Flabbergasted Keegan rues Cherrie save

Wexford Youths boss Shane Keegan admitted he was “flabbergasted” to see his side lose 3-0 to Bray Wanderers – and he was left ruing an incredible Peter Cherrie save which took place 60 seconds before the Seagulls netted their third.

Harry Kenny's side put Youths to the sword at the Carlisle Grounds thanks to goals from Dean Kelly, Andrew Lewis and Karl Moore. The scoreline didn't reflect what was an evenly contested game for the most part, and while it baffled Keegan, he admitted Wanderers deserved their win because they took their chances.

“I don't know, in the heat of the moment you can look at a game and maybe you can call it wrong," Keegan told press after match. "Off the top of my head, I'm a bit flabbergasted that's a 3-0 scoreline.

“They deserved to win, how's it's 3-0 is beyond me. On the stats we were taking, on the balance of things, I think it worked out about four clearcut chances each and they've been brilliantly clinical. 

“Their quality in the wide areas I thought was the difference tonight,” added Keegan as he spoke about Lewis' and Moore's headed goals in the second-half. “Two superb crosses, we should have defended them better, we shouldn't have allowed the crosses in as easily, but two superb crosses and two great finishes.”

However, shortly before Moore netted the killer third, Gary Delaney had a glorious chance to get the visitors back into the game. Johnny Bonner whipped in an excellent left-wing cross, inch perfect and met by Delaney. His downward header was well executed, but Bray 'keeper Cherrie somehow clawed it away from goal after it seemed to be beyond him.

“I mean, Gary Delaney's header, how...I just seem to be repeating myself every week,” said Keegan as he thought back to last week's 1-0 defeat to Derry City at the Brandywell. 

“Ger Doherty made a save like that against us last week. Every week the opposition goalkeeper seems to be pulling off one absolutely unbelievable save – and last week and this week, it's resulted in the opposition going and scoring a goal 60 seconds later. 

“If that ball goes in it's 2-1 and all of a sudden your back is up and you have plenty of time because that save was made with only ten minutes gone in the second-half. You're 2-1 and all of a sudden you're really fancying yourself. Unfortunately, 60 seconds later it's three and it's over.

“So I'm scratching my head wondering what I'm after doing to deserve the luck that we're getting at the moment, but look, that's life.”

The result wiped out Youths' goal-difference advantage over Bray, allowing the Seagulls to draw level on points with the Wexford outfit and leapfrog them to tenth in the Premier Division table. With last-placed Longford Town losing 1-0 to Bohemians at the same time, Keegan believes the relegation battle will be contested between the current bottom three for the rest of the campaign.

He also feels that the signings made by the Seagulls this week – John Sullivan and Tim Clancy have both joined the club – highlights the advantage they hold over Youths and Longford going into a critical part of the season.

“I suppose the likes of Bray have a little bit of an advantage in that they're able to flash the cash as we've seen this week with some of the signings that they're bringing in,” said Keegan. “I mean, look, we wouldn't be in that league, so we wouldn't, when it comes to bringing in players. 

“We were probably operating off the sixth or seventh [lowest] budget last year in the First Division and we won the feckin' thing. We're well and truly operating off the lowest budget in the league this year and we'll still fancy our chances of finishing out of the bottom two.”

Keegan said he had “no qualms” about the third goal after Youths 'keeper Graham Doyle clawed Moore's header away without it touching the net. The Youths boss said his “gut instinct” was that it crossed the line and he is now backing his players to produce a strong finish to ensure the club's Premier Division survival.

“If I was a betting man I'd be fancying us," said Keegan. “This is my fifth year in charge and every single season we've been better the longer the season has gone on. We've always finished really, really strongly and judging by the characters that are in that dressing room and the reaction, even to a defeat like that, I don't think there's going to be anybody throwing in the towel or hitting major panic buttons. 

“We know that we're going to be in an absolute dogfight. If we need to go to a play-off game come the end season if we finish second bottom, bring that on. We certainly think we're good enough to keep two below us, but if that's the route we need to go, we're more than happy to go that route as well. We're up for a fight for the rest of the season, that's for sure.”