While Damien Richardson's Shamrock Rovers side continue to aspire to playing the beautiful game it was their fighting spirit that first got them into trouble at Tolka Park last night and then out of it again.

Reduced to 10 men after Marc Kenny's wild swing at his marker, Rovers had to dig in and scrap for their point against a strong if unsubtle Bohemians side. In the end they did all that they needed to and after surviving a rough period early in the second period they were well worth their point.

If there had been any doubt that the ill will between these two last season would manifest itself in their first meeting of the new campaign then it was quickly dispelled. Within a few minutes of the start the Rovers fans were doing their best to wind it up, Kenny was getting booked for a bout of retaliation against Stephen Caffrey and Richardson was already looking like a man close to exploding. Sure, who can wait for next season when almost every game will be a Dublin derby?

It got worse as the game went on and Kenny was the first real casualty. On the receiving end of a couple of robust enough challenges and clearly feeling that he wasn't getting the protection he deserved from the match officials, Kenny had another go at Caffrey and, as the Bohemians player did everything bar take an ad in the programme to highlight the damage to his lower lip, Hugh Byrne dismissed the Rovers man for use of the elbow.

The red card sparked a furious row on the sidelines, where Richardson and Bohemians manager Roddy Collins involved themselves in a dispute that, when it resumed at the end of the half-time break, resulted in the pair having to be separated and warned by Byrne about their future conduct. Hopefully, the match official included pre-match hype amongst the list of things to be avoided in the future by Collins.

Though the pattern of the game, dominated early on by Rovers, had started to change by then, the sending off had the effect of hastening the process. Rovers had played some neat stuff early on with Billy Woods giving Tony O'Connor a terrible time on the left flank but Sean Francis, a lonely figure alone up front, was able to do no more than notch up his first couple of bad misses of the new campaign.

Rovers' best chance of the first period came just before Kenny's dismissal when O'Connor fed Mark Dempsey and his low, angled cross left Glen Crowe with a fine opportunity to put his side in front. But the finish was poor and Rovers were, at least, spared the task of having to chase the game while short a player. With their opponents having a man to spare, though, and their most likely set-piece threat removed, Richardson's men found themselves on the back foot and the game steadily turned into a battle by Rovers to stay on level terms.

Trevor Molloy, abused by the Rovers supporters every time he made contact with the ball, looked the most likely source of a goal and twice in the in the second period he came close. On the first occasion the 23-year-old striker appeared to be brought down well inside the area by Derek Tracey - but to his dismay play was waved on and moments later Byrne evened up matters somewhat by shrugging off a less substantial claim at the other end.

Twenty five minutes into the half Molloy attempted to curl a free around a three-man wall at the edge of the area. Tracey was well placed to make the block but his contact was poor and the resulting deflection drew Tony O'Dowd's best save of the night, just inside the foot of left-hand post.

Molloy and the rest of the visiting side then lost their way a little bit. They continued to enjoy the better part of possession but twice they found themselves having to scamper back under threat from Shane Robinson, who had arrived for the anonymous Pascal Vaudequin at the break.

The youngster hesitated too long when presented with his first opportunity by Rob Bowman, whose bungled pass went straight to his opponent. But Robinson did better in the closing minutes, narrowly missing the target after turning nicely inside Dave Hill.

SHAMROCK ROVERS: O'Dowd; Smith, Palmer, Deans, Dunne (Cronin, 82); Vaudequin (Robinson, half-time), Tracey, Colwell, Kenny, Woods; Francis (Brazil, 88).

BOHEMIANS: Russell; O'Connor, Bowman, Hill, Webb; Dempsey, Caffrey, Hunt, Morrison (Williamson, 21); Molloy, Crowe (O'Neill, 80).