Bohemians 2 Derry City 2
Bohemians and Derry City both fell seven points adrift of defending champions Shamrock Rovers at the summit of the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division table after they couldn’t be separated at the end of an incident-filled clash at Dalymount Park last night.
Originally set to get underway at the standard time of 7.45pm, this contest was delayed by 45 minutes owing to a local power outage that caused an issue with the floodlights in the Phibsborough venue.
With Rovers and second-placed St Patrick’s Athletic having wrapped up victories against Dundalk and UCD respectively long before the action came to a close, the Gypsies and their northern counterparts now appear outside bets for a title charge – albeit Derry still have a game in hand on the top-two.
Fresh from scoring a brace in their 6-0 demolition of Rockmount in the FAI Cup at the same ground seven days earlier, James Clarke was put through on goal by Paddy Kirk with just 13 minutes gone on the clock and calmly fired the ball beyond the reach of Derry netminder Brian Maher to give Bohs the lead.
Yet despite coming into this tie on the back of penalty shootout defeats in both the Uefa Europa Conference League qualifiers and the FAI Cup, the Candystripes were back on level terms by the first-quarter mark.
Following excellent link-up play with Paul McMullan, Michael Duffy had a strike deflected into the bottom left-hand corner of the Bohs net. This helped to spark Ruaidhri Higgins’ side into life and the visitors ultimately brought a 2-1 cushion into the interval after Danny Mullen superbly headed home a Ciaran Coll cross in the 43rd-minute.
While this raised the prospect of a second home reversal at the hands of Derry in 2023, Bohs quickly got themselves back into contention on the resumption. When Sadou Diallo fouled the raiding Adam McDonnell inside the box, Gypsies centre-forward Jonathan Afolabi stepped up to the penalty spot on 53 minutes and coolly slotted home an equaliser from 12 yards.
Bohs found themselves on the back foot in the immediate aftermath of this goal, however, as Ben Doherty rattled their crossbar with a fierce long-distance drive moments after James Talbot produced a spectacular save off another Mullen header.
There was plenty of endeavour inside the final half-hour of an enthralling affair but, in the end, the two sides had to be content with a share of the spoils.
Bohemians: Talbot; Buckley, Nowak, Radkowski, Kirk; Flores, McDonnell; Connolly (McDaid, 64 mins), Clarke, Grant (Coote, 79 mins); Afolabi (O’Sullivan, 87 mins).
Derry City: Maher; Coll, McJannet, Connolly (S McEleney, 18 mins), Doherty; O’Reilly, Diallo (P McEleney, 64 mins), Patching; McMullan, Mullen (McGonigle, 79 mins), Duffy.
Referee: R Harvey (Dublin).