HOBAN THE LILIES HERO
ALAST-GASP penalty from Patrick Hoban got Dundalk’s title challenge back on track on a dramatic night for the Louth side.
The striker stepped up in the 95th minute to fire a penalty past James Talbot, denying Bohemians a share of the spoils and getting his side back to winning ways after back-to-back defeats in recent matches.
The result sees the reigning champions close the gap on Shamrock Rovers at the top to 10 points — with a game in hand — and it could be a turning point in their season on a night when they also welcomed Chris Shields and Patrick McEleney back from injury.
The result was a harsh one on a Bohs side who remain in second place in the table. They had passed up the best openings prior to the dramatic moment at the end when referee Tomás Connolly pointed to the spot after Sean Gannon was fouled inside the box by Paddy Kirk.
Both these sides were in action in the north west on Friday with Dundalk losing 2-1 away to Sligo Rovers and Bohs beating Finn Harps 1-0. The fixture congestion saw both shake things up with Dundalk making four changes and Bohs going even further with seven alterations.
The home side also introduced a new formation by going with three at the back and it caused initial confusion with Keith Long’s side unlucky not to take the lead on four minutes with Keith Buckley’s cross picking out the unmarked Danny Mandriou who was unable to keep his header down with only Gary Rogers to beat.
Dundalk had a couple of chances of their own after that with Dean Jarvis having a shot blocked by Aaron Barry on eight minutes before Pat Hoban headed over from a Jordan Flores free two minutes later.
Jarvis would go close again on 28 minutes when he met Michael Duffy’s corner only to send his header looping over.
By and large the champions struggled though, with obvious confusion amongst certain players over their exact roles.
This meant the visitors were able to knock the ball around and cause their opponents plenty of problems.
Indeed, the Dubliners should have taken the lead on 35 minutes when they almost capitalised on a Sean Hoare mistake with Ali Reghba’s cross picking out the unmarked Kevin Devaney at the back post. He looked destined to score with the goal at his mercy but somehow nodded into the side-netting.
The Louth men reverted to their traditional formation for the second half and it, along with the half-time team talk, had a positive effect with half chances for Hoban and Duffy within minutes of the restart.
It was Bohs who had the best chance to take the lead on 59 minutes though, with Mandriou slipping Ryan Swan in on the right only for his shot to be pushed clear by Rogers. The Phibsborough men then went even closer from the resulting corner with Rob Cornwall glancing a free header wide from close range.
The game looked like it was petering out for a draw until the 95th minute when the penalty arrived with Hoban showing nerves of steel to finish low to the bottom left-hand corner, sending Talbot the wrong way.
It was his 80th goal for the club and few could prove to be as important.