Bohemians 1 Cork City 0: An appropriately scrappy goal from Colin Hawkins was enough for Bohemians to secure the three points from a poor game last night at Dalymount Park where the home side's win extended their run without a loss in the league to nine games.
Nothing much about the contest was pretty but Hawkins will have few complaints after turning home a Stephen Ward cross from the left 53 minutes in for his first league goal since December 2002. Ward was one of Bohemians' strongest performers and the teenager would have grabbed a second after an hour but for Alan Bennett's goal-line clearance.
For the most part it was a forgettable encounter notable mainly for City's inability to look anything like a team that felt they could win here and, very late on, Gareth Farrelly's first fleeting appearance for the locals.
Though his team failed to play particularly well they looked comfortable throughout and the former international opted against making any changes until three minutes from time when he was well received by an otherwise subdued home support.
Pat Dolan, on the other hand, looked to George O'Callaghan to liven up his side's attack with just over half an hour of the second half played after leaving the under-21 international out of his starting line-up, apparently as a result of a minor rift on the training ground.
City never looked threatening and when the visitors sought to press forward late on they could manage nothing by way of a clear-cut chance.
The first half had produced little by way of entertainment with Bohemians having the better of things but never really breaking down a steady-looking Cork City defence. Michael Devine scarcely had a save to make before the break despite some decent work around the edges of the area by Kevin Hunt, Bobby Ryan and Ward.
Cork City seemed to be inviting trouble at times by defending deep inside their own half and limiting their own potential to score by, more often than not, leaving John O'Flynn by himself in the opposition half.
Still, that strategy yielded almost as many chances early on as that of the home side, who used Damien Lynch in a holding midfield role just in front of the defence and left Dominic Foley to roam as he pleased up front.
The international striker derived little benefit from all the freedom, managing the odd knockdown, but nothing more, and the perhaps the home side's best chance of the opening period came just 11 minutes in when Simon Webb rode a couple of challenges on the way into the area only to shoot rather weakly straight at Devine.
Bohemians' goalkeeper Seamus Kelly was no more severely tested although the former UCD goalkeeper reacted well to gather Joe Gamble's deflected volley after Stephen Rice had failed to clear O'Flynn's cross from the right.
BOHEMIANS: Kelly; Rice, Hawkins, Heary, Webb; Lynch (Farrelly, 87 mins); Ryan (Grant, 87 mins), Hunt, Keddy, Ward; Foley.
CORK CITY: Devine; Lordan (Behan, 79 mins), Bennett, Murray, Murphy; Doyle, O'Brien, Gamble, Nwanko (Lopes, 58 mins); O'Flynn, Fenn (O'Callaghan, 58 mins).
Referee: P Whelan (Dublin).
