Ferguson, Heary, Powell (Powell 87 mins); Kelly, Rice, Hunt, O'Keefe; Dunphy (Fitzgerald 83 mins), Ward.

ST PATRICK'S ATHLETIC: Ryan; Murphy, C Foley, Brennan, Frost; Fahey, M Foley (Armstrong 75 mins), Mulcahy, Rutherford; Molloy (Quigley 56 mins), Keegan (Rooney half-time).

Referee: P Whelan (Dublin).