Keith Buckley: Jonathan Afolabi goals and Ireland call an apt reward

Bohemians captain Keith Buckley believes team-mate Jonathan Afolabi is finally getting the recognition he deserves as the club aim to finish the season on a high by getting to the Sports Direct FAI Cup final.

First Division champions Galway United stand in the way of Declan Devine's side in Saturday's semi-final at Eamonn Deacy Park (live on RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player) and Afolabi's goals have been key to Bohs' progress in that competition as well as in the league.

After a slow start to the season on the goals front, the 23-year-old's brace against Sligo Rovers last Friday took him to 17 in all competitions, with four of those coming in the cup, including a two-goal haul that earned them a 3-1 quarter-final victory over Drogheda United last month.

Afolabi's form saw him added to Stephen Kenny's Republic of Ireland squad for the Euro 2024 qualifier defeat to the Netherlands and Buckley said the call-up was both a proud day for Bohemians and an apt reward for the striker.

"At the start of the year he was brilliant. His hold-up play and bringing people into play was excellent. He just wasn't getting his rewards in terms of goals," Buckley told RTÉ Sport's Adrian Eames.

"But now that's all come to fruition and it was great to see Johnny getting called up for the Ireland squad a couple of weeks back.

"He's getting rewarded and he's been the main man. Himself and (James) Clarke together have been brilliant.

We need your consent to load this comcast-player content We use comcast-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content. Manage Preferences

"At the start of the year, (Jordan) Flores, (Adam) McDonnell, they