Bohemians 0 - 1 Sunderland

Bohemians 0 - 1 Sunderland (friendly) John 78

Roy Keane's main hope for next summer is that he might not need to buy too many players, so frustrating has he found trying to sell Sunderland to his principal transfer targets in the past few months. 'I'm very happy with the players I've got,' he said after this victory, 'but I may make one or two additions.'

Obtaining quality players now would greatly improve Sunderland's chances of not needing reinforcements in 12 months, though, with the start of the Premier League season less than a fortnight away, time is not on the manager's side. Keane knows perfectly well that he might not be around in a year, or that Sunderland could be looking for Championship players again by then; indeed he has just said so. Relaxed and smiling, Keane seems to be enjoying the challenge. Names such as Liverpool and Manchester United don't scare him. The question is whether the same can be said of his squad.

Losing to Scunthorpe last weekend was perhaps not the most auspicious of starts and, although this result was an improvement, there is a limit to what can be read into a win against a middling League of Ireland side who not only played the night before but managed to give struggling University College Dublin their first win in five games. This is mid-season in Ireland, with Bohemians happily playing twice in two days for the sake of a full house, and, while local supporters were amused by security cordons and ticket touts outside the ground, the circumstances were not exactly conducive to a demanding workout. Bohemians made more substitutions than Sven-Goran Eriksson and, by the time a goal from Sunderland replacement Stern John won the match, eight of their starting line-up were watching from the bench.

So while Sunderland did not prove rusty against a team already match-fit and familiar with each other, neither did they crush opponents who tired as the game went on. Bohemians had the best chance of opening the scoring in an uneventful first half, when Nyron Nosworthy failed to deal with a long clearance from Brian Murphy and allowed Darren Mansaram to slip a shot under Marton Fulop, Paul McShane marking his Sunderland debut by clearing off his own line.

McShane and Nosworthy were tidy enough in defence for the most part, without ever suggesting they will be comfortable dealing with, say, Didier Drogba or Wayne Rooney. Sunderland were similarly ponderous up front, where Michael Chopra had a goal disallowed for offside but otherwise struggled to get a look-in. Carlos Edwards and Anthony Stokes made regular headway along the flanks yet repeatedly failed to find a telling final ball, while Kieran Richardson was upstaged in midfield by the industrious and combative Dickson Etuhu.

As might be expected, Sunderland enjoy a certain amount of neutral support in these parts - street vendors selling favours for a national hurling quarter-final down the road at Croke Park were also doing brisk business with banners declaring support for Roy's Red Army - though allegiances are more complex than they might appear. Kieran Richardson was booed throughout by Irish spectators for having the temerity to leave Manchester United.

Stokes shot just over in Sunderland's best attack of the first half, set up by Etuhu, while Mark Rossiter had a shot saved at the other end. Kieran Richardson began a promising move at the start of the second half, only for Stokes to again fail to find the killer cross, Daryl Murphy volleying high when Sunderland had men to spare. McShane rescued Sunderland again with a brave block to deny Mansaram, before popping up at the other end and obliging Dean Pooley to head out from under his own crossbar from Chopra's curling cross.

Josh Mimms, on for Brian Murphy, touched a Chopra shot on to the bar when the striker seemed certain to score after 62 minutes, and Kieran Richardson missed an even easier opportunity from an Edwards cross 10 minutes later. The locals were on to him in a flash with 'What a waste of money', but that wasn't the worst the Sunderland fans heard before the end. As the game petered out limply, just after the Bohemians announcer had rather optimistically invited 3,000 Sunderland supporters to stay behind and have a drink afterwards and just before Stern John nodded Ross Wallace's punt over Mimms for the only goal, the Des Kelly (Carpets) stand struck up with the chant all Wearside had been dreading. 'Premiership? You're having a laugh.' Scarcely original, but even Keane must have winced.

Dalymount Park 5,033

BOHEMIANS Murphy (Mimms 31); Rossiter, Burns (Rice 81), Pooley (Rafferty 62), Powell; McGinley (Moran 75), Hunt (McCann 51), O'Donnell (Brady 86), Richardson (Kingsberry 56); Mansaram (Kelly 70), Fenn (Harkin 78)

SUNDERLAND Fulop; Halford, Nosworthy, McShane, Wallace; Edwards, Richardson (Collins 78), Etuhu, Stokes (Whitehead 60); Chopra (John 73), Murphy (Connolly 63)

Referee D McKeon

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