Preview: Shelbourne vs. Bohemians
Shelbourne welcome Dublin rivals Bohemians to Tolka Park for a League of Ireland Premier clash on Friday night.
The hosts will be seeking revenge against the visitors after suffering a 4-3 defeat on home soil in the semi-finals of the Leinster Senior Cup earlier this month.
Shelbourne ended a four-game winless run across all competitions in emphatic fashion when they secured a comfortable 4-0 away victory against UCD last week.
Top scorer Jack Moylan netted his eighth goal of the campaign to break the deadlock on the stroke of half time, before second-half strikes from Jonathan Lunney, Sean Boyd and John Ross Wilson helped Shels record their biggest top-flight away victory for two decades.
After finishing seventh with 41 points in the Premier Division last season, Damien Duff’s side currently find themselves sitting in sixth spot with 34 points this term, 11 points clear of the drop zone as well as one place and four points adrift of Friday’s opponents Bohemians.
Shelbourne are now preparing for a double-header against Bohemians, with Friday’s top-flight clash to be followed a week later by an encounter in the first round of the FAI Cup.
Prior to the aforementioned cup defeat to Bohemians earlier this month, Shelbourne had put together a four-match unbeaten run against the Gypsies, keeping three clean sheets in the process, and Duff will be hoping for another resilient display from his side on Friday as they endeavour to get one over their rivals on home soil.
After ending a four-game winless streak with their cup triumph over Shelbourne earlier this month, Bohemians picked up maximum points in a 3-2 Premier Division victory at home against Dundalk last week.
Losing 2-1 heading into the final nine minutes of the contest, the Gypsies were staring down the barrel of defeat, but two late goals within the space of three minutes from John O’Sullivan and Jonathan Afolabi turned the game on its head in dramatic fashion.
Bohemians in fifth currently sit five points behind third-placed Derry City, who occupy the final Europa Conference League qualification spot, but Declan Devine’s side still have two games in hand and they can edge closer to the top three with a positive result on Friday.
The Gypsies had struggled away from home prior to their cup win over Shelbourne, failing to win six successive matches on the road between April 28 and June 30, but they can head to Tolka Park in buoyant mood and will seek to keep hold of the bragging rights against their city rivals on Friday.
Shelbourne League of Ireland Premier form:
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Bohemians League of Ireland Premier form:
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We say: Shelbourne 2-2 Bohemians
Both sides enter Friday’s fixture after claiming maximum points last week and they will fancy their chances of coming away with another positive result at Tolka Park. However, we believe that the two teams will cancel each other out this time around in an end-to-end score draw.