Devine: Bohemians in 'very good place' despite derby defeat to Shamrock Rovers

Declan Devine believes his Bohemians side remain in a great place despite a chastening derby defeat to Shamrock Rovers in front of the home support at Dalymount Park on Friday night.

Bohs made an excellent start to the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division clash but succumbed to goals from Neil Farrugia and Rory Gaffney in each half to slip to a 2-0 loss against the reigning champions.

But the Phibsboro-based side are still top of the league with the season passing the quarter mark after their next match at Devine's former club Derry City on Monday night.

It was not a position many would have expected Bohs to occupy at this stage of the season and the club's manager was keen to accentuate the positives about their situation despite a disappointing night on the pitch.

"We're in a very good place. If you'd have offered me the wins that we have at the start of the season, I'd have bit your hand off," Devine told RTÉ Sport.

"We've started the season superbly well but we go onto one more game in this round of games and if we don't get any points in that, we'll still have started really well.

"But we'll get ourselves ready now for Monday. If you had offered this (points haul) at the start with a brand new group of players, 14 players coming in, Dublin derby losing it (I'm) not happy but we have to accept that and tonight probably a better team won.

"But at the same time, whenever we're in a really strong position for the opening 35, 40 minutes, you've got to take your chances in these games and make sure that you punish the opposition the way they did with the chances they had tonight."

Shamrock Rovers' opener came on 44 minutes via Farrugia whose run into the box was not tracked, while Gaffney profited from space at the far post to