Bray Wanderers 1 - 5 Dundalk

Mark Quigley was the man of the hour for Dundalk in the Carlisle Grounds tonight, as his trio of first-half goals saw off the challenge of ten-men Bray Wanderers, which subsequently saw them moving up to fifth place in the Airtricity Premier Division table. This was Quigley's 14th competitive goal of the 2011 season, and he is really proving to be a real find for Dundalk, who have now scored eleven goals in their last two league games.

It had been the home side who started the game on top in the possession stakes, and with good reason, as a win here would not only prevent them from slipping behind Dundalk in the table, but would also send them to fifth place, leap-frogging former Champions Bohemians. However, in spite of the play that they had in the opening few minutes, it was actually Dundalk who had the first opening of the game, as Quigley volleyed just wide off his left-peg following a corner on the left by Daniel Kearns.

This didn't put off Quigley though, and he broke the deadlock in some style on ten minutes when he received a ball from Keith Ward inside his own half, and subsequently embarked on a massive individual run, before slotting home with his left-foot from 15 yards after seeing off a number of Bray defenders. Having lost their crucial away tie to St. Patrick's Athletic in Inchicore last Friday, this was not the kind of start that The Seagulls would have been looking for.

Their initial response to falling behind was rather good however, and Mulroy went close to equalising on 17 minutes, only to see his header from a Joe Kendrick goes past the right-hand post. This was a close shave for Dundalk, and it was becoming evident that they would need to be on their toes if they were going to keep Wanderers at bay for the rest of the half.

They were making life ever so difficult for Pat Devlin's charges, but their resistance was broken after 26 minutes, when the ever-industrious Danny O'Connor headed home powerfully from inside the area following a cross on the right from Chris Shields. This really put the game in the melting pot, but things started to fall apart for Bray just three minutes later when the elusive Quigley received the ball inside the home team's penalty area.

Just as the former Bohemians man was about to turn on goal, he was brought down by Bray's Joe Kendrick, and match referee Anthony Buttimer was left with no choice but to award a penalty. Worse still for Bray, Kendrick was given a straight red card, as Buttimer had deemed that Kendrick had denied Quigley a clear goal-scoring opportunity. This was not something that the home support agreed with, but this was the referee's decision nonetheless, and Quigley was on hand to send Bray custodian Matt Gregg the wrong way from the penalty spot.

This was the second game running that Bray fell behind to a penalty after having a man sent-off, and it served to deflate their challenge, as Dundalk started to gain control of the tie as the half drew to a close. Mulroy did have a shot from a tight angle deflected away for a corner, but luck was not on their side, and Quigley secured his hat-trick with just a minute left in the half, as Gregg allowed his shot from just outside the box slip through his legs and into the back of his net.

With a two-goal advantage, and an extra man to boot, Dundalk were looking like a safe bet for all three points as the second period got underway. Things obviously needed to change drastically for Bray if they were going to get something out of the game, and they aimed to rectify this by introducing Dave Webster instead of Stephen Last for the beginning of the second half. They also brought on the always lively Shane O'Neill for John Mulroy on 56 minutes, as they were making a spirited effort to force their way back into the game.

Dundalk still appeared to be the more likely to score next though, as Quigley and strike partner Mark Griffin both went close to adding to their lead in the 54th and 58th minutes respectively. Bray did have a good chance of their own just a minute after Griffin's though, and Shields really should have scored with his header from a quick free by Gary Dempsey, but he was unable to direct his attempt on target.

Conor Murphy also had a decent opening with 24 minutes remaining, but he was unable to connect properly, and he posed little threat to Dundalk's Peter Cherrie in the end. Nevertheless, this did display to Dundalk that Bray were still in this game, and they immediately got on top of the situation by going up the other end of the field and scoring their fourth goal of the night, and it was inevitable that Quigley would be involved.

The outstanding 25-year-old played a ball over the top for Griffin who showed good pace to run onto the ball, before confidently finishing home when one-on-one with the stranded Gregg. This put the game well beyond Bray's reach, and Dundalk used the final quarter to bring on the likes of Stephen Maher and Johnny Breen, for Daniel Kearns and Griffin respectively.

Bray did continue to fight right until the end, and their work ethic, as well as their ability to operate as a team unit, is to be commended. Ultimately though, it was Kendrick's first-half dismissal that was their undoing, and it was always going to be difficult for them to recover from such a precarious position, and Ward was on hand to put the icing on the cake in the fourth minute of injury time with a superb individual strike.

Bray will get a chance to redeem themselves when they welcome Sligo Rovers to the Carlisle Grounds on Friday evening, whereas Dundalk will be hoping to make it three wins a row when Bohemians make the trip to Oriel Park on the same night.

Bray Wanderers: Matt Gregg; Shane O'Connor, Stephen Last (Dave Webster '46), Derek Prendergast, Joe Kendrick; John Mulroy (Shane O'Neill '56), Gary Dempsey, Danny O'Connor (Sean Houston '71), Dane Massey; Conor Murphy, Chris Shields.
Subs not used: Daire Doyle, Dan McGuinness, Graham Kelly, Brian Kane.

Bookings: None.

Sent Off: Kendrick (29).

Dundalk: Peter Cherrie; Simon Madden, Dean Bennett, Shane Guthrie, Nathan Murphy; Daniel Kearns (Stephen Maher '74), Keith Ward, Greg Bolger, Ross Gaynor; Mark Quigley (Chris Kerr '87), Mark Griffin (Johnny Breen '76).
Subs not used: Paul Murphy, Philip Duffy.

Bookings: Griffin (36), Gaynor (62).

Referee: Anthony Buttimer (Cork).
Attendance: 1,000 (est).
Extratime.ie Man Of The Match: Mark Quigley (Dundalk).