FINN HARPS suffered a third successive defeat this evening and fall beneath Bohemians as a result of this reversal at Dalymount Park.
Bohemians 2 Finn Harps 0
Substitute Jake Kelly and Ismahil Akinade netted in the second half to shoot Bohemians to a much-needed win.
Kelly replaced Kurtis Byene at half-time and it was he who hit the opener in the 68th minute.
Akinade found time and space on the right-hand side and his cross was turned past Richard Brush by Kelly, who managed to get free from the Harps rearguard.
Two minutes from time, Akinade was played in by Mark Quigley and the Nigerian kept his cool to slot beyond the advancing Brush.
The goal sealed the win for Bohs and condemned Harps to a third straight League defeat.
The Gypsies have had a curse on Harps with the Ballybofey brigade having to go back to February 1999 to find their last win against Bohemians – a run of 14 games without success since Jonathan Speake scored in a 1-0 win.
Since Bohs lost 1-0 to Derry City at Dalymount a fortnight ago, Keith Long has seen Ayman Ben Mohamed leave for L’Espérance Sportive de Tunis in Tunisia and Dave Mulcahy move to Cork City.
But the Dubliners returned to winning ways here with a clinical pair of second-half strikes that sees Harps slip a little further in the standings.
On the back of successive League losses at the hands of Bray Wanderers and Wexford Youths, Harps manager Ollie Horgan rang the changes for this one.
The replacement of Damien McNulty with Ethan Boyle was an enforced one with McNulty facing up to eight weeks out with a knee injury.
Josh Mailey, Thomas McMonagle and Tony McNamee all came in with Raymond Foy, Ryan Curran and Adam Hanlon dropping to the bench.
Harps thanked their lucky stars when McMonagle – making his 100th appearance for the club – was dispossessed and Lopes threaded in behind the overthrown rearguard for Paddy Kavanagh.
Just when Kavanagh was on cue for the opener, Harps goalkeeper Brush got down at his feet to make the save.
A few moments earlier, Quigley tamely poked a free kick into the Harps wall in a position from which he ought to have asked questions of Brush.
Shane Supple has been a thorn in Donegal this year so far having played for Crumlin United in their FAI Intermediate Cup final win over Letterkenny Rovers and their FAI Senior Cup triumph against Harps.
Supple, formerly of Ipswich Town, was snapped up by Bohs boss Keith Long and he made a fine double save, first to keep out Tony McNamee’s drive and the rebound from Ruairi Keating.
Earlier, Boyle smacked over the top with a decent chance created from a good move by McNamee and Houston.
Supple denied the inrushing Houston, who prodded who prodded wide of the target before half-time.
Bohs threatened on the break and there was momentary panic when defender Derek Prendergast found himself on the end of a long ball, but his redirect across the goal face was cut out by Brush.
The lively Keating was proving a handful and the new signing – back for his third spell at Harps since last month – tested Supple on the hour.
But Bohs took the lead through Kelly just eight minutes later and when Akinade netted the second, it was game, set and match for Bohs.
Bohemians: Shane Supple; Derek Pender, Derek Prendergast, Stephen Best, Lorcan Fitzgerad; Paddy Kavanagh, Roberto Lopes, Kurtis Byrne (Jake Kelly half-time), Ian Morris (Eoin Wearen 63); Mark Quigley, Ismahil Akinade.
Finn Harps: Richard Brush; Keith Cowan, Packie Mailey, Thomas McMonagle (Dave Scully 82); Josh Mailey, Ethan Boyle (Ryan Curran 75), Barry Molloy, Tony McNamee (Adam Hanlon), Ciaran Coll; Sean Houston, Ruairi Keating.
Referee: Sean Grant (Wexford).
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