DERRY City got their season off to a flying start with an impressive and fully-deserved 4-1 victory at Bohemians.
Substitute Nathan Boyle fired home a brace, while Aaron McEneff and Lukas Schubert also found the back of the Bohs net.
In truth, Kenny Shiels’s side could have won by bigger margin.
The Maginn Park men gave a debut to Scottish midfielder Nicky Low, while young players Joshua Daniels and Ben Doherty were also in from the start.
As for the Dubliners, they gave ex-Derry midfielder Keith Ward a spot in their midfield alongside Dundalk loanee Georgie Poynton,
City went into the game with an impressive record against the Dalymount Park side, having secured four victories last season.
The visitors started on the front foot and went close early on, Ronan Curtis and Aaron McEneff with long range drives.
With their tails up, Derry took the lead on 14 minutes after a quickly taken free-kick by Low found Rory Patterson down the right hand side of the box.
The striker was brought down by an out-rushing Bohs keeper Shane Supple and referee Paul McLaughlin pointed to the spot.
Midfielder McEneff, who had missed two penalties in pre-season, stepped up and made no mistake, slotting the ball low into Supple’s bottom left hand corner.
Moments later, City went close to doubling their lead as a Low right wing corner found an unmarked Dean Jarvis, but the defender’s close range header was saved by Supple.
Bohs, to their credit, went close to levelling things but Jamie Doyle’s 25-yard drive was well saved by City keeper Gerard Doherty.
Derry suffered an injury setback on 28 minutes as Patterson, who injured his ankle when winning the penalty, was replaced by Nathan Boyle.
Just after the half-hour some miscontrol by Ben Doherty meant the home side had another chance, but Dinny Corcoran’s strike was kept out by Doherty.
Derry doubled their lead in bizarre fashion right on the stroke of half-time.
Bohs skipper Derek Pender’s back pass was overhit and although Supple raced back to his goal and somehow managed to clear the ball off the line, Boyle was on hand to pick up the loose ball and compose himself before side-footing home.
Boyle doubled his tally for the night when a quickly-taken goal-kick from Gerard Doherty released the striker, who showed great strength to hold off Dan Byrne before coolly slotting the ball through Supple’s legs.
Bohs did manage to pull one back when Paddy Kavanagh found Corcoran, despite Ryan McBride’s best attempts to clear, and the ex-St Pat’s front man side-footed home past Doherty.
City brought on Lukas Schubert and within 15 seconds of his arrival, he ended the game as a contest when he netted their fourth goal.
The Austrian winger played in Boyle, who raced clear of the Bohs back-line, before seeing his effort parried out by Supple, but Schubert was on hand to bundle the ball home.
AT Finn Park, John Caulfield celebrated his 100th game in charge of Cork City as he watched his side begin their campaign by battling against the elements to bag the points against a plucky Finn Harps side at Finn Park.
Sean Maguire’s 44th minute strike proved to be the winner in a highly entertaining and well-contested encounter.
City had to play the final 20 minutes with 10 men after Gerry Buckley received a second yellow card for a rash challenge on Ciaran O’Connor, and at times they were clinging on in a rip-roaring finish.
Harps’ big name signing, former Northern Ireland international Paddy McCourt, only started on the bench for the home side, but came on for the final quarter.
In the build-up, Caulfield had warned about the negative approach that may be employed by some teams in a division where three out of 12 will be relegated at the end of the season. One assumes he certainly had Harps in mind.
So the onset of more rain during the warm-up fuelled concerns that an energy-sapping wintry battle of Ballybofey was on the cards.
However, the opening quarter was surprisingly open with Cork looking the more polished outfit, while Harps looked lively on the counter-attack. It was more like a cup-tie.
Maguire was buzzing around the Harps’ penalty area and the threat was there for all to see.
At the other end, a Johnny Bonnar free flashed across Mark McNulty’s goal on the half-hour.
But Maguire then pounced on a defensive mix-up to steer the ball home past Ciaran Gallagher from inside a crowded box to give City the lead in the 44th minute.
City began the second half positively and Harps survived a real scare as the ball came off the post following a goalmouth scramble.
However, Caolan McAleer reminded City that they could ill-afford to slacken off as he drove a low, hard shot that was capably dealt with by Mark McNulty on 56 minutes.
The dismissal of Buckley added to the drama in a charged final period as Harps pressed hard for an equaliser.
Twice Maguire hit the post in the space of 15 seconds late on and although Harps kept pushing forward City held on.
DUNDALK, champions for the last three years, got their title defence off to the best possible start as they recorded a 2-1 win over Shamrock Rovers at Oriel Park.
Robbie Benson broke the deadlock for the home side in the 32nd minute as he converted Michael Duffy’s pass and Ciaran Kilduff headed home a second for the Lilywhites six minutes after the interval after great work from Patrick McEleney.
Shamrock Rovers did pull one back through Graham Burke with 15 minutes remaining, but the same player was sent off three minutes later and they couldn’t find a way through with 10 men.
Limerick player Ian Turner had the honour of scoring the first league goal of the season as Martin Russell’s side destroyed Sligo Rovers 5-1.
Brazilian Rodrigo Tosi scored a brace after Turner’s opener to make it 3-0 before Rovers pulled one back through Matthew Stevens as they strived to get back into the game.
However, Tosi completed his hat-trick and Lee Lynch made it five to secure the win for the home side with Turner missing the chance to add a sixth goal from the penalty spot.
Bray started their season with a fine win on the road as they defeated St Patrick’s Athletic 2-1.
Anthony Flood gave them the lead in the 21st minute before Gary McCabe doubled their advantage in the 65th minute.
Graham Kelly did set up a grandstand finish as he struck six minutes from time for St Pat’s, but Wanderers held on.
Drogheda United also struck late as they left Galway with all three points after a 1-0 win.
Gareth McCaffrey scored the winning goal for the newly-promoted side in the 81st minute.
