Signing for Bray a no-brainer says Peter Cherrie

After a stint in the Irish Premiership with Cliftonville, former Dundalk goalkeeper Peter Cherrie is delighted to be back in the League of Ireland with Bray Wanderers having arrived at the Carlisle Grounds during the July transfer window.

With regular number one Stephen McGuinness sidelined at the end of June with a broken finger, Bray boss at the time Trevor Croly moved to bring in an experienced alternative and secured the signature of Cherrie – with the Wicklow club officially announcing the signing on the same day as news of Croly's resignation was breaking.

While the former Shamrock Rovers manager began the turnaround of the club's on-field fortunes, Cherrie has played a pivotal part in helping Bray maintain an upward curve under the latest man to take the helm at the Carlisle, Mick Cooke.

And despite the off-field issues dogging the club this season, the Scottish stopper said that once the offer to sign for Bray materialized, there was only one decision he was going to make.

“Yeah, I'm enjoying it,” Cherrie told Extratime.ie after last week's 1-0 defeat to Dundalk. “I had that spell up in Belfast, but then when Trevor was here he contacted me and asked if I'd like to come over and it was a no-brainer. The missus is from Dundalk and she's happy to be back close to home, so that's good.

“Don't get me wrong, I mean, Trevor brought me over and then a day or two later I hear he's gone and I thought, 'What's gone on?' But at the end of the day I've just got to train. If they want to sign me, they sign me. If they don't, okay, best of luck to them, you move on and see what happens from there. But they did sign me and Mick's come in and everything's going good.

“To be honest, it hasn't even been spoke about,” added Cherrie when asked if morale within the squad had been affected by the behind the scenes issues at the club.

“It hasn't even been spoken about in the dressing room because if you start letting that rubbish get into your team then it's going to affect performances, play with people's heads. So you've just got to nip that in the bud straight away. It doesn't come into the dressing room and that's what's happened.”

The former Lilywhite was given his sternest examination yet since returning to the League of Ireland by his old Premier Division-winning teammates, but was equal to almost everything Dundalk threw at him. Ultimately, a debut goal for Ciaran Kilduff gave Stephen Kenny's side all three points, yet Cherrie saw plenty of positives to take from the performance.

“I thought the boys done well,” said the 31 year old, who added that it was “strange” to play against his old club with whom he enjoyed a five-and-a-half year spell.

“The champions coming here, we always knew it was going to be a tough game, but we've showed over the past couple of weeks we're not a team that's just going to lie down and let teams come. There the champions came, they'd a tough game, I'm sure they'll admit that themselves. They got a goal but that's what champions do.

“Obviously the boys are gutted in there, but they're in there and they're saying, 'Well, we've got a game next week', and that's exactly what we'll do. The team spirit with them boys is unbelievable. A few weeks ago they were down bottom of the league, [but they] have had a few good results, a new manager, what have you, and they've just shown that they're not going to lie down easy.”

While Cherrie was disappointed to concede his first goal for the club having earned three cleansheets in his first three games, Seagulls boss Cooke has been delighted with the form shown by his predecessor's signing, particularly as an ankle knock has further curtailed McGuinness's involvement in first-team affairs.

“When you're in the bottom-half of the table and you might fall into a relegation battle, your goalkeeper's definitely important,” Cooke told Extratime.ie.

“Peter's done a tremendous job, certainly the performances in the couple of games I've been here have been fantastic and he just gets on with his game. He's a league winner with Dundalk, he played in many European games, so he has the experience to keep this club up, along with the other players that are here.”