GOALS from Anto Flood, Stephen Traynor and Robert Bayly helped Bohemains finally overcome a dogged Douglas Hall by 3-0 in their entertaining Ford FAI Cup 3^rd Round tie at Dalymount Park.

The first-half was almost exclusively centred around Flood, returned to his favoured centre-forward position after his redeployment to right midfield in Monday’s defeat at Shamrock Rovers.

His first chance arrived on seven minutes when he found space in the box but his header from Christy Fagan’s outswinging corner lacked precision as it sailed harmlessly over the crossbar.

Within three minutes, Flood raced onto Robert Bayly’s through ball but once again there was too much elevation in his shot as his left foot shot flew over from fourteen yards.

One sensed the opening goal was inevitable given Bohemians’ dominance and it duly arrived in the 12^th minute when Keith Buckley raced clear down his right flank and his precise centre allowed Flood to drill an emphatic finish beyond the unsighted Adrian O’Donovan.

Chances followed for Flood and he should have done better in the 23^rd minute but his flicked header from substitute Daniel Joyce’s superb right-wing cross sailed narrowly wide of the far post.

A last-ditch tackle from Gareth O’Donovan denied Flood a certain goal in the 32^nd minute but there was little else of note as the half meandered to a close, apart from a Christopher Forrester shot from 20 yards which was comfortably saved by O’Donovan.

The opening period upon the restart mirrored that of the first-half with the hosts dominating possession and territory although they were struggling to find the openings against a superbly well-organised and disciplined Douglas Hall defence.

However, the visitors attacking threat was of a sporadic nature, with Derek Varian, scorer of the crucial winning goal in their 3^rd round win over Glebe North, only showing glimpses of his potential given his limited levels of possession down the left wing.  

Varian switched wings as the half progressed and made a couple of encouraging surges that inevitably petered out given his lack of support as Douglas Hall increasingly focussed on their defensive duties.

The inevitable tiredness began to show as concentration wavered in the visitor’s defence, with Aidan Price clipping both crossbar and post from Fagan corners within seven second-half minutes before substitute Traynor confirmed Bohs’ progress when he clipped home in the 78^th minute following another dangerous Fagan delivery.

Bayly added gloss to the final scoreline when he turned home Traynor’s centre in the 83^rd minute to give a more accurate reflection on the hosts dominance over the ninety minutes.  

BOHEMIANS: O’Connor; Heary, Burns, Price, O’Brien (Joyce, 21); Buckley (Burke, 80), Cronin, Bayly, Forrester; Flood (Traynor, 71), Fagan.

DOUGLAS HALL: A O’Donovan (O’Leary, 81); O’Callaghan, Hackett, G O’Donovan, Wilkinson; O’Connell (Brohan, 60), Drennan, Bruton, McCarthy, Varian; Murphy (Lehane, 82)

Referee: Rob Rogers (Dublin)