Bohemians ensure Shelbourne exit Cup at first hurdle

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. Afolabi leaped highest to direct Flores’ corner into the back of the net – his first FAI Cup goal to add to a