The FAI Cup will go on without 2022 finalists Shelbourne after Jonathan Afolabi swung the knockout blow in this first-round straightener at Dalymount Park.Beaten by Derry City in last year's final, Damien Duff had set his sights on replicating a Cup run that put so much gloss on his debut season in Irish football.However, Bohemians took early control of this game in a way that they failed to during last week’s 1-1 league meeting between the sides.More than a rerun of last week’s clash, this game was important to Bohs fans still scarred by the three-goal thrashing Shels inflicted on them in last year’s Cup quarter-final.That capitulation was the caricature performance of a Gypsies side that had lost their fighting spirit.
While this showing was far from perfect, no one can doubt Declan Devine has returned passion and fire to this Dublin 7 side.Duff spoke before the game about the "edge" in this fixture and it’s not over the top to say that meetings between these two are a petri dish for ill-feeling.An impassioned crowd, and a slick wet surface, created the perfect conditions for a roaring crusade, one that ebbed and flowed with limited intervention from the evening’s match officials.Starting with attacking intent, Bohs crafted a litany of early chances.Conor Kearns pushed an early Jordan Flores free-kick over, while James Clark curled a strike just wide from inside the box.Bohemians' Dylan Connolly and Shelbourne’s Evan Caffrey played out the battle of the night, as the 28-year-old Gypsies winger repeatedly accelerated around his opponent.The opener was always coming, and it arrived just after the 30-minute mark.