League Report: Dundalk 1 - 0 Bray Wanderers

Dundalk recorded a 1-0 win over Bray Wanderers at a rain-soaked Oriel Park on Friday night to extend their unbeaten run in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division to eight matches.

Michael Duffy slotted the ball through the legs of Peter Cherrie late on to secure victory over ten-man Bray and cut Cork City’s lead at the top of the table to six points with two weeks of the season remaining.

In an era where smartphones have by and large replaced the transistor radios of old at matches like this, the Oriel Park crowd spent much of the evening following events at Dalymount Park, where a win for Cork against Bohemians would see Dundalk finally concede their title to The Leesiders on the night.

After negotiating 120 minutes against Shamrock Rovers in a rip-roaring FAI Cup semi-final replay on Tuesday night, Stephen Kenny rang the changes with U19 duo Jake O’Connor and Carlton Ubaezuonu both handed second successive league starts, while Chris Shields also took his place in the starting eleven despite fears his season had been ended after suffering knee ligament damage two weeks ago.

This was Bray’s first match since manager Harry Kenny announced that he’ll be resigning from his post at the end of what has been a turbulent season off the pitch, in order to take up a player development role within the FAI and he made just two changes from last week’s 3-3 draw with Galway United, drafting in Keith Buckley at right-back while top scorer Gary McCabe returned from a one-match suspension.

In what was a predictably flat atmosphere to begin with at Oriel Park, the hosts created the decent opening of the night when Ubaezuonu fired his effort well over the bar following a pass from Jamie McGrath before David McMillan did likewise in what was in truth, a game of very few clear-cut chances.

So much so, onlookers had to wait over half an hour for the first real chance of the match which fell to the in-form McMillan, who turned Bray captain Conor Kenna inside out before unleashing a low effort which was well saved by Cherrie, who once upon a time featured in over 200 matches for Dundalk.

Dundalk’s two U19 players combined when Ubaezuonu’s excellent cross from the left found Jake O’Connor but the ball could only ricochet off the young midfielder’s chest and onto the post as the sides went in at the break scoreless with Bray failing to at all test Gary Rogers in the Dundalk goal.

The warrior-like Shields – who hasn’t scored a league goal since 2013 – fired a rasping shot from distance which stung the hands of Cherrie after the restart before perhaps the game’s key moment saw Ryan Brennan given his marching orders, resulting in Bray having to play the last half-hour with just ten men.

He had himself just been on the receiving end of a foul by his former Drogheda United teammate Shane Grimes before returning the favour just a minute later and got his first booking, but the Bray winger was then shown a second yellow card and early bath for showing dissent to referee Sean Grant in what was a truly moronic act which surely cost The Seagulls any chance of taking something from this match.

Dundalk were now beginning to turn the screw following that red card and McMillan forced an outstanding stop from Cherrie before substitute Robbie Benson’s deflected effort was gathered by the Bray netminder.

Benson then fumbled his effort wide when Duffy had crossed after skipping past the challenge of Hugh Douglas before Dundalk finally took a deserved lead with just three minutes remaining when Duffy raced onto an incisive through ball from McGrath and he calmly slotted under the legs of Cherrie.

That proved to be the decisive goal for Dundalk, who keep Cork City’s champagne on ice for another three days at least while Bray’s aspirations to finish fourth and qualify for Europe now hang by a thread.

Dundalk: Gary Rogers; Sean Gannon, Brian Gartland, Sean Hoare, Shane Grimes; Michael Duffy, Chris Shields, Jake O’Connor (Jack O’Keefe 68), Carlton Ubaezuonu (Robbie Benson 56); Jamie McGrath, David McMillan.

Subs not used: Gabriel Sava (gk), James Woods, Dean Watters, Eric Whelan, Cian Flynn.

Booked: Grimes (58), Hoare (86).

Bray Wanderers: Peter Cherrie; Keith Buckley, Hugh Douglas, Conor Kenna, Karl Moore; Ryan Brennan, John Sullivan, Darragh Noone, Jason Marks; Gary McCabe, Aaron Greene.

Subs not used: Lee Steacy (gk), Derek Foran, Calvin Rogers, Mark Salmon, Luke Rossiter, Ger Pender, Anto Flood.

Booked: Kenna (58), Brennan (59 & 60), Buckley (82).

Sent Off: Brennan (60).

Referee: Sean Grant

Attendance: 2,000 (estimate)

ExtraTime.ie Man of the Match: Jamie McGrath (Dundalk)