Bohs boss Devine hails influence of Jonathan Afolabi

Bohemians boss Declan Devine said an on-song Jonathan Afolabi is as good as any player he's ever worked with in the wake of Friday's 2-2 draw with Shamrock Rovers.

The Hoops opened up a two-goal lead at Dalymount Park with goals from Neil Farrugia and Markus Poom.

But Bohs rallied, thanks in no small part to the excellent Afolabi who scored the first and had a hand in the equaliser, dispatched very coolly by substitute James Clarke.

It's almost a year since Afolabi arrived at the Gypsies from Celtic with expectations high. He has not scored the goals many anticipated he would, but his presence and ability to lead the line are undoubtedly major assets.

"Jon Afolabi, when he plays well, is as good as anything I've ever worked with," Devine told RTÉ Sport.

"He's just so strong. He's such a good player and his finish was brilliant.

"We were really disappointed to be two down. I thought we had a lot of chances. It was a bit of a mad game because I thought we were very much in the ascendancy.

"A real positive coming back from 2-0 down but we're really disappointed that we haven't come away with three points becasue we should be winning that game with the control and the chances we had."

Bohs stay fourth after Friday's puslating derby, trailing their bitter rivals by eight points, albeit with a game in hand.

A genuine title challenge looks beyond them but a top-three finish cerainly isn't with Devine hopeful his team can iron out the errors that cost them what would have been a sweet win.

"We'l learn from it, we move on," he added. "That's the second time we've come back from 2-0 [down]. It's testimony to the players. They never give up. They work hard, I keep saying it, they work hard every day.

"They have to take joy out of it, it's