Shamrock Rovers 1 Bohemians 0 Shamrock Rovers' Graham Burke celebrates with team-mates after scoring the winner in their SSE Airtricity Premier Division victory over Bohemians at Tallaght Stadium. Photo: Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile European nights await but for now Shamrock Rovers still have some road to travel domestically as a hard-earned win over their old foes Bohemians gives them hope of chasing down another Dublin rival, league leaders Shelbourne, in that race for the league title. Having endured the frustration of a draw away to Derry on Friday, this game was also shaping up to lump more pain on the reigning champions as, despite being dominant in terms of possession and chances, they had been unable to break down Alan Reynolds’ side.
But leagues are won by squads, not just teams, and it was the Rovers bench which made the vital contribution as Neil Farrugia helped set up a chance for fellow sub Graham Burke to fire home six minutes from time. Now four points behind Shels, albeit with a game more played, Rovers can go into Friday’s derby at home to St Patrick’s Athletic very much in the race, while home fans were able to taunt away supporters with chants of “going down” with Bohs only four points clear of the relegation play-off place. Rovers should have been 3-0 up at half-time but a combination of slack finishing and some good goalkeeping from Kacper Chorazka led to that stalemate at the break.
Bohs were without a chance to trouble the goal of Leon Pohls.