League Report: Bohemians 2-2 Finn Harps

Andrew Donovan reports from Dalymount Park

A late Harps equalizer snatched a draw against Bohemians Friday evening in Dalymount Park.

Substitute Mark Timlin struck in injury time to earn the most unlikely of points for Finn Harps who had only just gone down to nine men after Ryan Rainey had been shown a second yellow.

This was a must win game for Bohemians who had failed to beat any of the teams below them in the league thus far. They came into the fixture after a draw away to Drogheda last Friday to match draws with Shelbourne, UCD and Harps themselves.

The last time Harps played in Dublin they beat Shelbourne 3-0 and they seemed unlikely to repeat after a moment of madness from forward Eric McWoods. He was sent walking on six minutes for an apparent elbow on Tyreke Wilson after a scrap to win the ball in the air.

Bohemians pushed on against the ten men with Dawson Devoy looking sharp with his passing and Liam Burt and Wilson combining well down the left flank. Burt had a great chance from a Wilson pull back. After a fine turn, his shot went just wide of the top left-hand corner.

Max Murphy made his first home start of the campaign as Rory Feely slot into center defense. Feely was blown up by the ref for a foul in the box on Filip Mihaljevic on the 22nd minute. Mihaljevic’s second penalty in as many games. He coolly dispatched the penalty into the right-hand corner sending Talbot the wrong way giving Harps the lead.

On 28 minutes Harps’ captain David Webster won an interception and drove forward but appeared to suffer a knee injury as he turned on the ball. After a lengthy spell on the ground, he was stretchered off the pitch.

The Ballybofey men controlled the tempo slowing the game down at every opportunity much to the consternation of the home crowd. The Gypsies showed promise down the flanks but had poor end product and finished the first half behind.

Keith Long must have given quite the speech in the changing room as Bohemians came out like a team possessed in the second half and almost scored from tip off. A diagonal ball to the right flank was pulled across for Junior who hit the ball over.



It wasn’t long before the break though. Promise Omochere won back the ball ahead of the defenders played it to Junior who pushed into the box drawing the foul and unleashing the Dalymount roar when Devoy powered the ball home on 49 minutes.

It was Ali Coote who got the second goal with a rocket into the top corner after Harps goalie Mark McGinley punched a ball down from a corner on the 57th minute. Bohemians onslaught on the ten men was relentless until the 70th minute. From then Harps started getting their foot on the ball but it still seemed like a third for Bohs was only a matter of time. Promise and Ali Coote took plenty of shots but rarely troubled McGinley.

Harps were combative throughout and seemed to have completely thrown the game away in the 91st minute when Ryan Rainey was shown a second yellow card.

The nine men from Donegal had not given up and with almost the last kick of the game, found Timlin on the inside left who fired in an unlikely equalizer.

 

Bohemians: James Talbot; Rory Feely, Ciaran Kelly, Max Murphy, Tyreke Wilson; Liam Burt (Stephen Mallon 89), Ali Coote, Dawson Devoy, Jordan Flores (c) (Conor Levingston 83); Junior (Kris Twardek 71), Promise Omochere.



Subs not used: Tadhg Ryan, Jordan Doherty, Sam Packham, JJ McKiernan, Jamie Mullins, Ryan Cassidy.

Booked: James Talbot (61).

Sent off: None.

 

Finn Harps: Mark McGinley; Jose Carrillo, Ethan Boyle, Rob Slevin, David Webster (c) (Conor Tourish 28); Barry McNamee (Bastien Hery 65), Ryan Connolly (Luke Rudden 81), Elie N'Zeyi Kibonge, Ryan Rainey; Eric McWoods, Filip Mihaljevic (Mark Timlin 81).

Subs not used: Gavin Mulreany, Regan Donelon, Erol Erdal Alkan, Nathan Logue.

Booked: Ryan Rainey (31), Ethan Boyle (45)

Sent off: Eric McWoods (6), Ryan Rainey (90)

 

Referee: Robert Clarke.

Attendance: Unknown.

extratime.com Player of the Match: Ali Coote (Bohemians)

 

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