Bray Wanderers 0 - 2 Bohemians

• Daire Walsh
• Wed, Jun 02 2010


A goal by Killian Brennan in the 86th minute helped to seal the three points for Bohemians and in the process move them up to fourth place in the Premier Division table. Bohs had held a 1-0 half-time lead courtesy of a Daire Doyle own goal and, on the run of play, they were fully deserving of their win.

Both sides started the game with a lone striker up front, with John Mulroy performing the role for the home side, while Bohemians were using former Seagulls man Jason Byrne as their main source of attack.

Suffice to say, the visitors were utilising this system to greater effect early on, and Byrne almost opened the scoring with just two minutes gone when he was put clean through on goal via a Brian Shelly pass. His shot was well-saved by Bray 'keeper Brian Kane though, and Daire Doyle was on hand to block the rebound from winger Killian Brennan.

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This was the first sign of trouble for the league's bottom side, and Eddie Gormley was quick in switching Jake Kelly up front, with John Mulroy moving to the middle of the park to add a bit of physicality to the Wicklow side's engine room.

This change did see Bray coping reasonably well, up to a point, but they were hit with a sucker punch on 13 minutes when Daire Doyle inadvertently finished to his own net in his effort to prevent Byrne from reaching Mark Quigley's flick on.

This was a slice of bad luck that Bray would have been hoping to avoid, but it did seem inevitable that Bohs would take the lead at some point. With the deadlock now broken, it meant that the pressure was now off the Champions, and they were by far the more dominant side for the remainder of the half.

In fact, given all the chances that they created, Bohs really should have been out of the sight by the time the break came around, as Mark Quigley and Byrne both went extremely close, before defender Ken Oman hit the woodwork twice within 60 seconds in the 44th and 45th minutes respectively.

They didn't fully capitalise on these opportunities though, and the Dalymount-outfit had to be content with a one-goal advantage at the mid-way interval. This meant that the game was still in the melting pot going into the second period, but Bray really needed to make more of an impression from an attacking sense if they were going to get anything from this game.

However, it was The Gypsies who would continue to dominate after the break, although they weren't creating as many clear-cut chances early on as they had in the opening 45. Byrne almost got on the end of a Brennan header on the hour mark, but the industrious striker just couldn't quite his foot to it in time.

Bray did threaten occasionally through Kelly and Shane O'Neill, but Oman and Jason McGuinness were enjoying a very comfortable game at the heart of the Bohs defence. In turn, Pat Fenlon's charges continued to control the game without creating too many openings, although Paddy Madden probably should have doubled the advantage on 74 minutes, but he miscued Byrne's cross from the left.

A somewhat bizarre incident occurred just a minute later when Oman and McGuinness became embroiled in a row, with McGuinness appearing to press his head up against Oman. This was not spotted by any of the match officials, and if it had, there could have been a serious caution for both men.

As the game entered into the final quarter of an hour, Bray did pile on some pressure, but Bohs held off any imminent danger from The Seagulls, and they would then wrap up the victory with four minutes remaining when Brennan finished low to the net from 25 yards after Daire Doyle had cleared Brian Shelly's cross from the right.

This victory will now get Bohs back on track in their race for the title, but will put further pressure on Bray in their bid to avoid relegation to the First Division.

Bray Wanderers: Kane; D Doyle, O'Connor (Byrne '68), Webster, Massey; O'Neill, Shields (Kavanagh '82), Brennan, Vickers, Kelly; Mulroy (R Doyle '88).
Subs not used: Tuohy, O'Connor.

Bohemians: Murphy; Shelly, McGuinness, Oman, Powell; McGlynn (Higgins '74), Keegan, Cronin, Quigley (Madden '71), Brennan; Byrne.
Subs not used: Heary, Rossiter, O'Connor.

Referee: Derek Tomney (Dublin).
Extratime Man of The Match: Killian Brennan (Bohemians).