Bohs find goalscoring form to destroy Longford
Saturday 12th May 2007, 12:47 am
Glen Crowe, Bohemians.
Photo by Tom Carey.
11th May 2007
eircom League of Ireland Premier Division
Bohemians 5
Glen Crowe 22, 41, 61
John-Paul Kelly 52
Stephen Rice 90
Longford Town 0
Dalymount Park
Bohemians made a mockery of their previous shyness in front of goal as they took Longford Town apart in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland at Dalymount Park on Friday night. Going into the game having scored just five goals in nine games, Bohs doubled their tally by beating Longford 5-0, sending the Midlanders bottom of the division.
It looked like another frustrating night for Bohs at first as Darren Mansaran and John Paul Kelly missed with early chances.
The deadlock was broken on 22 minutes as Glen Crowe got in on the end of Conor Powell's curling ball into the box to slot home. Mansaram could well have doubled the lead just seconds later but saw his shot cleared off the line by Sean Prunty.
Longford's shaky offside trap struggled all night and was fatally exposed on 41 minutes as Kevin Hunt's free kick found Owen Heary and the full back's cross picked out Crowe in front of goal where he headed home from close range.
Had David Freeman or Dave Mooney performed better with good chances then maybe the game would have been tighter but the Longford players failed and Bohs killed off the game seven minutes after the break.
Heary was again the creator as he fired in a powerful ball across goal for Kelly to head in and make it 3-0. The score moved to 4-0 just after the hour as Crowe wrapped up his hat-trick, the first scored by a Bohs player in league action in almost four years.
Crowe tapped home after Kelly knocked Stephen Rice's cross back across goal. Crowe was of course the last man to net a league hat-trick for Bohs, back in July 2003.
At 4-0, the game was well over and the steam went out of the contest until Rice slotted home a fifth in the dying minutes. Rice broke from midfield to fire past Mick Dempsey and make it a thoroughly miserable night for Longford.
Bohemians : Murphy, O Heary, Powell, McGuinness, Burns, Hunt, Rice, Kelly, Kingsberry (Byrne 73), Mansaram (Mooney 85), Crowe (Fenn 62).
Longford Town : Dempsey, Prunty, Rutherford, J Martin, Doherty (Wexler 46), Brennan, Deegan, Doyle (Lee 84), Mooney, Freeman, R Martin (Baker 63).