The visitors came flying out of the traps heaping pressure on the hosts and had a glorious chance to take the lead after just four minutes. After failing to deal with the initial corner, resulting in a goal mouth scramble, the ball finally found it
The visitors came flying out of the traps heaping pressure on the hosts and had a glorious chance to take the lead after just four minutes. After failing to deal with the initial corner, resulting in a goal mouth scramble, the ball finally found its way to the feet of Rhys McCabe. But the former Sligo Rovers man could only volley straight at the brave James Talbot from eight yards out. The home side struggled to stem the tide of the St. Pats dominance but one slide rule ball from Keith Buckley changed that, finding a free Dinny Corcoran just left of the box. The Bohs hitman looked to curl the ball past Clarke but incredibly Simon Madden got back on the line to head clear. The Gypsie faithful were in full voice now following a slow start as Bohs mounted some opressure of their own. Keith Ward clipped the outside of the post, just after the half hour mark, with a delightfully floated free kick beating Clarke all ends up. Just before the break the pressure finally from the home side. Corcoran slid in the returning Kevin Devaney. Clarke, again, saved brillaintly one on one from the winger, but afte ball ricocheted to, man of the match, Buckley just outside the area. The Bohs midfielder showed tremendous composure to curl his effort into the roof of the net to send the sold out Jodi stand wild. Following an almost identical pattern to the first half, The Saints dominted possession, pinning Bohs back but just unable to find a breakthrough. But the Keith Long's troops weathered the mini storm and really should have doubled their lead just after the hour mark. Wards floated free kick found the unmarked Corcoran at the back post but the front man couldn’t generate enough power on his attempt. Just as the visitors looked to be building a head of steam, with Gary Shaw coming on up front, fellow strike partner Mikey Drennan received a straight red for what looked like dissent after a fairly innocuous decision on the left wing as the home side saw out the remaining minutes.
