'Better than their league position' - former Hoop talks up old rivals Bohs
Booed off the pitch in July - Bohs are now playing teams off the park.
Just two months ago they were calling for Alan Reynolds’ head. Now they are calling his Bohemians team the form team in the country.
So much has changed in that short period of time; the team that couldn’t win turning into one that cannot lose.
Twice they have defeated Shamrock Rovers; twice they have outplayed league leaders Shels.
And tonight they can move a step closer to their third Cup semi-final in four years.
Ronan Finn is trying to stop them. Now 36 and in his 20th League of Ireland season, the veteran midfielder is back where he started, at UCD, a lecturer in the game now rather than a student.
The two-times Cup winner said: “I’ve watched a good bit of Bohs since the draw and have been impressed by them. How could you not be?
“They play very open, very expansive, have got great attacking players and we’ve got to treat them with the utmost respect because if we’re not 100 percent, the likelihood is they should beat us.”
There’s an old saying in football that the table never lies.
Yet sometimes it is economic with the truth. Bohs are eighth, mainly because a different manager and a different team started the season, long before Ross Tierney and Dawson Devoy arrived back, and before Danny Grant rediscovered his form.
Only last week Damien Duff described their league position as false, and that was before Bohs outpassed them at Dalymount Park. Now Finn has seconded that motion.
He said: “They are better than their league form of late. They are quite comfortable on the ball, quite comfortable in possession and just haven’t got results and I’m hoping that won’t change on Friday.”
Yet the terms and conditions of football matches aren’t always dictated by the favourite.
Sometimes the underdog can put manners on the more established side by devising and then sticking to a gameplan. And that was precisely what UCD did against Sligo in the last 16.
Finn said: “UCD comes in spells or crops and this is a young crop.
“When you sign a lot of first years you really don’t know are you gambling on lads that have come in from Under-20s football but they’ve been good, have played 20 to 25 games now, and I’m looking at them evolving, at their game knowledge improving and seeing that they are more confident.
“And a result like Sligo will help. We put in a professional performance. In general we try to dominate the ball, we try to own the ball, dictate the pace of the game, obviously Sligo was slightly different, Sligo have better players so you show a little bit of a different side which over the years wouldn’t always be natural to UCD.”
So, they’re eyeing an upset tonight and a place in the Europa Conference League next season.
Finn, though, will already be studying that competition closely after securing a punditry gig with Premier Sports to commentate on his former club, Shamrock Rovers, who he won five league titles with, alongside his journeys to the group stages of first the Europa League, then the Europa Conference League.
Needless to say Rovers’ European draw piqued his interest; Larne, Chelsea and Austrian giants Rapid Vienna away, Cypriot outfit APOEL, Welsh side The New Saints and Borac of Bosnia at home.
Finn said: “It is like the Carlsberg ad, isn’t it?
“If you were to hand pick a draw, this would have been it. That is no disrespect to the teams that are in their group but I’m sure Stephen Bradley will be looking at the opposition and looking at his own dressing room feeling they’ve a chance to qualify.
“Listen they’ve a lot of work to do, but you’d be of a positive mindset that it can be done.
“The mindset has definitely shifted with Irish clubs. The first time we qualified in 2011, that was a bit of a case of us saying ‘listen we’re here and we probably didn’t have the squad to compete at that level’.
“And 2022, maybe our squad didn’t have the depth that Rovers’ squad have now. I’m sure Stephen Bradley is looking at the group and wants to be the first Irish manager to qualify for the knockouts.”
And he’ll want to take a scalp, the final game being away to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Finn said: “From the club’s perspective, this is what you’re eyeing from a revenue point of view, in terms of travelling it’s cost effective: Larne, London, Vienna.
“The glamour tie of Chelsea evokes memories of London 2011 when Rovers went to Tottenham; hopefully they’ll already be through by that stage and they can go and have a crack off Chelsea.
“I’m sure the mindset is go and get points board on the board.”
Ronan Finn was promoting Premier Sports – the home of live football and rugby now including UEFA club competitions and EPCR Rugby. Premier Sports is available via your TV provider on Sky, NOW and Virgin Media.
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