Premier Division Results:
WEEK 1/33:
BOHS 1-1 SHAMROCK ROVERS
BRAY 2-1 ST. PATS. ATH.
DROGHEDA 0-2 DERRY
FINN HARPS 0-2 CORK
LONGFORD 1-2 WATERFORD
SHELBOURNE 1-1 UCD
Another Premier Division season started on St. Patricks weekend, with teams of new players, which led to some surprising results. There was just 1 home win, 2 draws, and 3 away victories after the first week of games.
There haven't been many seasons, when there has been a live tv game on the first week, but Bohs and Rovers is one of the league's glamour games in a season where league form goes out the window, and it had to be on tv. Personally, I thought it was crazy that the game was allowed to be played on a Friday night, after St. Patrick's Day, knowing what has happened before in previous meetings between the clubs. Despite the mounted police, and other cops in riot gear, mercifully there were no reports of crowd trouble in or around the ground this time.
Bohs started well, as Rovers struggled to settle. A Bohs goal had been coming for some time, when on 24 minutes, a poorly defended free-kick, allowed Jimmy Aggrey to tap home the opening goal. Bohs continued to press in the first half, and Rovers did well to keep it to 1 at half-time. The second half was more cagey, as Bohs decided to sit on their lead. Rovers had only one decent chance to score, when ex-Bohs man, Mark Rutherford rounded the keeper to curl an effort goalward, only for it to be cleared off the line by the Bohs defence. Ex-Rovers man, Mark O'Brien came on late on to secure the game for Bohs. Soon afterwards, Heary failed to control one of our many long balls, and out of nothing, Lee Feeney stabbed the ball home from the edge of the box for our equaliser. :) A 1-1 draw meant that bragging rights had to wait until the next league game between the two sides in the summer.