Bohemians Stun Galway with Late Comeback
Bohemians walked out of Eamonn Deacy Park with three points and a story they will talk about all season, roaring back from 2-0 down to beat Galway United 3-2 with three goals in a wild 15‑minute spell.
They arrived in the west needing a win to keep Shamrock Rovers in sight at the top of the SSE Airtricity Men’s Premier Division. Galway, unbeaten and confident, were hunting another scalp and a statement ahead of next month’s FAI Cup semi-final between the sides.
For an hour, it looked like John Caulfield’s team had it all under control.
Walsh lights it up with outrageous overhead
The opening exchanges were tight, bitty, and short on chances. Galway’s back three of Wasiri Williams, Gianfranco Facchineri and Anthony O’Connor stood tall, reading everything Bohemians tried to thread between the lines. Alan Reynolds’ side hogged the ball but ran into a maroon wall every time they approached the box.
Galway were happy to spring forward when they could. Stephen Walsh and Kris Twardek chased everything, stretching the game and hassling Bohs’ back line. Midway through the first half, Twardek almost profited from a long, looping ball over the top, only for Paul Walters to race out and smother just in time.
The hosts began to grow bolder. Aaron Bolger found space on the edge of the area but saw a promising opening blocked by a teammate. Moments later, Jimmy Keohane squeezed off a shot that lacked the power to trouble Walters.
Bohemians tried to answer through Harry Vaughan, the former Hull City playmaker, who fizzed a strike just wide from distance. It felt like the kind of game that needed something spectacular to ignite it.
Walsh provided it in the 31st minute.
Left wing-back Al-Amin Kazeem whipped in a cross towards the penalty area. Walsh, making his 403rd appearance for the club, contorted his body and launched into an audacious overhead kick. The ball crashed off the underside of the bar and dropped over the line. His first-ever goal against Bohemians, and a finish that will live with this season long after the table is forgotten.
It was a goal of pure technique and nerve, the sort that instantly enters any goal-of-the-season conversation.
Galway’s players swarmed him, the home support roaring in behind them. Bohs tried to steady themselves. Before the break, Darragh Power lashed a volley just over, and Ross Tierney was denied from close range by Hugo da Cunha. Galway, though, held their 1-0 lead to the interval and looked comfortable doing it.
Twardek pounces as Bohs unravel
Bohemians emerged after the restart with more intent. Tierney stung da Cunha’s palms at the near post as they pushed for a leveller.
Then came a gut punch.
In the 53rd minute, a mix-up between Walters and former Galway man Patrick Hickey opened the door. Twardek needed no second invitation, pouncing on the confusion to roll the ball into an empty net and double United’s advantage.
At 2-0, with Galway’s defensive shape intact and the crowd in full voice, this looked like the night Bohs might lose touch with the leaders.
Reynolds’ side, though, refused to fold. Galway sank gradually deeper, line by line, as Bohemians kept the ball and cranked up the tempo. The visitors camped in the Galway half, probing, recycling, asking the same questions again and again.
The pressure finally told with 16 minutes to play.
Substitute Colm Whelan, on to inject life into the attack, produced a superb strike in the 74th minute to drag Bohs back into it. One clean moment, and suddenly the whole tone of the night changed.
Whelan turns the game, Tierney levels, Bohs steal it
From there, Galway were hanging on. Bohemians surged forward, sensing vulnerability. Every clearance came straight back. Every second ball seemed to fall to a black-and-red shirt.
The equaliser felt inevitable, and it arrived on 82 minutes.
After a patient spell of passing around the edge of the area, Tierney found the gap he had been chasing all evening, staying calm to slide a composed low finish beyond da Cunha. From 2-0 down to 2-2, and still time on the clock. Galway, who had looked so assured, now looked rattled.
Bohs smelled blood.
Tierney again tested da Cunha as the clock ticked into the final minutes, the goalkeeper keeping Galway level for the moment. But the momentum was gone, and Whelan was not finished.
On 89 minutes, the substitute delivered the decisive blow. Picking up the ball and driving into the box, he slalomed past defenders and drilled a low effort on goal. Da Cunha got down but will feel he should have done better. The ball squirmed past him and into the net.
The away end exploded. From 2-0 down to 3-2 up, all in the space of a quarter of an hour.
Whelan’s 25-minute cameo had turned the match on its head. Two goals, relentless movement, and the kind of ruthless edge that keeps title races alive.
Galway threw on fresh legs late — Francely Lomboto, Ed McCarthy Thiam, David Hurley, Aodh Dervin Pierrot and Maurice Nugent Connolly entering the fray from a bench stacked with options — but the damage was done. Bohemians, with their own changes including Whelan, James McDonnell, and James Madden, saw it out.
A priceless three points for the visitors. A brutal lesson for Galway in how quickly control can evaporate against a side with something serious to chase. And with an FAI Cup semi-final and possibly a November reunion still to come, this comeback might only be the opening chapter in a compelling autumn rivalry.
