2 weeks Ago By Owen Cowzer
THERE is no groupthink with football fans. I remember back in 2018 when Stephen Bradley’s Shamrock Rovers lost to Bray Wanderers to make it three defeats in a row.The club’s hierarchy were happy things were going in the right direction but anyone on the outside wondered.
After all, Bradley was the fourth Hoops’ manager in seven seasons and the club had high expectations – that Bray loss meant they dropped to fifth. This was a club that former boss Michael O’Neill said the “natives get restless” after a run of bad results. The Irish Sun at the time was based in Ringsend, and one of the guys in the building was a big Rovers fan.
Not seeing much of them by then – Dundalk and Cork City were the top two and there was no LOITV – I asked what he made of it all. He shrugged and said they had been great to watch in Tallaght, and they had four wins and one defeat from six home games, including scoring six against Bray and Derry City.I do not know if he spoke for the majority, but it came to mind this week when talking to Bohemians fans about their own club’s predicament at the moment.
The only home win from three games this season came at the Aviva Stadium. And last year, there were only five Friday nights when fans went home with a victory. Those seasons come on the back of losing the 2021 FAI Cup final, a 2022 with no great memories and a poor finish to 2023 and Cup final defeat.
If you are a Bohs fan, you have had hopes dashed repeatedly while watching Rovers in a golden age, St Pat’s beating you twice in Cup finals and Shels winning the league. No wonder they are in your head!This season looked to be gearing up for a change as new gaffer Alan Reynolds got his first pre-season with the players. ‘Rennie’ has the track record too.
He guided Waterford to European qualification in his last managerial role only to be denied that place under UEFA Phoenix club rules.And he quickly righted the wrongs of the last pre-season making moves early to bring in Colm Whelan, Niall Morahan, and John Mountney with training starting in December. I thought Bohs would be a title outsider, though fans I know seemed to know better with hopes pinned that Lys Mousset – out of action for 21 months – would be the answer.
And the results to date have been disappointing that leave them second from bottom as they face bottom club Sligo Rovers at Dalymount Park this evening.They beat Rovers at the Aviva on the opening day. But that win also means their only home wins in the last 49 weeks have all been against the Hoops.
The ray of hope is that no one has strung any wins together so Bohs are not even out of a title race, let alone cut adrift in the relegation places. Alan Reynolds is already coming under pressure this seasonAnd they have been good in patches in games, with the common complaint that it is the same as last season as they are great between the penalty areas.But the next month feels huge for them now with five games; three Dublin derbies, and two clashes with sides around them near the bottom.
And everyone will be watching for the fan reaction. Back in 2018 when everyone wondered what Rovers fans thought, there was a solitary banner calling for Bradley’s departure after a 5-2 loss to Dundalk in Tallaght.But had the Hoops lost the following week to Bray, maybe it would have been two banners as bottom half positions were below expectations.
Instead, they won on Gavin Bazunu’s debut, lifted the FAI Cup the following year, then won four-in-a-row, and made unprecedented progress in Europe. That game was the bump in the road of the Hoops’ march back to the top rather than any turning point.Now Bohs feel like they are facing a few pivotal weeks too when they need points rather than performances.
Because even in a league as predictably unpredictable as the League of Ireland, great escapes are rare. Since the switch to a ten-team top flight in 2018, only twice have the club who were bottom after eight and nine games stayed up – Finn Harps in 2019 and UCD in 2023 in play-offs..
