Jonathan Afolabi comes to the rescue for Bohemians at Tolka Park
Shelbourne 1 Bohemians 1
Jonathan Afolabi came to the rescue for Bohemians at Tolka Park on Friday night as his 80th minute goal earned Declan Devine’s men a share of the spoils with Dublin rivals Shelbourne at the end of a tension-filled Premier Division clash.
The Gypsies were staring down the barrel of an eighth league defeat for 2023 when one of their former players, Jack Moylan, found the net early in the second half. Yet Afolabi was on hand to conjure an equaliser for the visitors, which saw them leapfrogging Dundalk into fourth spot in the top-flight table on score difference.
Despite coming under initial pressure from their neighbours, Damien Duff’s hosts were perilously close to opening the scoring in the 12th minute of the action. In a similar vein to Moylan, Shels skipper Luke Byrne kick-started his League of Ireland career with Bohs back in 2012 and he headed narrowly off-target from an Evan Caffrey corner on the left-wing.
On a day when all of the sides above them were left idle due to their involvement in European competitions earlier in the week, the Gypsies struggled to create clear-cut opportunities for much of the first half. However, there was always a chance that they could produce a big moment to help ignite their challenge and Jordan Flores’ free-kick from an awkward angle on 34 minutes only marginally cleared the Shels crossbar.
The Wigan man subsequently unleashed a piledriver that floated agonisingly past the left-hand post, but although there was plenty of bite to the game, both teams remained scoreless at the interval.
It did start to open up after the resumption with Boyd and Evan Caffrey both going close either side of Conor Kearns turning behind another set-piece strike by Flores. In the end, though, it was Shels who ultimately broke the deadlock in the 56th minute.
While Bohs netminder James Talbot was equal to a curling shot from wing back Jad Hakiki, he could do little to prevent Moylan from sweeping home the resulting rebound at a right-hand angle.
Devine looked towards his bench for his inspiration in the wake of this setback, only for a starting player to ultimately deliver the goods for the Phibsborough outfit. After centre-half Krystian Nowak had a glancing header saved off a Flores corner, Afolabi lashed the ball beyond the reach of Kearns from close-range to secure Bohs a hard-earned draw.
SHELBOURNE: Kearns; Barrett, Byrne, Molloy; JR Wilson, Coyle, Lunney, Hakiki (Wood, 70 mins); Caffrey, (Farrell, 88 mins), Moylan (Ledwidge, 75 mins); Boyd.
BOHEMIANS: Talbot; Buckley, Nowak, Radkowski, Kirk (Kukulowicz, 75 mins); McManus, Flores; Connolly, McDonnell (Clarke, 63 mins), McDaid (Coote, 63 mins); Afolabi.
Referee: N Doyle (Dublin).