BRIGHT SPARK WATTS IS LIGHTING UP GYPSIES
FOR Dylan Watts, his man of the match performance against Shamrock Rovers on Friday night was a lightbulb moment. ‘That was the best feeling I’ve had in football by a mile,’ the Bohemians said midfielder, beaming after the dramatic 2-1 win. He is only 21, so there is hardly a lengthy back catalogue to reflect on, but Watts’ display against seasoned League of Ireland stalwarts Ronan Finn and Greg Bolger will go down as a derby classic. ‘He showed us what he is made of,’ manager Keith Long said. ‘His control, his pace in his passing, he can get up and down the pitch. He can pass it short and long. He showed great awareness. ‘That is the benchmark for him as a player. If he performs like that every week then he has a chance of going back to the UK.’ The Blackrock native stood out, not just because of the dollop of peroxide blonde on his head, but with a maturity and authority which Rovers’ desperately lacked. ‘I just tried to play my normal game,’ Watts said with a shrug, his cheeks reddening when teammate Keith Ward walked by outside the away dressing room at Tallaght Stadium and shouted: ‘Dylan was at Leicester just in case you didn’t know!’ He is still on the books of the Premier League club — on loan at Dalymount Park until the summer — but Long said they are already working on extending his stay until the end of the season. On the basis of Friday’s showing he deserves the freedom of Phibsborough, and the close relationship between manager and player may also work in Bohs’ favour. ‘Dylan lives five doors from me,’ Long revealed. ‘Dylan was at St Joseph’s Boys but he played football against the wall every day and every night, I would come in and out and he would be out there with a ball all day.’ While the impressive Watts is 21, the scorer of Friday’s derby winner, Darragh Leahy, only turned 20 yesterday and the winger who set him up, Danny Grant, is just 18. JJ Lunney, who partnered Byrne in the middle of the park, is 20 and he was filling the void left by 21-year-old Oscar Brennan who was absent with an ankle injury. Busby had his Babes, Fergie had his Fledglings, these are Long’s Leanaí. ‘Recruitment is everything in football, at every level,’ he stressed. ‘It’s massive, it’s really important. Listen I’m pleased [after beating Rovers], the lads have been great and it was a great win for us. We need to make sure we kick on from here. We need to climb the table and use this as the catalyst.’ Watts might be the bright spark to make that happen.