League Report: Bohemians 0 - 0 Bray Wanderers
By Alex Dunne at Dalymount Park
Defences ruled the day as Bohemians and Bray Wanderers battled their way to a 0-0 draw at Dalymount Park in their SSE Airtricity League clash on Friday night.
Dinny Corcoran's cute ball around the corner in the opening 15 minutes was the only real highlight of a ponderous first half.
Bohemians played the better in the second period and Dan Byrne and Izzy Akinade both had chances to score in the final ten minutes, but most of their attacks were picked off with last-minute challenges as a frustrated Dalymount crowd were forced to settle for a draw.
Lee Steacy made his debut for the Seagulls in goal and 16-year-old Jake Ellis came in on the bench for his first taste of League of Ireland senior action. For Bohs, Dan Byrne came in for the injured Warren O'Hora.
A ponderous first half got off to a slow start, with the only notable action in the first five minutes coming straight from the kick off, but a Dylan Hayes cross was easily headed away by Conor Kenna.
Darragh Noone had Bray's first chance in the sixth minute off a Ryan Brennan cross, but it was cleared away by a Fuad Sule block on the edge of the box.
With a quarter of an hour gone, Corcoran played a looping ball around the corner from deep and Izzy Akinade timed his run perfectly to be onside despite Tim Clancy's protests - but the forward just ran out of room. It would have been an excellent through ball had it come off.
Moments later Oscar Brennan nearly danced past three Bray players before Clancy denied him with a sliding challenge as Bohs began to pick it up a gear.
The game simmered for a long period, with both defences on top. Bray's offside trap caught out Corcoran and Georgie Poynton, while Steacy's kick outs, sent down the throat of the Bohs defence, were easily dealt with by Dan Byrne and Derek Pender.
Byrne would make a fantastic block from a Jason Marks effort – just after his own back header forced him to clear away after it was way too weak and nearly sent Darragh Noone through.
With a minute to go until the break, Noone's free flew right across the face of the Bohemians goal - but nobody was there to turn it in. It came back out to John Sullivan but his low volley took a deflection and rolled harmlessly towards Shane Supple.
Six minutes into the second half, Brennan shot from close range following a cushioned header from Salmon, but he fell into the connection with the volley and Supple parried it away. With a good reaction save.
Bohs had a great chance on the hour mark, stemming from a fantastic Fuad Sule interception in midfield.
He laid the ball out to Poynton who plays a delicious through ball to Akinade, who went down under the sandwiched challenge of Steacy and Clancy. No foul, but Akinade got back up a little shaken after a brief stoppage.
Bohs had another great chance in the 67th minute, when a ball rolled perfectly into the path of Keith Ward to strike, but his curling effort was far too high to trouble anyone – much to the audible frustration of the Dalymount crowd.
The game got scrappy in the last 20 minutes with plenty of tough challenges flying around in midfield – one in particular from Oscar Brennan looking particularly nasty on Noone.
Bray had the first chance in a long spell of the game in the 82nd minute with a ball rolled out to Buckley on the edge of the box - but his shot was easily claimed by Supple after a weak effort.
Dan Byrne missed with a powerful header just after, while Akinade had another header go just over with three minutes to go as Bray clung onto the result.
Keith Ward gave Bohs one final opportunity from a corner with Akinade's header resulting in shouts of handball, while the final moments played out amongst heavy jeering at referee Graham Kelly.
Bohs will be incredibly frustrated with the result, while for Bray it's an escape but also a welcome point for Harry Kenny's embattled side.
Bohemians: Shane Supple; Derek Pender, Rob Cornwall, Dan Byrne, Dylan Hayes; Georgie Poynton (Ciaran O'Connor 78), Fuad Sule, Oscar Brennan, Lorcan Fitzgerald (Paddy Kavanagh 67); Ishmail Akinade, Dinny Corcoran (Keith Ward 55).
Subs not used: Kian Clarke, Ian Morris, Eoghan Morgan, Philip Gannon.
Booked: Ishmail Akinade (41), Paddy Kavanagh (73), Oscar Brennan (77).
Bray Wanderers: Lee Steacy; Keith Buckley, Conor Kenna, Tim Clancy, Karl Moore; John Sullivan (Kevin Lynch 87), Mark Salmon, Ryan Brennan, Darragh Noone (Gary McCabe 74), Jason Marks (Ger Pender 78); Aaron Greene.
Subs not used: Ryan Coulter, Derek Foran, Jake Ellis, Anthony Flood.
Booked: None.
Referee: Graham Kelly.
Attendance: TBC.
Extratime.ie Player of the Match: Conor Kenna (Bray Wanderers).
