Come Here To Me!

Full credit to Photopat3 on flickr for a serious of excellent images, link below. Spot the author of this piece!

A great selection of images from last night are to be found here, at Photopat3’s Flickr account.

Some reflections on a one-a-piece clash.

Did we deserve a point? Far from it. Bohs dominated the game for large chunks last night, and our goal at the end was as scraptastic as it comes. Still, what a feeling. An equaliser well into extra-time, when the opposition fans are chanting ‘WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE’, is as sweet as it gets.

The performance of the Saints last night on the pitch left quite a bit to be desired. Why hold back, it was dire. Were Bohs particularly strong? In truth, no. An early (and well-taken) goal had them ahead from 4 minutes in until almost the last kick of the game. We probably had a taxi-load of shots on goal over the whole match, and one of them somehow ended up in the back of the net. Such is football. The quietness of the Jodi, and lack of the usual banners even, indicated Bohs fans are still reeling from what happened in Wales. Why wouldn’t they be? There is a hunger there in the Pats support after years of coming close to success, and even relegation. Bohs fans must feel like they’ve been through it all.

While the display from the Ultras of the Saint Patrick’s Athletic support was a wind-up job unlike any I’ve ever seen before (The Next Shels banner in particular), and the hatred for Mark Quigley (*spits on the ground*) somehow reached a new level from our last meeting, it was clear to both sets of supporters the game was not going to come near the level of our previous clashes this season,and the atmosphere seemed to come and go a bit. Like in Tallaght Stadium during the Setanta defeat, it was encouraging to see lads keep singing even when we were miles behind on the pitch. For the first time in a long time, there seems to be a connection between players and supporters.

This League really is there for the taking now, for a number of teams. My apologies to my visiting Sligo friend for knocking his glasses from his head in the 90somethingoranother minute of this one, but in a moment like that these things happen. Little is fair in football, and now I know how ‘they’ feel in the away section when this happens in reverse at Inchicore, far too frequently too. From Cork to Donegal, I’ve seen teams come to Inchicore and do exactly what we did last night.

Whatever about the chants we encounter about our anti-social ways, that looked like a clean smash and grab job to me. Now, time to step it up a gear.