Sports Direct FAI Cup semi-final
Bohemians 0 Derry City 2
DERRY City comfortably saw off Bohemians to book their place in next month’s Sports Direct FAI Cup final.
Michael Duffy’s brace was enough for the Candystripes to win the last-four encounter at a packed Dalymount Park.
Ruaidhri Higgins’ side produced a solid performance to deservedly book their place at the Aviva Stadium and the League and FAI Cup double is still well and truly on.
In truth, City should have won by a bigger margin as they missed glorious chances, while at the other end goalkeeper Brian Maher didn’t have a single shot to save throughout the 90 minutes.
The victory will also give Derry a massive shot in the arm in their quest to win a first league title in over 20 years.
The visitors, who were on the back foot in the early stages, did create an opening on 18 minutes as Michael Duffy broke clear down the left, his low centre found Pat Hoban, but the striker’s tame shot was easily saved by Kacper Chorazka.
Derry slowly came into the tie just before the half-hour mark but both Adam O’Reilly and Duffy saw long-range strikes flash just over Chorazka’s crossbar.
The deadlock was broken in stunning fashion on 40 minutes as referee Paul McLaughlin felt that Bohs substitute Paddy Kirk had brought down Duffy on the left-hand corner of the penalty box and, after dusting himself down, the Derry winger superbly curled the ball into the opposite right-hand corner, giving Chorazka no chance.
Bohs, who for long periods dominated possession but never really threatened the visitors, had strong claims for a penalty just before the break.
Dawson Devoy’s miss-hit shot from the edge of the box fell to Alexander Greive, who seemed to turn Mark Connolly inside the six-yard box, before falling to the ground. Referee McLaughlin waved play on much to the frustration of the home support.
Derry should have ended the tie as a contest on 52 minutes. Pat Hoban passed to Patrick McEleney on the halfway line and he released Paul McMullan with a super first-time pass, but after breaking the offside trap the winger never looked comfortable when bearing down on goal with only Chorazka to beat, and his terrible shot was well off target.
That missed chance didn’t come back to haunt the Foylesiders as they doubled their lead on 72 minutes after a terrible goalkeeping mistake by Chorazka.
Duffy cut in from the left onto his favourite right foot and while his curling strike was well hit, the ball took a massive bounce just in front of the Polish keeper before finding the bottom left-hand corner.
While the Dubliners huffed and puffed they never created anything clear-cut and Duffy went close to completing his hat-trick in stoppage time but Chorazka did well to get down low to his left to keep out the winger’s low drive.
After the final whistle the entire Derry squad celebrated in front of the large travelling support.
