League of Ireland: Bohemians 3 (James-Taylor 47, Clarke 61, 72) Galway United 0
“There’s interest in him,” confirmed Bohemians manager Alan Reynolds when asked recently about James Clarke’s future at the north Dublin club.
“I’d love to keep him, but he’s a 24-year-old lad who probably has ambitions of going and playing across the water.”
Everyone can see why Clarke might pack his bags and head to England. He took the headlines away from Douglas James-Taylor, who scored his first goal for Bohemians since arriving from Drogheda United, hitting a brace to sink Galway United worryingly close to the relegation zone.
Bohs climb to second in the Premier Division, eight points behind Shamrock Rovers with a game in hand. Galway sit third from bottom.
RM Block
All three goals came in the second-half, as a blazing sun set over Dalymount Park.
There was 21 minutes on the clock when Robert Harvey whistled for a hydration break. Most players emptied a bottle of water over their heads.
Usually, in the League of Ireland, the unofficial ‘first quarter’ stoppage is due to a goalkeeper requiring medical attention. He almost always recovers. With the thermometer showing 27 degrees at 8pm, Harvey was not taking any chances.
Timeout. Nobody wants a player hospitalised with heat stroke.
The unusually warm week took a toll. It was slightly cooler at Tolka Park on Wednesday when Shelbourne beat Linfield in the Champions League, and on Thursday at Richmond Park when St Patrick’s Athletic had Hegelmann of Lithuania’s number in the Uefa Conference League.
Friday was a scorcher all across Dublin. It initially levelled the playing field for a Galway United squad that is still reeling from Moses Dyer’s midseason departure to the more lucrative Cambodian league.
With American midfielder Patrick Hickey injured, John Caulfield’s team returned to the scene of Dyer’s best night without the two men who accumulated 14 of their 27 goals so far this season.
Back in March, Dyer rocked the Reynolds project at Dalymount with two sensational finishes. Trinidad international Malcolm Shaw has arrived in place of the New Zealander. Seconds after the water break, he shot wide with an overhead kick.
Shaw’s power had Cian Byrne on notice all game. Byrne is well known to the opposition, having just returned from a six month loan spell at Galway to replace Seán Grehan, who departed Bohs to further his promising career at Doncaster Rovers.
It being July, the comings and goings are constant. Rumour has it that Bohs could sign Hickey if Clarke leaves.
A midfielder by trade, Clarke started up front alongside James-Taylor; Caulfield employs an unapologetic low block so Reynolds responded by pushing three attackers up on the five-man defence.
Clarke drew an early save from Galway’s Welsh goalkeeper Evan Watts but it was the visitors who created the better chances as David Hurley hit the post before Jordan Flores blocked a volley from Shaw.
There was another stoppage before half-time when Bohs’ defensive linchpin Rob Cornwall limped off to be replaced by Leigh Kavanagh.
Mercifully, an evening shade descended for the second-half when it took James-Taylor 100 seconds to open his account for Bohs. Kavanagh fed a low ball into the English centre forward, who turned and punched a shot past Watts from outside the box.
Watts is not easily beaten and he denied Clarke with an acrobatic, left-hand save before the Meath man secured all three points for Bohs in the 62nd minute. Dawson Devoy’s clever run and cut back for a first-time finish seemed to happen in slow motion.
Bohs third, Clarke’s second, came 20 minutes from full-time after Garry Burke gave him far too much space to turn on to his right foot and shoot.
Bohemians: Chorazka; Byrne, Cornwall (Kavanagh 39), Flores; Devoy, Morahan; Rooney (Mountney 85), Tierney (Whelan 77), McDonnell (Buckley 77); Clarke, James-Taylor (Parsons 85).
Galway United: Watts; Esua, Slevin, Cunningham (Piesold 67), Burns, McCarthy (Tollett 83); Bolger, Borden (Buckley 67); Hurley (Brouder 67); Walsh, Shaw.
Referee: Robert Harvey.
