Adam O'Reilly nets brace as 10 man Derry City win seven goal thriller in Dalymount Park

ADAM O’Reilly scored twice including the eventual winner as Derry City clinched a precious victory in a seven goal thriller at Dalymount Park against one of their rivals for European qualification.

If Derry fans were missing their weekly League of Ireland fix during the international window, this top of the table clash certainly made up for it. And rarely will you see a goalkeeper receive the man of the match accolade when there’s been seven goals scored in a game but Brian Maher was sensational and produced four stunning match winning saves.

It had everything including those seven goals, a controversial penalty, spectacular saves, goalline clearances and of course a questionable sending off as Ronan Boyce was shown a second yellow by referee Rob Hennessy who threatened to steal the show once again.

He was the man in the middle when the teams last met at the Dublin venue when he awarded a penalty to Bohs after 30 seconds and sent off Robbie Benson.

And Tiernan Lynch would’ve been thinking the worst when he pointed to the spot when Carl Winchester was deemed to foul James Clarke in the box – the Belfast man clearly got a toe to the ball on this occasion.

Douglas James-Taylor stepped up to send Brian Maher the wrong way to give Bohs another early advantage.

If there was any question marks about this Derry team’s character, even after comebacks against Galway United and St Pat’s in recent weeks then this performance will have put those doubts to bed.

Derry responded impressively with the equaliser on 20 minutes. Michael Duffy sent Dipo Akinyemi in behind the Bohs defence and the striker did well to get a shot away from close range under pressure. Kacper Chorazka pushed the shot away, but it was cleared only to the feet of Michael Duffy, who drilled an effort back through the crowd, past the goalkeeper and into the net for his 10th goal of the season.

Bohs would have regained their lead had it not been for a sensational save from Brian Maher on 37 minutes. Derry were really struggling to contain Bohs down the right side and Jordan Flores outmuscled Duffy before swinging in a cross right onto the head of James-Taylor, who headed downwards from close range, only for Maher to somehow claw it way on the line. It was a fantastic save from the Derry City goalkeeper.

The visitors then stunned the home side right on half time with a second goal. Duffy’s corner led to a goalmouth scramble, and the ball fell for Ronan Boyce, whose effort deflected into the path of Adam O’Reilly, whose close-range shot went through the legs of Chorazka. The goalkeeper tried desperately to stop it going over the line, but he failed to do so, with the referee’s assistant signalling a goal.

Half Time 1-2

Derry City were straight onto the attack in the second half and there was a huge sigh of relief around Dalymount just four minutes in when Akinyemi laid the ball off for Duffy 20 yards from goal and his fierce effort beat Chorazka but also the upright as it flew just wide.

But from that moment, Bohs regained control and began building pressure with Derry content to sit back and let them have the all. That pressure built and was rewarded on 65 minutes when Ross Tierney’s low cross was allowed to go right across the face of goal, all the way to the back post where Jordan Flores arrived to tap it into an empty net.

But the Bohs joy was very short-lived as Derry City regained their lead just 60 seconds later. Carl Winchester spotted O’Reilly in space and played the midfielder through. O’Reilly still had plenty to do as he bore down on goal, but he finished calmly to make it 3-2 to silence the home cheers.

This crazy game was far from finished however as Bohs responded just as emphatically. Tierney delivered a free-kick into a packed penalty area just two minutes later and the ball fell for James-Taylor, who smashed it into the top corner to make it 3-3.

At this stage, all notion of defending had gone out the window and the fourth goal in just 10 second half minutes arrived on 74 minutes when Duffy did superbly to cross left-footed and Dipo Akinyemi guided a header beyond Chorazka and into the bottom corner.

Derry City’s chances of actually defending that lead then took a huge blow when Ronan Boyce was sent off for his second caution in 12 minutes for a foul on James Clarke, the club’s eighth red card of the season.

Cameron Dummigan made his first appearance of the season late on and he almost sealed the win on sensational fashion as he caught Chorazka off his line, but his effort landed on the roof of the net.

It was like the alamo in the final stages, Maher again coming up with outstanding saves as Derry defended their narrow lead as if their lives depended on it.

And after a week of controversy and adversity where Derry City lost out on the NI Football Fund, this was the perfect tonic.

Bohemians: Chorazka, Okedina (Parsons 69’), Cornwall (Whelan 82’), Morahan, Rooney, Flores, McDonnell (Byrne HT’), Meekinson (Buckley 69’), Tierney, Clarke, James-Taylor.

Derry City: Maher, Todd, Stott (Connolly 82’), Bannon (Dummigan 88’), Fleming, Boyce, O’Reilly, Diallo (Benson 68’), Winchester (Cann 75’), Duffy, Akinyemi.

Referee: Rob Hennessey.