Heads didn’t drop and we levelled through man of the match Cawley

Sligo Rovers’ two-plus year wait for a win in Dublin trudges on for another few weeks at least on Friday night, after defensive lapses forced the Bit O’Red to twice come from behind to salvage a point against Bohemians.

At a venue where Rovers last took three points four years ago, they started on the back foot. Our supporters haven’t had much to cheer on the way back from standing under those iconic floodlights at Dalymount in the last handful of years. Four defeats in five and from the off, it looked like another disappointing night could be on the cards.

On a bumpy Dublin 7 surface, both teams went at it from the start. Eoghan Stokes, one of the most exciting young players in the league went close before both the industrious David Cawley and the tireless Caolan McAleer registered half chances for Ger Lyttle’s side.

Most supporters would have been happy enough with a point on their way to Phibsboro. Especially after the narrow win over Bray the previous Monday.

So when Rovers stood off Stokes at the edge of the area before delivering a sublime curling effort past Micheál Schlingermann, we feared the worst.

A superb effort it was, but to offer a player like Stokes so much room inside the area was naïve from the back four. Give anyone of his calibre space and time to think and you’re in trouble.

If this game had been played last season, you might have seen Rovers crumble. There’s more of an experienced determination to our performances this season. We’re nowhere near the finished article and there are still many aspects of our game we can wholly improve on.

But heads didn’t drop and we were level with seven minutes through Cawley, man of the match and probably our best player so far this season.

The Mayo man’s return to the Showgrounds in the winter was met with some surprise from certain quarters, this one included. Cawley was the stand-out young player during the league winning season in 2012.

Being somewhat of an unknown element and of course playing beside wonderful ball players like Joseph Ndo and Seamus Conneely helped. But Cawley had a real impact that year.

The following three years saw more of a focus on Cawley as a leader, taking the armband on more than several occasions. He struggled to have an impact on games when the expectation was put on him and shied away in games.

His year at St Pat’s passed without what seemed any real fanfare before he moved back west to Galway last season. His performance against Rovers in the 3-1 defeat at Eamonn Deacy Park towards the end of last season must have played a huge role in Ger’s decision to offer him a second go on Church Hill.

His overall impact this season has been great so far.

Assured on the ball going forward while getting involved in play and always close-by to cut out the opposition.

Cawley is slowly proving the doubters wrong.

Of course, it’s far too early in the season to go too far with praise, but it’s certainly a case of so far, so very good from him.

The determination he showed to make sure he got something on Rhys McCabe’s corner for the equaliser, suggests his confidence and self-belief levels are beginning to rise again. Long may it last!

Rovers’ defensive lapses were apparent in the second half on Friday with Bohs going close a number of times either side of Bohs’ second.

Paddy Kavanagh sprung past Calum Waters on several occasions, while substitute Dinny Corcoran found himself in a profitable position far too often.

Nobody was aware of Ian Morris’ presence for the move that lead to their second goal.

While even after Adam Morgan’s well-hit volley for our second, Corcoran and friends were still offered too much time and space in and around the danger zones.

Morgan was another of Rovers’ better performers on the night, as he was in the Carlisle Grounds.

Willing to work back to help out the midfield and also run the channels, there’s no reason why Morgan can’t be among the top scorers in this league, if he’s supplied correctly.

Watching Corcoran the other night reminded supporters of how important it is to appreciate the natural goal-scorers while they’re here. We haven’t had one here since Dinny left at the end of 2015.

There are goals in this team, without a doubt.

If we could figure out how not to ship too many at our own end, we’ll be fine.