LOI preview: Bohemians seek consistency at struggling Sligo Rovers

RTÉ News​

10-05-2025

This SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division season has made fools of all of us. And if there's a club that thus far has personified the unpredictable nature of the campaign, it has to be Bohemians.
Alan Reynolds' side have been seemingly allergic to draws with seven wins and seven defeats the main takeaways from their report card.
Most notably though, prior to this weekend's round of games, Bohs have scored more goals (4) after the 90-minute mark than any other club this season, highlighting their never-say-die attitude.
And even though tonight's opponents Sligo Rovers may sit rock bottom of the standings, the Bit o' Red are also a side that have tended to finish more strongly than they start games.
While five of Sligo's 19 goals have come before the half-hour mark, double that amount have been scored after the 60-minute mark, with half of those in the final 15 minutes.
So one might expect tonight at the Showgrounds to be one which sees both sides grow into the game the longer it goes on.
While Sligo did not find the net against Shamrock Rovers in their 2-0 defeat at Tallaght Stadium on Monday, the second half display did provide crumbs of comfort for manager John Russell.
"In the second half, we could have had two or three goals and we were very impressive going forward," he said.
"Again, we must improve defensively, everyone knows that and the players are working hard every day in training on that. We'll be without our two starting centre halves for Bohs but we've known that since Monday so we've been able to prepare to deal with that."
Captain and centre-back John Mahon is suspended for tonight after incurring ten yellow cards, while defender Ollie Denham and winger Oskar van Hattum are out after picking up knocks.
However, former Hibernian midfielder Jake Doyle-Hayes is back from a one-match ban but whether there is a recall for Connor Malley, who Russell dropped for the Shamrock Rovers match, will be interesting to see, with the manager having told the Irish Independent that "it's up to him to try and get back in the team".
Meanwhile, for Bohs, the challenge will be to find consistency at a time when their results have been pretty good.
The Sean Grehan-inspired comeback victory at Galway United on Monday had followed a loss by the same scoreline at home to a then-struggling Waterford three days earlier when they had been hoping to build on morale-boosting late wins over St Patrick's Athletic, Shamrock Rovers and Cork City.
"I've said before that there will be bumps on the road - Waterford was one of those - but the lads are giving absolutely everything of themselves to keep pushing standards on, to keep getting points on the board, and there is a belief there in what we are trying to do," said manager Reynolds.
Bohs will go to The Showgrounds without Leigh Kavanagh (hamstring) and Alex Lacey (hamstring), while Connor Parsons (hamstring) and Liam Smith (groin) are significant doubts for the 7.45pm kick-off.