Bohs back in fight for Europe after victory at UCD

SSE Airtricity League: UCD AFC 1 Bohemian FC 2 

Bohemians are back in front in the race for Europe as they jumped to fourth with a hard-fought win at a stubborn Students side in front of 1,224 at a chilly UCD Bowl on Thursday night.

Second-half goals from man-of-the-match James Clarke and Danny Grant sealed all three points but Bohs were given a fright by an excellent late consolation goal from Mattew Alonge.

The Gypsies, knowing a fourth-place finish would guarantee European football next season thanks to booking their FAI Cup final spot, maybe suffered a bit of a cup hangover with a lacklustre start to the game.

Midway through the first half the visitors missed a glorious chance to take the lead. The Premier Division's joint top scorer, Johnny Afolabi, raced onto James Clarke’s ball over the top, but with the freedom of The Bowl, and an expectation from the healthy Bohs support of a bulging net, the towering frontman somehow blazed over from inside the area.

The hosts, down to the bare bones thanks to skipper Jack Keaney's suspension as well as Ireland U19 trio Daniel Babb, Luke O’Regan, and Jesse Dempsey on duty in Spain, struggled to get a foothold in the game and could have found themselves behind midway through the first half.

Declan Devine must have read the riot act to his side at half time as they came out all guns blazing, grabbing the lead after just a minute. Afolabi showed great strength to hold up the ball on the edge of the area before laying off the hugely impressive Clarke, who then dribbled through a host of defenders before slotting into the bottom corner.

Minutes later Afolabi had his own contender for miss of the season, failing to connect, from six yards out, with Coote’s clever flick. The miss