However, their dream start didn’t yield the win they so badly needed as St Pat’s recovered and hit three goals without reply to earn the bragging rights and more importantly, return to the top of the league.
Markuss Strods made a bit of history as his strike inside the first minute was the league’s fastest in 24 years but the good vibes soon faded for the visitors as Ryan Edmondson struck twice either side of the break in between Jamie Lennon’s cool finish as St Pat’s eased to victory, and now sit a point clear of Shamrock Rovers.
Without a win in six weeks, Bohs could have really done with a result here after the perfect start but it was Stephen Kenny’s men who flexed their muscles to make it back-to-back wins. Edmondson, Chris Forrester and Kian Leavy produced standout shifts to help the Inchicore side, who coped well with losing Aidan Keena early on to injury, to a first win over Bohs in 13 months.
For Alan Reynolds and his team, it was a frustrating night at a sun-kissed Richmond Park as they didn’t show the levels displayed in last week’s narrow loss at the champions and failed to lay a glove on the hosts in the second half, bar a late Dawson Devoy chance. This was their third defeat in a row as they sit six points off the summit they occupied at the start of the month.
Markuss Strods of Bohemians celebrates after scoring on eight seconds against St Patrick’s Athletic at Richmond Park in Dublin. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Much of the sold-out crowd were still making their way to their vantage points when after just eight seconds, Bohs broke the deadlock.
Strods, in for his first start since March 13, made an immediate impact by running onto a clever knock down from Douglas James-Taylor and picking his spot as the Latvia U-21 international fired into the bottom corner for his first Premier Division goal for the club.
St Pat’s were shell-shocked after conceding the fastest goal in the League of Ireland since Peter Hutton’s strike for Derry after seven seconds against Shamrock Rovers in 2002, but responded in the best possible fashion.
Bohs’ lead lasted just nine minutes as Edmondson made his mark. The Gypsies’ Dayle Rooney had the ball but coughed up possession far too cheaply as Luke Turner pounced, jinked by two black ‘Kneecap’ shirts and slotted Edmondson through. The English striker took a quick look up and produced a perfect finish from the edge of the box.
After drawing level, the Saints suffered a blow on 20 minutes as Aidan Keena went down in pain with what looked to be a pulled quad muscle. For a player who was dogged by injury issues for much of the past 12 months, Kenny will be anxiously waiting for news on the severity of the injury to the striker as he looked in pain hobbling off.
Ryan Edmondson of St Patrick’s Athletic, right, scores his side’s third goal past Bohemians goalkeeper Kacper Chorazka. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
League of Ireland Review – MD13
The derby sparked into life from that point on as Joe Redmond soon broke through but Kacper Chorazka stood tall to make a fine save to deny the Saints skipper, before Ross Tierney had a good chance in front of the away support but blazed his effort over.
But after the half-hour mark it was the hosts who began to stamp their authority on the game as they soon went up a gear, with Zach Elbouzedi seeing his header crash off the woodwork from close range.
St Pat’s were piling on the pressure and it paid off three minutes before the interval. From a Bohs point of view it was yet another frustrating concession that they could have avoided as Sam Todd’s clearance from Kian Leavy’s cross was weak, with the ball falling nicely to the oncoming Lennon just inside the box.
The midfielder kept his cool and his sweet side-footed finish found its way past Chorazka with the help of a deflection from Patrick Hickey. Lennon had his first league goal in 11 months and his side had a valuable lead going in at the break.
Bohs may have made a dream start to the first half but it proved a nightmare start to the second as Edmondson bagged his second of the night on 53 minutes. Chris Forrester showed great awareness to flick on a corner from Baggley (who wasn’t put off by a Bohs fan tapping him on the back just before he took it) the striker was in the perfect place to nod home at the back post for his sixth goal of the season.
No other St Pat’s player has found the net more times than the winter arrival from the Australian top-flight, who really stepped up for his side when they needed it after Keena’s early exit.
With a mountain to climb, Reynolds made a triple change on the hour mark with Zane Myers, Sadou Diallo and club top scorer this season Colm Whelan (six goals) all introduced, while centre-half Hickey switched to a striker role, but it didn’t produce the response the visitors needed.
Ghana international Joseph Anang made a top drawer save on 80 minutes to deny Bohs captain Devoy from close range, getting down low to his left to tip the ball around the post.
That was as close as Bohs came to pulling one back and the Saints fans were in full voice at full-time. Some of the 5,435 crowd also took joy in reminding Bohs assistant Stephen O’Donnell of the scoreline, who left his job as St Pat’s manager in controversial circumstances in 2021 to take the Dundalk hot-seat.
Back in the present though, this was yet another step in the right direction for Kenny’s Saints.
St Patrick’s Athletic: Anang; Brown (Boyce 86), Redmond, Grivosti, Turner; Lennon, Baggley, Leavy, Elbouzedi (Breslin 67); Keena (Forrester 21), Edmondson (Nugent 86).
Bohemians: Chorazka; Power, Hickey, Todd, Mullen (Parsons 79); Devoy, McDonnell (Whelan 61); Rooney (Diallo 61) Strods, Tierney (Myers 60); James-Taylor (Kavanagh 69).
Ref: K O’Sullivan