BOHEMIANS reached for the Rennie but this Dublin derby defeat was hard to swallow for the visiting fans.
In his first game in charge, Alan Reynolds saw his side put in a strong first-half display before being torn to shreds by Shamrock Rovers after the break.
They were 2-0 down through Johnny Kenny and Darragh Burns within eight minutes of the restart with Aaron Greene piling on the misery later on with all three goals given away cheaply.
And they had to rely on keeper Kacper Chorazka – who knew he had to perform with James Talbot back on the bench – to prevent a fourth, making a fine save to deny Richie Towell.
Declan McDaid pulled one back for Bohs in stoppage time but many of the travelling supporters had long since left.
After failing to win any of their first three games, defending champions Rovers have now racked up back-to-back wins either side of the international break.
Man-of-the-match Josh Honohan said: “It’s brilliant to get the three points. We knew it was going to be a tough game because they’re a competitive side.
“But once we got into the second half and calmed it down, we controlled the tempo.”
Honohan was a close-season recruit from Cork City and he said: “The gaffer has been really good for me.
“To give you an example, on Tuesday he was doing bit of shooting with me in the lashing rain. He’s won it four times in a row.
“People talk about hunger and that’s hunger, he doesn’t need to be doing shooting sessions out in the rain and cold with me but he does.”
Reynolds handed a first start of the season to striker James Akintunde, with whom he had previously worked at Derry City.
And he did his best to repay his new manager’s faith in him with his aggressive pressing.
First, he won the ball back and laid it off to James Clarke who teed up Jordan Flores with the Bohs skipper curling a low shot wide of the post.
Then, he and Dylan Connolly helped force a corner. Jevon Mills’ header blatantly struck Dan Cleary’s outstretched arm.
But it was not just referee Rob Harvey who appeared to miss it as there were no appeals from the Bohs players.
It was a high-energy start from the visitors with Rovers finding it hard to getting their passing game going under pressure.
It was unlikely, however, that the Gypsies would be able to sustain that over 90 minutes.
And their cause was not helped when both of their holding midfielders Flores and Adam McDonnell were booked within 10 minutes of each other, leaving them on a tightrope for the remainder of the involvement.
And they looked vulnerable when Aboubacar Keita attempted to outmuscle Josh Honohan out wide but failed.
That allowed the Cork man to whip in a cross which was cleared by Paddy Kirk’s header and Bohs went straight up the other end and created a good opportunity themselves.
Cleary lost the ball to Clarke who passed to Akintunde. He advanced down the left wing before playing a one-two with Dayle Rooney.
He got past Roberto Lopes with some neat footwork but the Rovers skipper’s defensive partner Lee Grace baled him out by blocking a cross which was heading towards Connolly at the far post.
But the home side were beginning to grow into the game and Lopes went close to opening the coring at the other end with a header from Dylan Watts’ corner but it went straight to Chorazka.
And Burns could not find a way past the Polish keeper either when he looked to have done most of the hard work.
A clipped ball from Cleary sailed over the head of Rooney to Burns who cut inside Kirk and let fly but Chorazka pushed his effort at the expense of a corner.
If Rovers were steadily improving before the break, they moved it up a notch after the restart.
ROVERS RETURN
From the very start of the second half, Bohs were chasing shadows as the home side played at a blistering pace.
The pressure told when Honohan’s cross from the left was cleared by Mills only as far as the edge of the box where Watts was in space.
He did not connect with the ball cleanly and his shot would probably have gone wide except it fell nicely to Kenny, who had been kept onside by Kirk, who rifled home.
Bohs had no chance to regroup after falling behind before the deficit was doubled with Kenny involved in the build-up play this time.
He got down the byline before nudging the ball to Burke who, from Bohs’ point of view, was able to turn far too easily in the box to pick out Burns.
The on-loan MK Dons star shrugged off the attentions of Rooney to fire past Chorazka.
Rennie gathered his troops on the sideline to try to ensure they did not sink without trace but they continued to give up chances.
Brian McManus and Danny Grant were sprung from the bench and the wideman was well positioned to try to get on the end of a Clarke pass but he was grabbed by Honohan who went unpunished.
And Bohs nursed a grievance that they did not get a free out when the third was scored but, if truth be told, Keita simply was not strong enough.
Nugent held off, first, Clarke and, then, Kirk to get his cross in and an off-balance Keita was knocked to the ground by substitute Greene who then finished with ease with the American defender withdrawn soon afterwards.
SHAMROCK ROVERS: 3 BOHEMIANS: 1
Kenny 49 McDaid 90
Burns 52
Greene 73
SUN STAR MAN: Josh Honohan (Shamrock Rovers)
BOHEMIANS: Chorazka 7; Lilander 6, Mills 5, Keita 4 (J McManus 76, 5), Kirk 6; Flores 6, McDonnell (B McManus 64, 5); Connolly 6 (Grant 64, 5), Clarke 6, Rooney 5; Akintunde 7 (McDaid 70, 6).
SHAMROCK ROVERS: Pohls 7; Cleary 6, Lopes 6, Grace 7; Nugent 7, Watts 7 (Towell 70, 6), O’Neill 7 (Poom 57, 5), Honohan 8; Burns 8 (Clarke 81, 5), Burke 8 (Noonan 81, 5); Kenny 7 (Greene 70, 6).
REFEREE: R Harvey (Dublin) 5