Bohemians Secure Second Place in Thrilling Derby Against St Patrick’s Athletic
Bohemians finished with a roar, St Patrick’s Athletic with a sigh.
On a raw Dublin night at Richmond Park, Alan Reynolds’ side came from behind in a gripping derby to lock down second place in the Premier Division, leaving Pat’s to reflect on a season that promised more than this flat finish.
The numbers are stark. Bohs end the campaign five points clear of their Inchicore rivals and three behind champions Shamrock Rovers. That runner-up spot is worth more than pride: it delivers a bye into the second round of the UEFA Conference League qualifiers next summer and bumps their minimum European haul to €525,000, rather than €325,000 for third, on top of the extra domestic prize money. This was a game with real weight, even if the title race had long since slipped away for both.
For St Pat’s, the stakes were simple. Two points behind at kick-off, they had to win to leapfrog the Phibsborough club. They started like a team who knew it.
Within 30 seconds, Jamie Lennon had stung the palms of Paul Walters from the edge of the box. Three minutes later, Zach Elbouzedi tore down the right and picked out Anthony Olusanya, who dragged his effort wide when he should at least have worked the goalkeeper. The tone was set: Saints on the front foot, Richmond urging them on.
The pressure told on eight minutes. From the game’s first corner, Aidan Keena whipped a dangerous delivery to the back post. There, defender Sean McHale – making his first start of the season – shook off Jordan Flores and stooped to head in. A dream moment for the centre-back, a deserved lead for a side bristling with intent.
Bohemians, stripped of suspended captain Dawson Devoy and the injured Ross Tierney, looked rattled early. Their first real foray into the Pat’s area brought penalty shouts as Jay McClelland tangled with Darragh Power, but referee Rob Hennessy waved play on. Power’s frustration quickly grew: he went into the book for a foul on Keena, whose resulting free-kick skimmed just over Walters’ crossbar.
Keena then passed up a golden chance on 28 minutes. Olusanya again did the hard work on the flank, whipping over a cross that begged to be finished. Keena met it but somehow guided his shot wide, the second goal there for him and then gone.
That miss changed the mood. Bohs, having ridden out the early storm, began to find their rhythm. Connor Parsons forced Joseph Anang into a sharp tip-over with a rising drive, and suddenly the visitors were playing with a little swagger.
Their equaliser on 36 minutes owed everything to the persistence and quality of Markuss Strods. The Latvian international refused to let the ball run out, muscling his way to the byline and standing up a cross. Parsons met it at the near post, Anang got a touch to divert it onto the bar, but Flores had followed in and nodded home. From almost nowhere, Bohs were level and bristling.
The game flipped in first-half stoppage time. From a corner, Luke Turner appeared to be bundled off the ball by Patrick Hickey, but Hennessy wasn’t interested. Hickey didn’t wait for a whistle that never came. He snapped back into the play, drilled a low ball across the six-yard box, and Cian Byrne arrived to sweep it in. One-nil down had become 2-1 up in the space of 10 chaotic minutes.
Richmond, buoyant a half-hour earlier, fell strangely flat.
St Pat’s tried to jolt themselves back to life at the break, introducing 17-year-old Ryan Sheridan. The tempo lifted, the home bench and crowd grew increasingly irate with Hennessy, and for a brief spell Bohs were forced to dig in. But the next punch landed at the other end.
On 57 minutes, Bohemians cut through with their first meaningful attack of the second half. Parsons combined neatly with Collie Whelan, who spun and cracked a shot off Anang’s right-hand post. The rebound dropped kindly and Parsons, off balance but composed, side-footed in for 3-1. Clinical. Ruthless. The away end erupted.
Pat’s needed something spectacular, and Kian Leavy provided it four minutes later. Picking up the ball wide on the right, he glided past Parsons and, with little on, shaped a glorious curling strike from distance beyond Walters. A goal of real class, it dragged the deficit back to one and briefly re-energised the ground.
The night then turned to ceremony.
On 67 minutes, Chris Forrester stepped from the bench alongside Ryan Edmondson, greeted by a rousing ovation for his 455th, record-extending and final appearance in a St Pat’s shirt. One of the club’s modern greats bowed out to the sound of his name ringing around Richmond, the emotion unmistakable.
But romance never quite met reality. Pat’s, already assured of European football, couldn’t muster another clear opening. Bohs managed the game with a maturity that will please Reynolds, tightening the spaces, slowing the tempo, and leaning on a disciplined back line marshalled by Byrne and Hickey. Substitutions – Senan Mullen, Sadou Diallo, Harry Vaughan, Douglas James-Taylor, Zane Myers – added fresh legs and helped see out the closing stages without drama.
For St Pat’s, a second straight home defeat to Dublin rivals and a four-game winless run is a sour way to sign off what had been a promising campaign. For Bohemians, this was the opposite: a comeback derby win, second place secured, and a European campaign next summer that now starts one round later and with significantly more money in the bank.
They leave Richmond with their season very much alive in the imagination. The question now is whether this night – and that hard-earned second place – becomes a springboard to something bigger, or just a high point they spend next year chasing.
