Bohemians 2 Derry City 1
Derry City ended their SSE Airtricity Premier Division campaign with a disappointing defeat by Bohemians at Dalymount Park tonight.
As expected, Candystripes boss Peter Hutton “tinkered” with his line-up ahead of Sunday week’s FAI Cup Final clash with St Patrick’s Athletic.
“Pizza” has made no apologies for making it a priority of delivering the cup ever since City’s hopes of securing a European place in the league evaporated.
However, he will no doubt be disappointed as he had been hoping for a morale-boosting result ahead of next week’s final, having witnessed two under-par performances in the previous two weeks.
Mark Timlin opened the scoring in the 14th minute with only his second goal for the club, after being set up by Joshua Tracey.
Bohs drew level with a Dinny Corcoran goal 19 minutes later and went ahead when veteran striker Jason Byrne, the second highest goalscorer in League of Ireland history behind the legendary Brendan Bradley, found the back of the net shortly before half-time.
Corcoran missed an opportunity to made it 3-1 when he fired a penalty wide shortly before the end.
Tonight’s result came on back of consecutive home defeats for Derry in the league.
They went into the match having lost back-to-back home ties to Limerick FC and UCD.
You need to go back to 5 September for City’s last success in the league – a 2-1 win over Sligo Rovers at the Brandywell.
After that, City suffered a heavy 5-0 away defeat to championship- chasing Dundalk before drawing their next two games with Athlone Town and Bray Wanderers.
Of their 33 games played, Derry won nine, drew 11 and lost 13, scoring 42 goals and conceding 41.
However, City fans will be reasonably satisfied at how the season panned-out, given the fact the Candystripes were on a downward spiral before Hutton took over from Roddy Collins.
And a mid-table finish will be forgotten if they lift the cup for the second time in three seasons at the Aviva Stadium in nine days time.
Meanwhile, Derry’s cup final opponents, St Pat’s, ended their season with an emphatic 4-1 away win at Sligo Rovers.
Elsewhere, there was delight for former Derry City manager, Stephen Kenny, whose Dundalk side defeated Cork City 1-0 to clinch the title in the “winner takes all” game at a packed Oriel Park.
Ex-Brandywell midfielder Ruaidhri Higgins was instrumental in the victory, beginning the move which ended with Towell scoring the first goal of the game.
Gartland, with his 10th goal of the season, sent the home crowd wild with delight when he toe-poked the ball home in the 83rd minute.
It is the 10th time Dundalk have won the championship, having last lifted the title in 1995.
Athlone’s 1-1 home draw with Bray Wanderers sees the Midlanders relegated.
Bohemians: Dean Delany, Aidan Price, Jack Memery, Roberto Lopes, Steven Beattie, Karl Moore, Kevin Devaney, Keith Buckley, Eoin Wearen, Dinny Corcoran, Jason Byrne.
Unused substitutes: Craig Walsh, Gavin Moore, Ryan McEvoy, Paddy Kavanagh, Jake Hyland, Adam Evans, Paddy Collins.
Derry City: Gerard Doherty, Aaron Barry, Dean Jarvis, Shane McEleney, Barry Molloy, Nathan Boyle (Stephen Dooley 68), Sean Houston (15), Mark Timlin, Joshua Tracey, Danny Ventre, Ryan Curran.
Unused substitutes: Ciaran Gallagher, Michael Duffy, Ryan McBride.
TONIGHT’S RESULTS
Airtritity Premier Division
Athlone Town (Gorman 22 pen) 1 Bray Wanderers (Zambra 60) 1
Bohemians (Corcoran 33, Byrne 45) 2 Derry City (Timlin 14) 1
Dundalk (Towell 48, Gartland 83) 2 Cork City 0
Shamrock Rovers (McCabe pen 56) 1 Limerick FC 0
Sligo Rovers (Armstrong 50) 1 St Patrick’s Athletic (Byrne 32, 90, Brush 0g 49, Fagan 75) 4
UCD (Cannon 39) 1 Drogheda United 0
Airtricity Division One Play Off
Shelbourne (Murphy 34) 1 Galway FC (Connolly 59) 1 (latest – ko 8.00pm)
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